Friday Night Excitement

Yes, the image to the left is an IV at the hospital. I spent much of Friday night writhing in pain at the other end of it. Thankfully, both the baby and I are just fine.

At about noon yesterday, Harper and I were walking up the stairs at home when I suddenly felt dizzy, faint, and extremely weak. After a snack of fresh fruit and a guzzle of water, the spell mostly passed. However, I still felt like there was something wrong. I sent Jeff a message asking if he could come home just in case.

Everything seemed okay for the most part, but shortly after dinner (about 6pm), the sensation came back. This time it was accompanied by severe cramping in my stomach (above the baby) and my mid-back. For a brief time, I was afraid that I was going into pre-term labor because the cramping was simply unbearable. I did realize though that true contractions would be felt elsewhere, and would come in cycles. This was persistent, severe pain. The pain progressed, so I eventually had Jeff take me to the nearest hospital (though not where I'm regularly seen for my prenatal care, almost an hour away).

We were there for almost four hours while they pumped IV fluids into me & made sure both the baby and I were doing okay. The pain did not lessen, but they continued to refuse me any pain medication. They had me in a labor & delivery room, and those beds were not made for comfort. They could have put me in a bed fit for a queen and I probably still wouldn't have been able to get comfortable. I'll spare you the gory details, but I'll just say that they assumed I had a kidney stone and/or a possible stomach bug along with severe dehydration from not being able to keep anything down. At about 10pm they finally agreed to give me pain medication that instantly zapped the horrid cramping. I typically am anti-drug, but this was such sweet relief that I hardly cared. Once my body had finished sucking down a bag and a half of saline, I was discharged with instructions to make an appointment with my regular OB this coming week.

I had never had a kidney stone before, but plenty of mamas state that the pain is plenty worse than labor or childbirth itself. I'm sure that has something to do with the fact that while pregnant, you can't get much relief or treatment for a kidney stone. I didn't experience true labor with Harper since he was a scheduled c-section, so I'll let you know in a few months.

And what would I have done without my sister-in-law, Emily? She agreed to watch Harper at the last minute & much later than anyone would want to babysit. Harper is pretty anti-social, but thank goodness for her son Logan, too. Harper adores his cousin, and from what I was told, his face lit up the moment Logan jumped out to greet him. Emily, thank you so much for helping us out at such short notice & so late at night when you had to work the following morning. Love ya!

As for my experience at Davis Hospital, I was relatively pleased with the care... But let's just say I'd rather not have to go back any time soon.