Random Rantings of a Rambling Redhead: Hospital Stay (Wish this was an April Fool's joke)

So, for the first part of Keith’s spring break we decided to go to GR to spend some time with my parents. My mom was going to help me with the car seat and a few other projects

The first couple days went well. We got the car seat taken apart and hit a few fabric and craft stores, as well as Once Upon a Child (love that place!). Well, the day we were supposed to head home I started feeling… not right.

It started that night, I couldn’t get comfortable or sleep well. There was a dull pain in my back and a lot of pressure down there (if you catch my drift). When I woke up for the day I kept having to use the bathroom and my back pain kept getting worse and worse. I was seriously delirious from the pain. I couldn’t take care of Avalyn, couldn’t really move, it was just awful. Thankfully I could feel Nicolas move the entire time, so I knew he was okay.

Around 2:00 PM my mom convinced me to call my doctor – who in turn told me to get to a hospital ASAP. That’s what every pregnant woman wants to hear! My parents decided to take me to Spectrum, they have the best NICU (just in case), and thankfully I didn’t have to wait in the normal ER. I ended up in OB triage where the nurses are sadists by the way.

I was severely dehydrated. I couldn’t keep anything down all morning, I had already vomited five or six times, there was nothing left in my body to throw up after a while. Which meant I needed a saline drip. In order to get that I needed to get an IV inserted. Not so easy to find veins when a person is dehydrated I guess. The nurse stuck me in the hand two times (seriously stabbed me with the damn thing), and I was already in mucho pain so I cried… well I felt like I was crying but I had no tears to cry. Who’s a giant baby? This girl! Well, the nurse couldn’t find a vein in my left hand, so she called in someone else, who stuck me in my right hand twice before finding a vein.

After getting the saline going they gave me a dose of Dilaudid which really, really helped with the pain. Not saying I was 100%, not by a long shot, but I was able to stop crying. For a half an hour anyway. Next up was an ultrasound. Checking to see what was going on in my body to make me feel the way I was feeling.

Apparently my right ureter was dilated and inflamed which made the doctors think I had a kidney stone. Awesome. I was admitted to the hospital at this point, which meant I had to go up to the OB special care unit. Let me just say this: The nurses in that unit are the nicest nurses I have ever met. They were attentive and caring and friendly. Ah! So much better than the nurses who helped deliver Avalyn and a billion times better than the nurses in OB triage.

The whole time this was happening my mom stayed with me, and my dad took care of Keith and Avalyn. Matt was still two hours away at home, with no car and on call. I didn’t think he’d make it down. But thankfully, his parents drove up to get him and his boss let him switch his on call time with another tech. So, around 11:00PM Matt was by my side. I was so thankful for that!

Over the next day and a half I couldn’t really eat, the pain was too intense, but I was really thirsty. It was so nice to drink and chew ice. Best ever. Friday at 2:00PM they scheduled my surgery. I didn’t need to get cut open or anything but they had to place a ureteric stent. It was scary. I didn’t want surgery, I didn’t want Nicolas to be hurt in any way. I was feeling like a horrible mother. I abandoned my other two kids, and I couldn’t protect my baby boy who was still growing inside me. Epic case of mommy guilt here.

I should note, I was freaking out all Friday morning about the surgery and I texted my dad about it. He left work and stayed with me all morning and talked to me and made me feel better. He even stayed in the waiting room during surgery (Matt was sleeping since he had been up all night with me). When I was out of surgery my dad was the first person I saw after some post op monitoring of Nicolas.

I knew Nic was okay as soon as I came out of it. He started kicking and moving right away. I’m so glad he’s such an active boy! Anyway, my dad said I looked better than I had in days, and I told him I already felt a million times better. And I was hungry. Always a good sign. He went home after that to get my mom and the kids to visit.

Back in Special Care, my nurse asked if I needed any pain meds and I told her I was great. No pain meds needed. She thought I was just being brave (her words, not mine) after surgery and told me I didn’t need to be. But I really felt great. The only thing I wanted the pain meds for were to help me sleep! Haha! I knew that was no reason to take them! So I didn’t. I think I had two Tylenol after that because of some upper back pain (something about air being pushed into my body and needed to find a way out – aka gas. So odd!), but otherwise I was pain and medication free!

I need to note, as soon as my friends found out I was in the hospital I had so many visitors! I am so lucky to have such amazing people in my life. Val came to visit on Thursday after work, and so did Penny after school. Matt’s mom visited as well. It was nice to know people are here for me when I need them.

I also found out, the day I went into the hospital an old friend had her baby boy! Different hospital, but how neat is that?

I was discharged on Saturday and we went home the same day. I was sad to be so far from family and friends. Sad = emotional mess. It’s hard to go from having a huge support system to nothing at all. But it was nice to be home.

Now that I’m home I decided to write this up. I know I’m missing a lot of details, but a lot of it is a blur. In a couple days I have to take out my stent, and then Thursday I have an appointment with my OB. That should be fun.

To wrap up: Kidney stones are awful, worse than labor, and I don’t recommend them!