The breast infection from the weekend was not yet over.  On Monday morning I woke up with a sore, swollen, and engorged right breast.  I had not gotten anywhere near the normal amount of milk out of it during the night, even though I was using heat to help draw the milk out.  I told Joe of the problem and called the lactation consultant.   He could not go to work until I figured out something I could do.

The lactation consultant suggested that I alternate ice to bring the swelling down with heat to help express the milk.  She also told me to call my doctor and ask about getting the antibiotic changed.

I called the doctor's answering service and had them wake him up at home to call me.   He reviewed my past episodes with me and really hesitated to prescribe more antibiotics since I was already on my 3rd series of antibiotics since Rebekah's birth.   He then asked me if I would consider stopping nursing.  He could prescribe some medicine that would stop my milk production over a period of a few days, and we would start feeding Rebekah formula. 

I agreed to call him back about that after Joe and I talked about it.  After considering how sick I've been and that things seemed to be getting worse instead of better, Joe and I agreed that it would be best for all of us if we weaned Rebekah now.   I called the doctor again, and he prescribed Parlodel, which suppresses the hormone prolactin which is responsible for milk production.  He gave me instructions to stop pumping the next day.

Over the course of the day, the lactation consultant's advice worked quite well, though it did not completely eliminate the problem.  Joe picked up the medicine at lunchtime, and I started taking it.  The next day, I stopped pumping and started wearing cabbage leaves, which are also supposed to help reduce milk production.