a pregnancy hiccup

{this post may be too a little detailed for your precious ears}
proceed with caution!!

my entire pregnancy has been very easy and thankfully we haven't had any problems.
until the other day. everything went to crazy town.

baby girl and i have been through a war!

DAY 1

on saturday morning we woke up like any other morning, with a great ambitious day.

we had so much planned and were super anxious to get out and register for all of our baby stuff!

however, the day turned. i was experiencing all of the symptoms of a uti. i have had a uti before and so it was easily recognizable and i knew its best to nip it in the bud! which we did. these are pretty common when you are pregnant, also not a big deal.

so we called the doctor and got a prescription. easy as pie.

assuming things were going to get better we kept on with our plans. however, i started to get pain in my lower back, which as google told us, could be a kidney infection. and in a pregnant persons case, means heading to the hospital. we were there for hours... because i didn't have a fever, which is a good indicator for any infection, it furrowed many brows. the next thought was kidney stones, but because i am 30 weeks pregnant they could only do an ultra sound, which does not give the best results. normally  they would do a x-ray.

after doing the ultra sound, they saw an enlarged kidney, but no kidney stones. assuming that i was experiencing a bad uti/kidney infection and needed to let it run its course. so after hours at urgent care we go home, on heavy pain meds and strong antibiotics. 

due to the medication, i was unable to keep any food down, or the medication for that matter. anytime i moved-i got nauseous. i took an advil pm to help me sleep through the night and hopefully wake up the next morning feeling better.

DAY 2: Easter Sunday

the next morning i woke up feeling worse. the pain in my back only got worse. after seeing no improvement all day, we decide to head to the ER.

i was hooked up to monitors to watch mine and the baby's state. the baby was doing fine, but i was showing signs of pre-term labor. apparently i was having contractions every 5-10 minutes and my cervix was thinning. so they wanted to gain control of my pain and monitor me overnight.

DAY 3
{we posted an april fool's insta on this day, thinking that everything was behind us... little did we know. things really came back to bite us in the butt!}

after getting my contractions to simmer down, and trying some pain medications that didn't make me nauseous, i was sent home. after everything that had happened and my condition, jeff was questioning leaving town for a work conference the following day. but after back and forth talk with my mom, she had already booked a flight. that night i hardly got any sleep. i woke up every couple of hours in crying pain! the medication COULD NOT keep up with me. 

DAY 4

jeff goes for away work, but thankfully my mom is now here in case anything happens.

after talking to my doctor and going over my condition, we decide to go to the ER again.

after waiting four LONG hours for some sort of pain medication, i am finally admitted and given heavy sleep aids. all of the sudden i am bombarded with doctors and doctors and doctors! good job giving me the sleepy's when you want me to meet everybody!

 at 3:45 AM, a doctor came in and is talking to us about surgery. we were so confused and didn't know what to think... we were advised that it was the best option, however going under anesthesia could put me into labor!

a little freaked out, we called my dad and jeff and tried to explain to the best of our understanding what was going to happen. there was a blockage in my kidney, possibly a kidney stone. so they had to go in and put a stent in connecting my bladder and my kidney so that fluid could be released from my kidney and bypass any possible blockage. luckily, this is not a permanent solution and the stent will be removed after i deliver, as well as any stone or blockage that may have been causing the problem initially. but because i am pregnant, they cannot just go right in and blast/laser the stones/blockage.

surgery was scary. it was my first one. before heading into surgery, i could hear them all talking in secret voices. over and over again i heard "30 weeks pregnant," "she just ate," "pneumonia" it was really starting to scare me. but the doctor doing the surgery was very nice and held my hand and told me she was very confident and had no concerns.

...


now i am home and recovering. thankfully, we didn't have a 10 week premie! my mom was a huge help, and we are so happy that she was able to come out! what would i have done?
hopefully things can go back to normal, and i can carry on with my breezy pregnancy.

in all honesty, going through this ordeal, has made me so thankful. i am sort of the crazy one that gets a headache and won't take tylenol. i am a strong believer in mind over matter and placebo effects.
jeff hates me for this.
however, this whole process just made me think of pioneers. which might be weird.
but i could not get my mind off the many woman who experienced simple health complications and did not have the medical advances that we do today and lost their babies, and many who probably lost their life. i have also never been a fan of hospitals or doctors... but as i am now pregnant, and i have a second life in my hands that i am responsible for, it changed things. during the whole 4 days, all i WANTED was to be at the hospital. i didn't want anything to jeopardize my baby's life. i wanted to be  in the right place at the right time if anything were to go haywire, that she would have everything she needs available to her.

as one of the nurses was leaving her shift, and a new nurse was taking over, she told me to be an advocate for myself, that if i felt i wasn't ready to go home, then not to let them make me.

i try to be a tough cookie, and i like to think that i am. as jeff and my mom could not experience what i was going through for themselves to know what was enough. i was usually the one to call the shots- and say "we are going to the hospital."

we are now moving forward at 30 weeks pregnant with more confidence than ever with our doctors.
we're looking forward to getting this baby girl here safely so that this freakin' stent can be taken out too!