Finally Home

High Point:

I am now home. With tentative plans of going out to dinner and a movie to watch at home with my family + popcorn and endless water/juice/liquids being shoved at me by any and all empty hands.

Low Point:

Little did I know how fitting my last post's title was when I wrote it. After such a stressful day that day, I sat down at 7:45pm to eat a quick dinner before I went to put my little one to sleep. I sat on the couch nibbling away when super uncomfortable pain started the right side of my body - my entire right side of my mid section...tummy to back. Just on the right side. I thought maybe I was just sitting akward or just tired from a long day or something along those lines so I finished up eating and then laid down with my daughter. After a good 40 to 45 minutes of laying in bed the pain had not subsided at all and in fact was getting worse and the munchkin was far from sleeping too - so I got up. I was cranky now and upset and definatley feeling HORRIBLE. I told my husband that I thought I might need to call the doctor, because this pain was just quite different than other pain than I've felt before in this pregnancy.

"Well, is this contraction pain or regular pain?" he asks me.

"I don't really know - I just know it's PAIN, OKAY?? and it hurts!"

(Well duh, when doesn't pain hurt? I have to laugh at myself thinking back.)

The doctor on-call calls me back, and by the time he got around to calling me, I (as much as I hate to admit defeat with an issue) was crying. And I had just thrown up. Several times. Fun fun. It was really a rather crazy rollercoaster of emotions at the house. Once I had started crying from the pain, with my husband knowing that I don't cry with pain unless it's serious, he was putting his shoes on and going to the bathroom and telling me to get my stuff - we're going to the ER. And the little one was crying because I was crying, and then she was laughing when I was throwing up because ~Mommy was making funny noises with her face stuffed into the kitchen sink...~

The doctor that called listened to me for about a second and a half before he said, "I'm telling the ER you're on your way. They'll be waiting for you."

Thank goodness for the big bags of salvation snacks I keep in the car for the little one. Needless to say, the big bag of cereal no long exists as I had to use that bag to hurl in several times on the way to the ER. The last time I had been in so much pain and throwing up at the same time, was just before having my daughter 19 months ago - so naturally I was a big worried.

We arrived at the ER, give the clerk my name, and right away security gets me into a wheelchair and takes me upstairs. I thought ~yes, I'm going to get some pain meds and maybe we can figure out what.is.going.on!~ The only thing is, the security guy wheeled me -with my husband and toddler in tow- to REGISTRATION. This guy sitting behind his desk starts asking me my name and wanting insurance cards and ID cards etc.

"So, what is your Maiden name?....and when was your last menstruation date?"

Was this guy KIDDING ME!? My husband said, "Listen, SHE's PREGNANT and she's in pain!"

So the man decided to go ahead and have security take me up to my final destination - Labor and Delivery, while my husband and daughter stayed to finish registering me.

I get tucked away into a labor bed, the doctor is called, I'm hooked up to an IV of fluids right away and given some pain meds. The baby monitor was hooked up on my tummey - one sensor for the baby's heart rate, one sensor for contractions.

My husband smiles at me. With that quirky look. So I say, "Well, at least we got to ~you know~ yesterday..."

He chuckles and says, "You know, I hear it can be a lot of fun in a hospital..."

"...uh, talk to me AFTER I get some pain meds!"

Men are so ~focused~.

It really cracked me up and was definately fun natured humor that I needed for the amount of stress and pain I was under.

The reason I couldn't differentiate from contraction pain from real pain earlier when my husband asked me, was because I was actually having both. Which explains the throwing up. No wonder I was in so much pain. Geesh.

But as the pain meds started to help some, the reality of the situation hit me -Dear God, please don't let the baby come this early...it's way too early for her to be delivered." I am only in my 28th week of pregnancy. Now while I have joked with my friends about having the baby early so I could just be done being pregnant already and start raising this new child...when the possibility of that becomes a chance in reality, you're entire perspective changes. I laid in bed with tears rolling down my face, hoping that the baby would just stay put.

I wasn't dialated at all and the baby wasn't lowered. Both being good things in keeping the baby situated.

I received a shot to stop the contractions. That worked for awhile, but then they started up again. After which the doctor decided he wanted to stop my pain meds and give me another shot to stop the contractions. This would determine whether or not it was true pre-term labor. If the pain stopped then this was just labor and we'd know how to try to deal with it. If the pain didn't stop then we knew we were dealing with a different root issue to try to solve.

Well, the pain definately didn't stop. So in one way I was thankful because as I mentioned before, I did not want the baby coming before her time. But in another way - hooray...more pain. Not fun. I was given another dose of pain meds. This was around 3:30am. Problem. This dose did basically nothing to help my pain. And since I was in so much pain, I simply could not sleep. So I laid in bed, listening to the baby's heart beat, alone, and watched the minutes tick by on the analog clock hanging in front of me. I did ask for more pain medicine, but was told -per doctor's orders- I wouldn't be given anything sooner than 4 hours down the road.

In the morning, beyond that four hour time limit, I still had not received more meds, but I assumed it was because I needed to see the doctors. I saw the doctor's and they ordered a ultrasound of my kidneys. (and of the baby to make sure she looked okay...)

I basically waited a good portion of all day before they came to take me for the ultrasound. But at least my regular doctor was now taking care of me instead of the doctor on call. He stopped the prescription of the pain meds I was on and ordered me up a nice dose of morphine. Ahh. For once in the last 13 hours, I was finally not being tormented with pain. I was able to get some rest. I woke up when that dose wore off and was given another one. Zzz. Back to sleep I went. I truly was exhausted.

Then it was time for my ultrasound. They found a kidney stone. The baby looked fantastic. She was playing with her feet, rubbing her head, and yawned a few times. So cute!

So back up to labor and delivery I went to my room, ate a delish cheeseburger, salad, and gigantic lemonade (I was SO STARVED!)...and after seeing the baby healthy and playing inside me on the ultrasound monitor, I honestly was on a natural high. I didn't feel the need for any more pain meds. And I didn't take any more during the rest of my stay there at the hospital.

I was moved into a room down the hall that had a more comfortable bed and a far better layout with the tv - not that I watched that much of it as I slept more.

Then I got to see the Urologist (pee pee doctor for anyone unknowing). He very clearly explained our game plan. He upped my fluid intake in my IV and then said after awhile he'd have a drug that would make me pee like I had never peed before in my life would be administered into my IV. The nurse must have gotten a good laugh out of me as I explained to her that I was sure this drug would have no real impact on the amount of times I urinated, because I'm pregnant and let.me.tell.you I've been peeing a LOT for a long time now! She chuckled at me and replied, "No, you don't understand...you will REALLY HAVE TO PEE!!" Boy oh boy, was she not kidding! That drug made my bladder so hyper and just flushed my system out like I'd never experienced before.

The nurse told me that as the stone moved in the direction of being gotten rid of that the stone might get stuck and that that would be very painful and then the actual peeing out of the stone would probably be a lot of pain too BUT they had a dose of morphine ready - "just give us a page..."

If I didn't pass the stone naturally, it was scheduled for my food intake to be stopped at midnight so I could be taken into surgery the next morning. Good times.

However...

At 2am, I passed the stone. And amazingly enough, I didn't feel it! Lucky me! I paged the nurse just to let her know. The nurse taking my page asked me if there was anything I needed my nurse to bring me and I was so exhilarated, I honestly felt like saying, "PARTY HATS AND STREAMERS!!" but then figured at 2am my humor would probably fall on deaf ears so I said, "No thank you, just my nurse please."

All the nurses that were taking care of me were just shocked at the size of the stone I passed. They equated it to being the size of a quarter karat sized diamond. The nurses paraded my stone around amazed, showing it off to all the other nurses. It was pretty comical really. But they said it was the largest stone they'd ever seen. They also were really surprised I hadn't been screaming.

My doctor came in to see me this morning, took a look at my stone, took a look at me, and said, "GO HOME - you'll sleep better there."

Not waiting for him to change his mind, I gathered my belongings, signed my discharge papers, and they wheeled me out to the enterance where I was picked up and taken home.

It feels so good to be home. I fiddle faddled a bit around the house and then took my little one to bed for a long snuggle session and a much needed nap.