Olivia woke up feeling horrible. She was shivering and disoriented, one of her breasts was throbbing, and the thought of going across the hall to Nora's room to nurse her felt insurmountable.
"El," she groaned, "I'm sick." Elliot looked at her and immediately sat up. He held his hand to her forehead and frowned. "You're burning up," he said. "I'm going to get a thermometer." He flipped on the bedside lamp and came back with the thermometer, which he gently slid under her tongue. "103.5," he said. "That's really high. What else is wrong, sweetie?"
"I feel like I have the flu," Liv said, "and one of my breasts hurts."
Elliot's eyes widened. "Let me see it," he said, gently lifting her shirt. One of Olivia's breasts was red and splotchy, with a swollen, painful looking lump. She touched the lump, surprised, and grimaced in pain. "I think you have mastitis," Elliot said, concerned. "It's an infection you get while breast-feeding. Kathy had it a few times. I'd forgotten until you said your breast hurt, but you can have a high fever and flu-like symptoms and you feel horrible." Olivia groaned, "that all fits," she said, miserably.
"I'm going to call Dr Lee's office," he said, "and page the on-call doctor. It's only 11:00, I don't think you can wait until morning for antibiotics. I'm sorry you feel so awful."
"I need to nurse," Liv said, shivering. Elliot pulled the blanket around her.
"It's barely been three hours since you fed Nora, and she hasn't woken up. Let's wait until I talk to the doctor. I can't remember if you're supposed to keep nursing on that side."
Elliot left his phone number on the office's voicemail and was relieved to get a call back quickly.
"She thinks you have mastitis," he told Olivia, as soon as he'd gotten off the phone. "She wants you to start antibiotics tonight. She's calling your prescription into the closest 24 hour pharmacy that delivers, and they'll call me to confirm. She said you need to nurse on that side first, even though it's painful, because it sounds like it's from a clogged milk duct. She told me to give you Tylenol for the pain and fever, and that the antibiotics should kick in quickly. She wants to see you tomorrow, so I'll call in the morning to schedule an appointment."
Elliot brought her water and Tylenol and helped her prop her head up enough to take it. "I'm going to get Nora, so you can nurse and go back to sleep until the antibiotics get here," he told her.
"I'm not sure I can sit up," Liv admitted miserably.
"I know you haven't done it much, but what if you try nursing her lying down? I'll hold Nora and help her get latched on." He came back with a warm compress and a sleepy baby. "She said the compress might help, especially while feeding or that you can alternate compresses and ice."
He brought Nora onto the bed and gently helped her latch onto Liv's breast. Liv immediately cried out in pain.
"I'm sorry," Elliot said, "I wish you weren't in this much pain." He supported Nora with one arm while he rubbed Liv's back with his other hand. By the time she was done nursing on that side, tears were streaming down Liv's face. He continued holding Nora and rubbing Liv's back, letting her pain ease, before bringing Nora to Liv's other breast.
Elliot woke Liv to take her first dose of antibiotics as soon as they arrived, taking her temperature quickly before she fell back asleep. "Still 103," he said, frowning. "The Tylenol should have brought it down more." Liv was already asleep, and he laid down next to her, concerned about how sick she was.