Jay and I arrived in Nashville, TN mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve. We quickly melted into the familiar rhythm of my family while enjoying the new beat that my 5 month old nephew, Baby Jack, brought to the mix. Enjoying our Christmas tradition that evening of finger foods and stocking gifts, everything seemed normal besides my new exhaustion and feelings of being a stuffed turkey after only a few bites of food.
We went to bed at a decent hour, exhausted from our travels and expecting a good night's sleep. But I awoke sometime in the middle of the night with a deep and strong pain along the bottom of my stomach. Thinking maybe I just needed to switch positions, I rolled over to find the pain even more profound with the movement. I got up to go to the bathroom and discovered a sharp and consistent pain in the right side of my belly between my belly button and hip. Knowing that pregnancy produces such weird occurrences, I painfully went to the bathroom and headed back to bed thinking it would work itself out. I considered checking the time, knowing that if this persisted, someone would ask when the pain started. But ever being the optimist, I refused that idea and tried to find a comfortable position to return to sleep.
In what I'm assuming was a couple of hours, I woke again to find the same searing pain in my side. I was unable to find a comfortable position, and my mind started rolling. Of course my first thoughts were of the baby, but considering the pain was localized, I soon began thinking of appendicitis. For some reason I've always feared this condition and have often looked up the symptoms when I have any kind of strange pain in my belly. I didn't want to think the worst, but I couldn't possibly go back to sleep. So finally a little before 5am, I woke Jay up and asked for his iphone so I could do some research.
Of course, he immediately woke up and started asking what was wrong. Appendicitis seemed like a good possibility since the pain started out spread all over and then became localized and was strong and consistent. But of course, the main concern was the baby. Jay soon called a nurse at our doctor's office who took me through a series of questions and finally suggested we head to the emergency room. So at 5:30am that's what we did. We woke the whole house before leaving and were in the car by 6am with my parents promising to be close behind. I was thoroughly annoyed that this was the beginning of my Christmas day, but Jay was insistent, and never having had a pain of this sort for such a long period of time, I thought it would be better to be safe as well.
Arriving at the ER, we were checked in and quickly sent up to the OB floor where I changed into a gown and was hooked up to monitors. This was my very first time in a hospital bed. Over the next few hours, I was asked the same questions over and over by a variety of people. They checked my blood and my urine, which all came back clear. They monitored the baby, who seemed to be doing fine, except for a couple of drops in heart rate, which sent the not-so-helpful nurse into what seemed like panic mode for a nurse. And there was also the weird reading of very minor contractions or cramps. This was also worrying the nurse, even though I was not dilated and really didn't feel like I was having cramps or contractions.
After going round and round with the nurse calling the OB and checking on the baby's stats, she finally asked me what my pain level was. The pain had subsided some when I was laying down, but when I would get up to go to the bathroom, which was frequent since I fought having an IV put in and was given a huge thermos of water instead, the pain was so intense I could barely walk and going to the bathroom was almost unbearable. So when the nurse asked me on a scale of 1-10 how I was feeling and I told her 5, which was categorized as "I would stay home from work and wanted drugs," she began to worry a little. Though I've been called a drama queen, the one thing I cannot stand to be dramatic about is illness. I, like my father, avoid medication, doctors, and hospitals like the plague and shrug off random pains knowing they'll eventually go away and never be explained. So the nurse was surprised by my "5" since I seemed to be in good spirits. However, after giving this rating, she rushed back out to call the OB and came back with a shot.
I don't like shots. Those who know me well know my history with needles, which is not a pleasant one, despite the fact that I have 3 tattoos. We explained to her that I didn't do well with needles, as she should have already known considering I fought tooth and nail against an IV. Nevertheless, she proceeded to tell me that the needle wasn't bad, just the medication going in. It apparently would burn like fire and that was the thing to worry about. Ummm...thanks? I will never understand why medical staff, including doctors, are not trained to NOT tell patients things that will make them worry even more! Anyway, the shot was for the purpose of stopping the contractions which had been consistent for several hours. The hope was that the medication would stop the contractions which would then stop the pain in my side if that's what was in fact causing the pain.
So getting all worked about this tiny needle with the fire medicine, my mom and Jay quickly came to the bed to rub my feet and sooth me as best they could. I didn't feel the shot and the painful burning lasted for about a second. Thanks for the paranoia! Unfortunately, the reaction to the paranoia always comes after the shot. So while the nurse was standing there waiting for the medication to kick in and chatting about all the awful things that could happen to my baby, such as her being born prematurely and not surviving, I started to feel the first signs of blacking out. I'm unfortunately too familiar with this process. I told my mom I was starting to feel that way, the nurse lowered the bed so I was lying more flat, and I started to panic a little. It was about 11am by this time and I hadn't had a bite to eat yet. I have low blood sugar. That means that I get extremely shaky if I don't eat regularly and often get migraines if I eat even a few minutes late. So considering all the drama, the shot, no food, and the extra concern the nurse was heaping on about the baby, I started to crash pretty hard. I remember saying "I would kill for a cracker right now" as I fought to stay conscious and not completely black out. I sucked down some more water while the nurse continued to go on about losing the baby and now how she definitely thought I needed an IV. Can someone tell me how it makes sense to tell me I need another needle, the one I fear the most, during a time when I'm blacking out because of the needle they just gave me? COMMON SENSE, people!!!
After checking my blood pressure, which had dropped to 67 over 30, the nurse rushed out to call the OB and order an IV. My mom, who seemed calm, was near to hysterics after hearing my blood pressure. Jay tried to explain that any time I had blacked out in the past my blood pressure had probably been the same, they just hadn't checked it, and there was really nothing to worry about. That did not reassure my mom. It also concerned her that I had suddenly gone icy cold and couldn't warm up. This was a symptom I hadn't experienced before. Knowing that if I didn't shape up soon, an IV was coming, I quickly calmed myself down and focused on recovering as soon as possible. Isn't it amazing what the mind can do!? I soon was feeling less shaky and weak. My mom went out of the room for some reason and when she came back I asked if she told the nurse I didn't need an IV. She hadn't and started telling me not to fight whatever they needed to do.
Thankfully, the ultrasound guy arrived at that point and I was able to focus on something else. He hooked me up and we all waited patiently while he checked every last detail that the nurse mentioned could possibly be wrong such as a torn placenta, low fluids in the uterus, etc. It was fun to see baby again, especially after the main concerns were cleared, and my parents were able to see her too. I told them I had set all of this drama up so they could see the baby! Ultrasound man cleared everything and said everything looked completely normal, including what he could see of my appendix.
Soon after, the OB finally arrived, my blood pressure was almost back to normal, and the IV was called off. Phew! The OB, who had actually delivered my nephew a few months earlier, quickly took control of the situation. Up until that point, Jay had compared our experience to driving on an icy road and sliding all over the place. The nurse certainly did not have any air of control about her and we were on edge for hours. But that changed when the doctor came in. She asked me a bunch of questions, checked my body all over for things no one else had mentioned yet such as blood clots, and felt confident that this was just one of those weird, unexplainable things. The most consistent diagnosis was that the 8 hour car ride and sleeping in an unfamiliar bed had caused the pain. Pretty much everything else had been ruled out. So the doctor suggested that I eat something, finally!, and if I was able to keep it down, I could go home, with the understanding that if any other symptoms developed, I would come back.
So I threw down some Cheerios and chocolate milk (my Christmas brunch) and waited to see how I felt. Of course, I was still a bit shaky from the medicine and not having eaten all morning, but mostly I felt OK except for the constant side pain. So I got dressed, discharged, and headed back home to begin my real Christmas! We got back around 1pm. My ten-year-old niece had already opened most of her presents and was anxious to get on with the rest of it. I took a quick shower and headed back down where my husband restricted me to the couch for the rest of the day. We opened presents and went on about the day as usual with everyone asking if the pain was still there throughout the day. Unfortunately it never left, but it also didn't get worse and no other symptoms cropped up.
I had been looking forward to shopping early the next day with my Christmas money and Running Bear's (our baby) gift certificate to Lucky Kids where everything was 65% off. But Jay absolutely refused to let me go out. So I sent him instead. He was my ambassador and arrived at Lucky Kids at 8am when the doors opened! He did a great job and bought some really cute things for Running Bear. I felt better throughout that day, but the pain was still there off and on. The next day I felt even better, and the pain was barely present. It disappeared altogether after that. So I guess the only explanation is that it really was caused by the traveling and must have been like a pulled muscle.
I haven't experienced the pain again until this morning actually. I was pretty active yesterday and had an incredibly sore back and hips by yesterday evening. So it must just be a muscle thing. The baby is still kicking strong, finally strong enough for Jay to feel. So I know she's doing OK. I'll be 24 weeks/6 months on Saturday, and will post some new pics of my belly soon.
And that's my Christmas story! By the way...Happy New Year!
