My Kidney Stones
I know that this will be very boring to most of you, but this has now become like my journal/family history/scrapbooking. So, that is why I write it down.
Last Monday I started to feel some back pain, but just thought that it was "normal" pregnancy back pain. I have dealt with back pain a lot, so I really didn't think anything of it. Tuesday, I went to my chiropractor and got adjusted and felt great afterwards. Thursday morning, I woke up not feeling very well, but once again blamed that on pregnancy. Kennedi and I went to a baby shower that morning and things only got worse. I felt terrible and my left side of my back hurt very badly. All of a sudden it hit me..."I think that it is my kidney that hurts so bad!" So, we left the shower early and went home. I called my mom right away because after 7 kids, she must know what is considered normal. Being the "Mommy's Girl" that I am, I just cried and cried on the phone telling her how much pain I was in. When I am sick, I seem to want nothing more than to just hear my mom's comforting words while I just bawl. It is somewhat therapeutic! She told me to call the Dr. right away. So, after some phone calls, they were able to squeeze me in at 2 PM. I called my very good friend who dropped everything that day to take me into the Dr. She picked up my prescriptions on the way to my house and brought her niece to watch Kennedi. They put me on Vicoden, so I couldn't drive myself. I have not been in that much pain ever in my life.
Shelley drove me to the Dr and Jerrod met us there. My doctor said that is was more than likely Kidney Stones. He told me to go home and keep taking my drugs and plenty of fluids and that there was really nothing else that we can do because of the wonderful situation that we got ourselves into called pregnancy. If things got worse, our only option would be hospitalization where they could give me stronger meds.
I went home that afternoon feeling so much better and optimistic about being able to stay home and take the Vicoden. I had a pretty good night and woke up the next morning feeling fine. Jerrod stayed home that day to help with Kennedi and to make sure that I was doing okay. At about 11 am, Kennedi and I finally decided to take a shower. Towards the very end of my shower, I felt excruciating pain that paralyzed me. The sharp pain in my back was worse than ever before and I started to have a very painful contraction. I started to throw up and poor Kennedi just stood there in the shower and cried. Jerrod came in and grabbed Kennedi and tried to comfort her. She gets so sad when she sees me cry and she probably wasn't too happy that I was trowing up all around her!
I got out of the shower and called the Dr. right away. They told me that I needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. After we made arrangements for Kennedi and packed up stuff, we drove to Valley Medical Center which is about 30 minutes away. (It was a VERY long drive)
I will try to make this VERY long hospital story short. We got to the ER, they transferred me to the Birth Center to make sure that I wasn't in pre-term labor. The Birth Center was packed, so they hooked me up to a monitor out in the hall. They said that I was having Braxton Hicks contractions, and that because I wasn't having "real" contractions, I needed to go back to the ER. They finally got me a room in the ER. We were SO frustrated because we sat in the ER room for 3 hours before they finally got me on an IV and pain medication. Jerrod got to the point where he tried to call my OBGYN to have him tell the ER doctor what to do. I started to feel somewhat better being on the medication, but it didn't take away my pain all together. I was still miserable.
We waited around for hours for an ultrasound so they could try to find the kidney stones. They finally got me into an ultrasound at about 9:00. It was very painful and they couldn't really see anything definite. I went back to the room and was there for about another hour or so and they sent me in to get an X-Ray.
Finally at about midnight, they sent me back to the Birth Center. They had a room open for us for the rest of our stay. We were exhausted and my pain was still very much there. My wonderful nurse made it her first priority to get my pain level down. Finally someone actually cared about my pain! She was a wonderful lady who had us laughing and smiling. She really helped to lift our spirits from such a long day!
It was great to be in a room that wasn't small and uncomfortable for Jerrod. I was thankful that he had a comfortable place to sleep. They got me hooked up to a PCU which is just a button hooked to my IV that allows me to push when I need more pain meds. It was great to not have to wait around for a nurse to give me more. After we got settled, Jerrod was finally able to sleep. My night wasn't the greatest, but that just comes with the territory of being in the hospital.
Throughout all of this, I was worried about the baby and how he was doing. They made sure that he was being monitored every few hours to see how he was doing. Every time, they said that he was great and looked healthy. The poor guy went through a lot that weekend also! It was hard taking the pain meds knowing that he also was getting a dose. But, I just had to have faith that Heavenly Father would bless and protect him through this time. I know that He did.
Saturday morning, Jerrod went to get Kennedi so that my mom could come pick her up from the hospital. It was SO good to see her cute little face. I missed her so much. Just seeing her smile made me feel a little better. I was only able to see her for about an hour, but that hour was wonderful.
Saturday afternoon, I started to feel a little better to where I wasn't having to push the button as often. It just turned into a waiting game. No one knew what was going to happen or how long I was going to have to be in the hospital. We just had to wait and see if I would pass the stones or if I could get to the point where I could take oral medication that worked.
Saturday night our good friends came to visit us and hung out for a few hours. It was a lot of fun just hanging out and getting my mind off of why I was there.
I slept very well Saturday night and woke up feeling a lot better. The stones still hadn't passed. (I had a strainer to pee in so that I would know when they came out) The Dr. came in and told me that we were going to try an oral medication to see how I did. If I did well on it then I could go home!
Well, I did fine on them, so we were sent home at about 2:30 PM on Sunday. It was great to be back home again. It was just hard coming home and not having Kennedi with us.
At about 6:30, I went to the bathroom and there they were!!
Thankfully, I peed in the strainer to catch them so I knew when they had passed. It was the craziest thing to see them come out of my body. The actually passing didn't really hurt, but I was pretty drugged up. Here is the picture them.
Last Monday I started to feel some back pain, but just thought that it was "normal" pregnancy back pain. I have dealt with back pain a lot, so I really didn't think anything of it. Tuesday, I went to my chiropractor and got adjusted and felt great afterwards. Thursday morning, I woke up not feeling very well, but once again blamed that on pregnancy. Kennedi and I went to a baby shower that morning and things only got worse. I felt terrible and my left side of my back hurt very badly. All of a sudden it hit me..."I think that it is my kidney that hurts so bad!" So, we left the shower early and went home. I called my mom right away because after 7 kids, she must know what is considered normal. Being the "Mommy's Girl" that I am, I just cried and cried on the phone telling her how much pain I was in. When I am sick, I seem to want nothing more than to just hear my mom's comforting words while I just bawl. It is somewhat therapeutic! She told me to call the Dr. right away. So, after some phone calls, they were able to squeeze me in at 2 PM. I called my very good friend who dropped everything that day to take me into the Dr. She picked up my prescriptions on the way to my house and brought her niece to watch Kennedi. They put me on Vicoden, so I couldn't drive myself. I have not been in that much pain ever in my life.
Shelley drove me to the Dr and Jerrod met us there. My doctor said that is was more than likely Kidney Stones. He told me to go home and keep taking my drugs and plenty of fluids and that there was really nothing else that we can do because of the wonderful situation that we got ourselves into called pregnancy. If things got worse, our only option would be hospitalization where they could give me stronger meds.
I went home that afternoon feeling so much better and optimistic about being able to stay home and take the Vicoden. I had a pretty good night and woke up the next morning feeling fine. Jerrod stayed home that day to help with Kennedi and to make sure that I was doing okay. At about 11 am, Kennedi and I finally decided to take a shower. Towards the very end of my shower, I felt excruciating pain that paralyzed me. The sharp pain in my back was worse than ever before and I started to have a very painful contraction. I started to throw up and poor Kennedi just stood there in the shower and cried. Jerrod came in and grabbed Kennedi and tried to comfort her. She gets so sad when she sees me cry and she probably wasn't too happy that I was trowing up all around her!
I got out of the shower and called the Dr. right away. They told me that I needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. After we made arrangements for Kennedi and packed up stuff, we drove to Valley Medical Center which is about 30 minutes away. (It was a VERY long drive)
I will try to make this VERY long hospital story short. We got to the ER, they transferred me to the Birth Center to make sure that I wasn't in pre-term labor. The Birth Center was packed, so they hooked me up to a monitor out in the hall. They said that I was having Braxton Hicks contractions, and that because I wasn't having "real" contractions, I needed to go back to the ER. They finally got me a room in the ER. We were SO frustrated because we sat in the ER room for 3 hours before they finally got me on an IV and pain medication. Jerrod got to the point where he tried to call my OBGYN to have him tell the ER doctor what to do. I started to feel somewhat better being on the medication, but it didn't take away my pain all together. I was still miserable.
We waited around for hours for an ultrasound so they could try to find the kidney stones. They finally got me into an ultrasound at about 9:00. It was very painful and they couldn't really see anything definite. I went back to the room and was there for about another hour or so and they sent me in to get an X-Ray.
Finally at about midnight, they sent me back to the Birth Center. They had a room open for us for the rest of our stay. We were exhausted and my pain was still very much there. My wonderful nurse made it her first priority to get my pain level down. Finally someone actually cared about my pain! She was a wonderful lady who had us laughing and smiling. She really helped to lift our spirits from such a long day!
It was great to be in a room that wasn't small and uncomfortable for Jerrod. I was thankful that he had a comfortable place to sleep. They got me hooked up to a PCU which is just a button hooked to my IV that allows me to push when I need more pain meds. It was great to not have to wait around for a nurse to give me more. After we got settled, Jerrod was finally able to sleep. My night wasn't the greatest, but that just comes with the territory of being in the hospital.
Throughout all of this, I was worried about the baby and how he was doing. They made sure that he was being monitored every few hours to see how he was doing. Every time, they said that he was great and looked healthy. The poor guy went through a lot that weekend also! It was hard taking the pain meds knowing that he also was getting a dose. But, I just had to have faith that Heavenly Father would bless and protect him through this time. I know that He did.
Saturday morning, Jerrod went to get Kennedi so that my mom could come pick her up from the hospital. It was SO good to see her cute little face. I missed her so much. Just seeing her smile made me feel a little better. I was only able to see her for about an hour, but that hour was wonderful.
Saturday afternoon, I started to feel a little better to where I wasn't having to push the button as often. It just turned into a waiting game. No one knew what was going to happen or how long I was going to have to be in the hospital. We just had to wait and see if I would pass the stones or if I could get to the point where I could take oral medication that worked.
Saturday night our good friends came to visit us and hung out for a few hours. It was a lot of fun just hanging out and getting my mind off of why I was there.
I slept very well Saturday night and woke up feeling a lot better. The stones still hadn't passed. (I had a strainer to pee in so that I would know when they came out) The Dr. came in and told me that we were going to try an oral medication to see how I did. If I did well on it then I could go home!
Well, I did fine on them, so we were sent home at about 2:30 PM on Sunday. It was great to be back home again. It was just hard coming home and not having Kennedi with us.
At about 6:30, I went to the bathroom and there they were!!
Thankfully, I peed in the strainer to catch them so I knew when they had passed. It was the craziest thing to see them come out of my body. The actually passing didn't really hurt, but I was pretty drugged up. Here is the picture them.
It was a very difficult and painful weekend, and I am thankful that it is over. I am thankful for all of the prayers that I know were said for me and the baby. I felt the strength that I needed to get through it all. I am also VERY thankful for the friends and family who helped take care of Kennedi. It was hard being away from her, but knowing that she was in good hands helped me a lot.
From now on, I will try not to overdo it with my calcium intake and drink a lot more water. I really don't want to feel that pain ever again!
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