theallennuggets

Well it’s been a week.  And what a week it’s been.

My last post was all smiles and giggles and happy to be proceeding along in pregnancy without too much fear of bed rest.  Then Thursday happened. 26 weeks along.

Thursday, early am (like 2:00 am) I started to get really uncomfortable.  I was having pains in my left side right by my hip bone and it pulsated down that side of my belly.  I thought for sure it was my round ligament/growing pains.  I did a lot of tossing and turning and was hurting a bit when I got ready for work.  I had a few meetings I wanted to keep that morning so I figured I’d get those done and head back to the house to work from home if the pain kept up.

My admin walked in and immediately noticed I wasn’t feeling well.  I went to my first morning meeting and was hurting so much, I apologized and asked to excuse myself.  I made a mistake trying to come into work that day.  Before I headed to my meeting though I had called the doctor’s office and left a message asking if this was normal.  By the time the nurse got back to me I was pulling into the drive way with a one way mission to hit the bath tub (hoping for relief).

After explaining my pain and the level it was getting to (I’d say about a 5 out of 10) she asked for me to just come in and see someone.  I never even got out of the car.  I headed that direction and debated calling The Hubs, thinking I might be overreacting.  I called and left a message and when I was halfway to the doctor’s, realized I doubt I would be able to drive home.  When The Hubs called back and asked if he should meet me there I said yes.

While I was at the doctor’s office things started to really really hurt.  I couldn’t seem to cope with the pain.  They laid me down to do a sonogram on my abdomen and I couldn’t do it, I got ill.  Then when I was in the next room waiting to hear what to do next, I was getting sick again, the pain was getting worse.  The Hubs was in the hallway at this point asking for someone, anyone to come help.  Not that the staff at Women’s Integrated Health wasn’t working on it, but things seemed to be getting out of control.  My doctor was then pulled in and she advised I be admitted to the hospital and she’d meet us over there.

Once in the hospital I thought I was going to split in half.  Pain levels were easily a 9 out of 10.  Worst pain I ever been in…even more so from when I broke my neck.  I was hooked up to pain meds and scans of my cervical length, abdomen, kidneys were all done.  Contractions were happening because my body was freaking out.  They were 2-3 minutes apart.  I received a steroid shot to accelerate the development of the Nugget’s lungs just in case. Shots to stop the contractions were given.  Freaking out.

Once my pain was “under control” the result was almost a process of elimination.  Everything I described, pain wise, lead the doctor’s to think I had passed a kidney stone.  There was also sediment and crystals in a culture they took. They were still monitoring the Nuggets and watching because my contractions hadn’t completely stopped. They wanted to keep me over night. 

Friday I thought I was going home.  My pain was still there but better.  Still monitoring the babies and contractions and they weren’t comfortable letting me go yet.  Saturday (the day of my baby shower) a new complication added itself to the mix.  TMI warning……I hadn’t gone to the bathroom (#2) and my food wasn’t digesting.  My already very large pregnant belly had distended even further and we were dealing with a bowel blockage.  This caused my white blood cell count to go up and a low fever.  That night a nasogastric tube was placed in my nose, down my throat and into my stomach for relief.  It didn’t offer any relief and I am scarred for life after that processes.  The next morning I couldn’t keep it down any longer.  Sunday was an entire day spent using a powerful laxative to hopefully unblock everything.  It was long and painful.

Monday I thought I was going home again.  My doctor still wasn’t 100% content because my white blood cells and my temperature were still up.  I was so disappointed.  I doubt I was really ready to go home because I still felt terrible but going home meant I was getting better.

Tuesday Dr. Kindrick came in and she said my blood work came back much better, she though I look better and if I was ready, she would let me go home.  I was happy.  The Hubs was probably happier.  He was an astounding partner through all of it.  Spent every night on the couch in the hospital room next to me, helping with everything.  It would have been 10 times harder to have done it without him and I’m glad I didn’t have to.

Now that I’m home though it’s been frustrating.  Like I said before, going home = getting better.  Just not fast enough.  I am still having to take Tylenol every 4 hours, on. the. dot. Otherwise I feel like shit.  I move as slow as a sloth.  It feels like I had a surgery where I was cut open, not just a kidney stone/bowel blockage issue.  The doctor’s warned me that I would be pretty sore because my insides were really beat up in the process and add being pregnant on top of it, would increase my recovery time.  I will add that several women who have had kidney stones and kids, said that the kidney stone was more painful then child birth. Wow.

So I’m struggling a little bit because I’m still hurting a lot.  I want to get back to “normal” and get things done.  I’m beyond grateful that the Nuggets went through all of this with minimal issues and I’ll take the brunt of anything to keep it that way.  My pregnancy was SO easy up to this point so I don’t feel like I can complain but I’d like to get back to the easiness it was before and keep myself healthy so the Nuggets can be as healthy as possible as well.

XOXO – Lindz