My cousin Ashley texted me on my birthday. By the time I responded and thanked her, we were on our way out to dinner the night after my birthday. Her text back? "Well at least I have proof 30 is survivable." Funny then. But not three hours later.
Apparently my body does not like this whole "30" thing. When Anthony & I arrived at the restaurant, I felt a little off. I thought maybe I had pulled a muscle on the left side of my torso, but stretching didn't help. I just figured it was growing pains. After dinner on the ride home, I began to hurt. And when I say hurt, I mean doubled over, crying in pain, felt like we were going to have to pull over and find a hospital kind of hurt. The pain was radiating from my ribs around to my spine, and it HURT. We made it home and I took some tylenol and a hot bath, which helped a bit. I got some sleep on and off through the night, but when I woke up Saturday morning, I just couldn't take it anymore. After speaking to the on-call nurse at my OB's office, we headed up to the Labor & Delivery unit at our hospital. They monitored the baby, who was fine. They monitored me for contractions - I had none. They ran some labs - everything came back negative. They called my new doctor (my OB had just changed practices so I was assigned to a new doc - one whom I had never even met yet) to have her come look at me. She wasn't on call, but her other partner was - and she was right across the hall in the nursery. Yay, right?! No. She didn't even come examine or speak to me. Everything was done through the nurse. They finally "diagnosed" me with food poisoning, gave me an iv of fluid and told me to go home, take tylenol and call the doctor on Monday. So, we went home. I "toughed" it out a few more hours until I could take my next dose of medicine. It gave me some relief and I was able to rest for an hour or so. But then the pain came back with a vengance. I called L&D back and spoke to the nurse who "helped" me, and she said if I wanted any further tests (gallbladder, appendix, kidneys, etc.), I'd just have to go to the ER. WTF? Why didn't you just look at it all why I was there?!?!
We then packed it back up and went to a completely different hospital, probably 15 miles away. The ER people took my info and sent me straight to L&D, but this time, I felt like they finally believed that I was in excruciating pain. The on-call doctor was in an emergency c-section, so it did take some time to get examined and "orders" for pain medication. Quickly after assessing the situation and my symptoms, the nurses and the doctors were pretty certain that I was experiencing the joys of kidney stones, which is apparently common during pregnancy. Yeah, my body must not like being pregnant, either.
I ended up being kept overnight for observation while my two loves went home for the night. Oh, and of course, this also happened to be the night we had tickets for one of the Rangers' ALDS games. So, instead of watching from the stands, we enjoyed the game from a very expensive hospital room.
I was released the following day, and while the pain meds helped some, I was still in a lot of pain. I had a follow up with my "new" OB (the on call doc at the good hospital) the following Wednesday, and an ultrasound of my kidney showed yet another stone. Needless to say, I felt pretty helpless the remainder of the week, and it took a good two weeks for me to feel back to normal. I hope and pray that I never have to endure that again. My OB said (and I agree), that kidney stone pain is commonly equated with labor pains. Yes, but during labor you can get an epidural, and the intense pain does not last for days... So, yes, I'd rather have more babies than more kidney stones.
Well, Ash. How 'bout that 30th birthday you're having next year?! Survivable? Yes. Fun? Notsomuch. ;)
Apparently my body does not like this whole "30" thing. When Anthony & I arrived at the restaurant, I felt a little off. I thought maybe I had pulled a muscle on the left side of my torso, but stretching didn't help. I just figured it was growing pains. After dinner on the ride home, I began to hurt. And when I say hurt, I mean doubled over, crying in pain, felt like we were going to have to pull over and find a hospital kind of hurt. The pain was radiating from my ribs around to my spine, and it HURT. We made it home and I took some tylenol and a hot bath, which helped a bit. I got some sleep on and off through the night, but when I woke up Saturday morning, I just couldn't take it anymore. After speaking to the on-call nurse at my OB's office, we headed up to the Labor & Delivery unit at our hospital. They monitored the baby, who was fine. They monitored me for contractions - I had none. They ran some labs - everything came back negative. They called my new doctor (my OB had just changed practices so I was assigned to a new doc - one whom I had never even met yet) to have her come look at me. She wasn't on call, but her other partner was - and she was right across the hall in the nursery. Yay, right?! No. She didn't even come examine or speak to me. Everything was done through the nurse. They finally "diagnosed" me with food poisoning, gave me an iv of fluid and told me to go home, take tylenol and call the doctor on Monday. So, we went home. I "toughed" it out a few more hours until I could take my next dose of medicine. It gave me some relief and I was able to rest for an hour or so. But then the pain came back with a vengance. I called L&D back and spoke to the nurse who "helped" me, and she said if I wanted any further tests (gallbladder, appendix, kidneys, etc.), I'd just have to go to the ER. WTF? Why didn't you just look at it all why I was there?!?!
We then packed it back up and went to a completely different hospital, probably 15 miles away. The ER people took my info and sent me straight to L&D, but this time, I felt like they finally believed that I was in excruciating pain. The on-call doctor was in an emergency c-section, so it did take some time to get examined and "orders" for pain medication. Quickly after assessing the situation and my symptoms, the nurses and the doctors were pretty certain that I was experiencing the joys of kidney stones, which is apparently common during pregnancy. Yeah, my body must not like being pregnant, either.
I ended up being kept overnight for observation while my two loves went home for the night. Oh, and of course, this also happened to be the night we had tickets for one of the Rangers' ALDS games. So, instead of watching from the stands, we enjoyed the game from a very expensive hospital room.
I was released the following day, and while the pain meds helped some, I was still in a lot of pain. I had a follow up with my "new" OB (the on call doc at the good hospital) the following Wednesday, and an ultrasound of my kidney showed yet another stone. Needless to say, I felt pretty helpless the remainder of the week, and it took a good two weeks for me to feel back to normal. I hope and pray that I never have to endure that again. My OB said (and I agree), that kidney stone pain is commonly equated with labor pains. Yes, but during labor you can get an epidural, and the intense pain does not last for days... So, yes, I'd rather have more babies than more kidney stones.
Well, Ash. How 'bout that 30th birthday you're having next year?! Survivable? Yes. Fun? Notsomuch. ;)
4 comments:
Oh no! I'm glad you are better. Hang in there girl!
I hope your body is finished with the kidney stones. I've known many women that have had them during pregnancy and it sounds VERY painful.
I had no idea you had to go through this. My cousin was hospitalized for kidney stones as well a few weeks ago. She had her baby Tuesday and hasn't had a problem since. Hope you're feeling better!
oh my goodness! #1 i'm SO sorry I'm so far behind.... #2 HOLY CRAP WOMAN!!! Kidney stones are horrible enough but to be preggers!!! Ugh.... I'm totally not drinking sodas ever again! LOL! How are you feeling?
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