The Dreaded Stone

This past week was probably one of the worst weeks of my life…or at least in a long time. I was feeling so great about this pregnancy. Things were moving along well, no major complications, and I was feeling pretty good considering I was pregnant. In the back of my mind I always dreaded the kidney stone rearing its ugly head, but there were no indications thus far and I was enjoying that. On Wednesday last week, it was Rob’s day off and I was doing some Spring Cleaning around the house. Just cleaning out the girl’s rooms thinking about making room for another little one to come. I started feeling a pain in my back on my lower left side. I typically feel kidney stone pains on my right side for some reason. Not that I haven’t had any stones on my left side, but my right side seemed to be prone to them more lately and I figured I had maybe passed some on that side. So when I felt a pain on my left side, my first thought was not a stone. I thought that I had possibly pulled a muscle. I am getting pretty huge and certain things have become awkward and painful so I kind of shrugged it off. But the more the morning went on the more I could tell that something just wasn’t right. I just wasn’t feeling well. I laid down and the pain didn’t go away and that was when I realized my worst fear…it was a stone. I told Rob I wasn’t feeling well and he asked me if it was a stone. After a few minutes I just started to cry and told him that yes, it was a stone. He made me lay in bed and tried to distract the girls from me and let me rest, but the worry was apparent. He dreads my stones as much as I do. Only a few minutes had passed and the intense pain hit and I was writhing. That’s the best way for me to describe it…writhing in pain. It’s the kind of pain that is so intense that there is nothing you can do to relieve it. No position helps…nothing. It’s just there to torture you and it was doing just that to me. Once Rob saw me in that condition he immediately began making preparations to take me to the hospital. Luckily the intense pain didn’t last too long (although it was long enough) and I was able to breathe and smile for my girls. From Rob’s actions and the way I was looking they could tell something wasn’t right and it worried them. It made me so sad to see them worry. My mom arrived and Rob and I were off to the hospital.

Once we arrived at the hospital I was actually feeling okay. The pain was still there but it was at least manageable. This time Rob took me straight to Labor and Delivery because that is where we always end up when I’m pregnant with a stone. We’re becoming pros at it now. The nurses actually were really good this time and believed that we knew what we were talking about since we’d experienced it several times before. They got me into a room and had me give a urine sample. It was quite a while before the results came back and I was thinking we should’ve just stayed home because the pain wasn’t as intense anymore so maybe I could handle it. That and they wouldn’t let me eat anything either and I was starving. Once the results did come back though and they saw there was a lot of blood in my urine they decided to give me some drugs (thank you!), hook me up to an IV and pump some fluids in me, get some ultrasounds and keep me overnight to see if I could pass what looked like a kidney stone.

Once I got the drugs in me everything gets a little cloudy. They made me so sleepy and I swear I slept the whole time I was there (as well as you can sleep in a hospital at least). I do remember most of the important stuff though. At about 3 am that first night the intense pain hit again…strong. They had me hooked up to Morphine and I kept hitting the button but it was doing nothing for my pain. It would put me to sleep for a while, but the pain was still there and every time I tried to sit up I’d get nauseated and start puking. It was a horrible night and I didn’t end up passing a stone like we had hoped. They finally switched me to Demerol instead of Morphine which made all the difference. It actually worked and it wasn’t making me sick anymore. At that point my doctor ordered some more tests and talked with a Urologist. She wasn’t able to get a good look on the ultrasounds so she asked that we get a low dose CT scan. I was a little worried about getting a CT scan while being pregnant, but they assured me that since I was most of the way through my second trimester that the risks were minimal. So we got a CT scan and guess what they found? A kidney stone! On my left side! Who knew, right? It was a pretty big one too. 5mm x 8mm. After I had Anisten I had a Lithotripsy on a stone that was 9mm, so that gives you a pretty good idea of how big this stone was. The urologist was pretty confident that I wouldn’t be able to pass it on my own and that surgery would have to be done. If I did decide to try to pass it on my own then it would probably be excruciating and who knows how long it would take. The pain had already caused me to contract and they were worried that it would put me into early labor. So unfortunately, it looked like surgery was my only option. I was so upset about it. Surgery was the last thing I thought would be happening. I was worried about me and the baby being under anesthesia. Once again the doctors assured me that since the baby was far enough along that she would handle the anesthesia fine and there were minimal risks. So the surgery was set for 8:45 the next morning.

Luckily the stone decided not to move during this time so I was actually feeling pretty good. The whole time I was in the hospital I was hooked up to so many machines it was crazy. I had an IV in my right arm and on my left was the blood pressure cuff that went off periodically (always waking me up). I also had two monitors on my stomach to monitor the baby’s heartbeat and movements. It was such a joke to get up to go the bathroom (which I had to do a lot because they were pumping liquids into me). It’s a good thing the drugs made me sleepy because I don’t know how I ever got comfortable. That night I was able to get some good sleep for the most part although I was really missing my girls and home and normalcy. Rob was really good to come and stay with me during the day which means my mom was really good to stay with the girls while he was away. They didn’t come to the hospital which I thought was good because I didn’t really want them to see me that way. My dad did come the night before the surgery to give me a blessing with Rob which I very much appreciated. It kept me calm.

Friday morning at around 9am I was wheeled down to the operating room. I can’t say much about the surgery, but they did what they wanted to do. The urologist was able to go up and remove the stone completely (I didn’t have to have any incisions) instead of destroying it with a laser. They should be able to test the stone and hopefully see what its made of. I was really worried she’d have to put a stint in which would leave the stone in, but relieve the pain. I’d have to get the stint replaced 3-4 times before my pregnancy was over and then once it was over, they could do a Lithotripsy. A stint is extremely irritating and uncomfortable and I was really really hoping we wouldn’t have to go that route…and we didn’t, so that’s good. Everything went as well as it could’ve gone. If only I could say the same for the recovery. I remember waking up after the surgery, its all pretty foggy, but I was concerned about the baby and about the pain I was feeling. The baby did awesome and they were monitoring her heart and I felt her move shortly after I woke up, so I felt good about that. But I was in some serious pain on my left side and it felt just like I was passing a stone. I was so confused. Didn’t they get it out? For some reason I thought I’d be free of pain once the stone was out, but the process of removing the stone left its mark and my body was reacting to that. I was in some pretty extreme pain once again until they finally hooked me up to the Demerol again. I was thinking we were done with all that, but I was wrong. I fell asleep for awhile and woke up feeling much better. I was ready to go home! They gave me some prescriptions to take home and some instructions to take it easy and we were on our way at about 6 pm that night. Three days I spent in the hospital. It felt like forever.

That night after we got home I started feeling some pain again and had to take some of the pain killers they prescribed. Luckily, the medicine and a warm bath helped and I was able to relax and get some sleep. The pain also came back the next morning, but once again the medicine helped and my in laws took the girls for the day (Rob had to go back to work) so I could recover. It felt like forever until I got out of the medicine head cloud I was living in. I hate that feeling. But I have been pain free for awhile now and I am thankful. The CT scan showed more stones in both of my kidneys but none as big as the one I had removed. If they do decide to move, then they should be passable. I guess that’s kind of comforting. It’s funny, as soon as I told Rob I thought I had a stone, he said this is it. We’re done having kids. I kind of laughed about it, but after what took place over the next few days I might have to agree with him. I obviously don’t enjoy kidney stones in the least, but when they begin to affect the health of my baby then it’s a real problem. If I wasn’t as far along as I am, then our options would have been much different. I hate to think that my baby was put in danger because of me. And it seems to be something that my body just does. Getting kidney stones three pregnancies out of three is not good odds. It’s pretty much a guarantee that it will happen again. I can’t say for certain right now, but it looks like three kids is the most we’ll be having. I thought maybe we’d have another, but I don’t know if I want to risk it again.

Here are some of the cute cards that my girls made for me while I was in the hospital

 This is a picture of my growing belly...I'm about 24 weeks here (one week before this incident)

I hope this entry doesn’t sound like I’m complaining. I know that I am actually very lucky considering all the things that other people deal with and go through. Mine is mild in comparison. It just happened so recently and is fresh in my mind and I wanted to record the details. It’s more for my benefit. This blog is like my journal, ya know? The next time I stay in the hospital will hopefully be when I'm delivering this little kicker inside me. What a trooper she is. I'm thinking that will be a much better experience than this one was...with a much more exciting end result. We'll get to bring a new baby home!