Look Ma! No stretch marks...yet!

Belly shot 33 weeks

35 Weeks 4 days:

I think I grew!

I had an appt with Dr. K today (he poked his head in the exam room and said, "When I hear your name I know EXACTLY who I'm seeing! I can actually put a face with the name! I can't do that with just anyone!") and I got the report back for the first kidney stone that I passed on my own. It was 7mm!!! That's HUGE by the way. It was made of 92% calcium...just what I expected. I, of course, am freaked out to take Tums which are full of calcium for my wicked heartburn so I was given the go ahead to take Zantac. I just hope it helps! I'm still measuring small even though with my last u/s in the hospital Skittle was actually measuring a whole week BIG. Dh thinks that the u/s tech was quite liberal with his measurements, however. (Side note: during that u/s, I wasn't able to see the u/s screen but dh was. The tech had me push on Skittle's upper lip with my finger and she actually opened and closed her mouth! Dh thought it was pretty cool!) Anyway, the Group B Strep (GBS) test wasn't a big deal-a vaginal swab-bp and weight were good. I'm going to see Dr. K every week now. Yippy skippy!

Struggling

Everything started exactly two weeks ago today. I started having flank pain on my left side and new immediately I had a kidney stone that was trying to pass. I lasted 4 hours on my own without pain meds and then I called my OB's office to see if I was allowed to take Percocet for the pain. Well, I was told that I needed to go to labor and delivery at the hospital to be checked out. I called dh at work and he came home to take me in. At that point the pain was pretty ridiculous and all I wanted was meds. What was funny though is that literally as soon as we pulled into the hospital parking lot, my pain was just about gone. The stone had passed to my bladder but to be safe I went and got checked out anyway. When I got there I went to the bathroom-my urine was strained and sure enough I had passed one stone that had turned to sandy pieces and one that was the size of an apple seed! After all that, I got all hooked up to the fetal monitors and learned that I was contracting every 2-4 minutes. My cervix was high and tight but I still had to be given meds to stop the contractions. They worked and I was out of there by dinner time...my back was sore but OK.

Fast forward a couple days-Thursday of that week-and I started having flank pain on my right side. I honestly thought I was going insane to have ANOTHER stone on the other side but the pain was the same as it was on the left. The problem at this point is that dh was out of town and I was stuck at home because the friends who I thought could possibly take me in were working. I called dh's office and someone was able to come pick me up and take me back to the hospital. I was in an insane amount of pain by that time and no amount of Morphine was helping. I was hooked up to a PCA-a pump that allowed me to give myself Morphine every 10 minutes. I had to push the button every 10 minutes all night long to get any relief. I didn't sleep at all and was an emotional mess of a human being by that point. All I wanted was my husband and to feel better. Something wasn't right because my pain wasn't going away and even after getting an u/s of my kidney's-where NO stones showed up-doctors thought maybe I just had a kidney infection so I was started on antibiotics. On that Friday the OB's didn't know what to do with me because I was still throwing up from pain, even on constant Morphine. The answer was to send me to Tucson so I could be seen by a urologist and a peri. I was given a shot of Demerol mixed with Zofran for the ambulance ride and was FINALLY able to relax. It didn't knock me completely out as I was still able to function and answer questions on the hour and a half ride up to Tucson. At that point dh was trying to get his plane tickets changed so he could be with me and I really don't remember much of that Tucson hospital stay-other than my roommate who spoke as much English as I spoke Spanish. I did get monitored in L&D and admitted with the diagnosis of a possible UTI and kidney infection (when I KNEW it was a stone). I had another u/s of my kidney's which showed no blockage and no stone (I was unsure about doing a CT scan as I didn't want to harm little Skittle in any way). I was frustrated from the pain and dh was frustrated with the drive back and forth to Tucson. I was released that Monday afternoon when I finally felt like my pain had gone down-exactly a week after my first kidney stone attack.

The next day the pain was so intense I had to go back to the local hospital and was again ambulanced to Tucson with a shot of Demerol. The on call doctor in Tucson felt horrible that I had to be admitted again that they pulled out all the stops and got me a u/s of Skittle, a CT, and ordered an EKG and echo of my heart. They weren't going to mess around anymore-for which I am thankful. That night I had the CT-on the lowest possible radiation settling-and found several small stones on my right side and one 5mm stone on the top section of my kidney on my right. I WAS RIGHT. I did have a stinkin' stone when no one would believe me. I was then scheduled for surgery the next night.

I refused to sign the consent for anaesthesia because I was paranoid for Skittle and wanted to know all the risks before I signed. A last minute decision landed me with a spinal and I was awake for the entire procedure. Talk about freak out. (I didn't do so well with sitting still while they poked my back with needles! I kept apologizing to the anaesthesiologist.) I didn't feel any pain during the surgery-just after. The urologist went in through my urethra and managed to clamp the stone and pull it out. Thank goodness I didn't have to have a stent on top of it. The stone was just about the same size as the apple seed stone I had passed earlier in the week!

My recovery was explained to me like, "You'll feel like you're passing a kidney stone-but there won't be one." LOVELY. MORE PAIN. After my spinal wore off, all Hell broke loose. I had to be in L&D for an hour hooked up to the monitors for Skittle's sake and let's just say it again, MORPHINE doesn't help my kidney pain AT ALL. I continued to throw up until I was back in my hospital room. I do need to give a shout out to my favorite nurse of all time, Heidi, who kept me almost pain free with Dilaudid in my IV every hour for the first 6 hours. She was absolutely amazing.

I desperately wanted to get out of the hospital on Friday-but the doc had "strongly suggested" that I stay in as they didn't want to happen what happened the last time I was released. We fought it and I was home by 10pm on Friday night. I'm still pretty sore from the surgery and struggling with the weight of my belly pushing down on my kidney's. I'm just praying that those small stones on my right stay where they are at least until Skittle is born. I'm miserably uncomfortable as when I was in the hospital the only time I got out of bed was to go to the bathroom or shower so having a much larger belly than I did two weeks ago is taking it's toll on my body as I try to move/walk. (This is my blog and I'll complain if I want to!) I'm just done. I do hope those that Skittle gives me a few more weeks before I go into labor as I really want to recover some before I deal with the pain of labor.

I appreciate anyone who actually finished reading this crazy post about my pain and the crap of the last two weeks. I have an appt with Dr. K tomorrow (because I missed the last one due to my hospital stay) and I'll update again when I can.

Things I've Learned

Here's just a random list of things I've learned over the past 9 months.

I've learned that:

-Yogurt is the only thing that doesn't hurt coming back up when I vomit
-Eating a hot dog at any time of the day (even 10am) brings NASTY heartburn when I lie down at night
-My husband is truly a gift from God and extremely patient with me (even when getting out of bed at 3 am to rub my back and hold back my hair when I am barfing in the bathroom-yes he did that every single time)
-I can actually be quite organized (and I like it!) when it comes to baby clothes, baby things, and especially cloth diapers
-Every pregnancy is different and how each person deals with pregnancy is different
-I will NEVER take for granted sleeping on my stomach, rolling over in bed without groaning, and not having to get up to pee every two hrs through the night
-Conception, pregnancy, and child birth are incredible and perfectly orchestrated by God-It really amazes me that women can get pregnant at all let alone how our bodies know exactly what is needed and how to push these little humans out. Really, think about it...God knew what He was doing by designing us the way He did.
-Even though I'm pregnant, I am still very sensitive to those who are struggling with infertility and who have gone through miscarriages. I will never forget this journey.

I'm sure there are more things that I've learned but that's my list for now.

Nursery and 3/d u/s pictures!

Here are some nursery pictures. I'm NOT so good with the camera getting all the right shots but I tried!

Messy closet with the dresser:

Here are some pictures of little Skittle at 32 weeks gestation. We think she is absolutely perfect! She was facing my back and she was being VERY stubborn and didn't want us to take pictures of her face. We had to keep poking her and pushing on my belly to get her to look at us. Even then, it was only for a couple seconds at a time.

Big fluffy lips and cheeks!

Yes, her eye looks funny here-it's all the camera angle. (I think she was getting tired of us messing with her!)

Like a little angel...

Dh's favorite pic...such long fingers!

Here We Go Again...

I had my 32 week OB appt this morning (really I'm 32 weeks 5 days but couldn't get seen before this because of the holiday) and I wish things had gone better. I mean, weight and bp are still perfect but once again, I'm measuring small. This time I'm measuring 4 weeks behind. Not good. What Dr. S had talked about two weeks ago was that little or no growth is a bad thing-and ordered up the u/s I had with the Peri, which I had around 31 weeks gestation. Now that it's almost 2 weeks later and I've only grown 1cm, something isn't right. I saw Dr. K today and since I had just had the growth scan 10ish days ago-and Skittle was only measuring 5 days behind then, I won't be getting another u/s right now. Dr. K did say that they are going to keep an eye on things and will recheck me again in two weeks (at which time I also get to do the lovely vaginal swab for GBS (I can't remember what it stands for...). I'm not thrilled but you gotta do whatcha gotta do.

One thing that irritates the crap out of me is that I have to have an IV and must be strapped down for labor. I talked with the nurse about it today and she said that if I go to the hospital during early labor they will let me walk the halls and do intermittent monitoring but not during active labor. Give me a break! My plan is to go as naturally as possible without pain meds (though, I do know my pain tolerance is very low as AF cramps bring me to my knees and God help me-or Morphine-when I have a kidney stone but I at least want to try to go without an epidural) but I feel like I'm hitting a wall when it comes to how I want to labor and this hospital is making it difficult for me to feel like I can do it without meds! Did you know that 75% of women use an epidural during labor? My chances are high that I'll end up going that way-but shoot, I'd like like an environment that encourages NO meds! I asked if I was allowed to push in a different position other than on my back and I was told NO if the doc was catching the baby. It makes my decision to labor here in town bittersweet as I know that if I was to be at that birthing center in Tucson, they would let me do it how I want to. (Such as pushing on all fours or squatting-which greatly reducing the chance for tearing, labor in a tub, eating small snacks to keep my strength up, not having an IV, etc.) I don't want to regret my decision but it's hard not to think about that.

I'll post my 3d/4d pictures and pictures of the nursery in my next post as I'm going to post a link to that blog entry on FB.

Thanks for reading!