The Story

So I am a little behind in blogging but I have had an intense couple of weeks. One week I was in Texas which was awesome but I will get to that in another post.  This past week I spent some time in the hospital which was not so awesome.  (You know how I was joking a few posts ago that both Matthew and Austin have had surgery this fall and that I guess I would be next?) Here is the story.

On Monday and Tuesday I was feeling really sick and nauseous and so didn't really eat or drink much. Wednesday I was feeling worse plus had a really bad back/side pain on my right side. Thankfully Matthew didn't have class on Wednesday morning so he hung out with Austin while I tried to sleep but this nagging pain was getting worse and I just couldn't ignore it anymore.  I called my doctor and was told to come to the hospital so they could check it out and make sure baby girl was still doing ok.  By this point my pain and nausea was so intense. They did a ultrasound where my pain was and found that my kidney was pretty swollen and inflamed which was causing the pain. They said this is somewhat common in pregnancy but not this bad and this early on (I was 23 weeks).  They also found I was really dehydrated and that was causing contractions.  I was admitted into the hospital and was given and IV of fluids and pain medication.  But my pain was getting out of control.  Seriously the worst pain I have ever felt.  They were giving me narcotics but they would dull the pain for about an hour and then I was asking for more.  They couldn't really do much for me since I'm pregnant and told me that I might have this pain for the rest of my pregnancy.  REALLY? 4 months of this?? At this point Matthew had called his mom and she was on the next scheduled flight.  She was a life saver!  I stayed in the hospital for 2 two days and then was sent home with Tylenol and some Vicodin if I really needed it.

I lasted one day and one sleepless night at home in agony.  The pain was so bad that I was also so nauseous and would literally force myself to eat or drink anything since I didn't want to get dehydrated again.  The only sleep I got was for two hours right after I had taken a Vicodin and then was just up all night in severe pain. I waited until Matthew woke up and then we headed right back to the hospital again Saturday morning. I was just in tears my pain was so bad.  But I was also concerned about heavy medication while pregnant. I was basically a mess. They admitted me again and took another ultrasound and kidney went from "moderately bad" to "severe".  They thought there might be a kidney stone but they couldn't find one. Well at this point the only option was surgery but then again being pregnant they really didn't want to go that route.  The surgery would put a stint in my kidney and that would help it drain better but not necessarily take away the pain. This surgery also has lots of side effects and the stint has to be changed every month. By this point I am literally begging the nurses for medication by the hour and was left with no other options so we decided to go the surgery route scheduled Sunday morning at 8am.

Early Sunday morning around 4am I woke up comfortable for the first time in 4 days with a nurse in my room. I asked her if she had already given me my pain medication, she said no she didn't.  I was like "Are you sure? Because I feel no pain." She assured me I had no pain meds in me so I just decided to jump on the chance to sleep comfortably again. At around 7am I woke up again with zero pain. After talking to the doctor we decided to cancel the surgery one hour before it was scheduled.  I don't know what happened but my pain was literally gone.  It was purely just a miracle.

 My doctor thinks it was a kidney stone although there is no proof. They couldn't ever find one in an ultrasound and I didn't ever feel like I "passed" one. But who knows.  All I know is my pain is gone and I am just so thankful.  My doctor said my kidney is still swollen and inflamed so chances are it will probably give me some more trouble the further along I become but for now I am good.

I am just so thankful for all the love and support I had throughout that horrible week from family and friends. Especially to my mother-in-law who flew down at a moment's notice and basically took over with Austin while I was in the hospital and Matthew was in class and studying.  After I came home Sunday afternoon, Matthew pulled an all nighter up on campus studying for a test and didn't come home until after his test Monday morning. Poor guy.
Anyway, long story but I really am doing good now. However after almost a week of little sleep I feel a little zombie-ish (I guess this in in preparation for a  few months from now) and am trying to sleep and take naps as much as possible. Little baby girl seems to be happy and loves kicking all the time!