Long Explanation, prepare yourself...

Well, I thought I should explain what has been going on this week-hopefully I will make sense (I have a hard time concentrating on pain pills). Anyway...here's my update/explanation...You may or may not know that I am kinda in charge of the road show for my ward. We are doing a Star Wars theme thing and it's really funny, but I won't go into that much today...the point about that is that every Wednesday night I am going to the church for the Young Men/Young Women's activity to rehearse and get the road show ready. This Wednesday, I had told everyone to be there on time as I would be casting the show right at the start, then we'd go full force into it. As it turned out, we learned the biggest song in the show, and we did get the show cast. None of this really matters though, I'll just say that the reason I went off on that tangent was to make the point that I had to be there to cast the show and stuff...now here is what I was really trying to get to...

Wednesday the kids and I cleaned their rooms so that they could play Wii again. It was a big job, but mostly I just told them what to do as I sat in the middle of the rooms...there was no heavy lifting involved. We cleaned the boys' room first, then on to Solace's. room. Halfway through her room I got a massive sharp pain in my lower right side. Now, if you've been pregnant before you probably already know pains like that come and go sometimes for various reasons (stretched muscles/tendons, gas...). So, I just thought "OK-this is really, really painful, but it's probably just nothing-I just need to relax and sit down for a bit." So I was waiting it out hoping the pain would work itself out-it was not getting any better, and by the time YM/YW came up at 7 pm, I was ready to cancel it but kn0wing I couldn't I just sucked it up and went to the church where I tired to get everything done, and tried to be in charge without standing or moving too much-and without making it obvious to anyone that I was struggling. So , I made it through, came home, complained to Wes some more about the pain, and talked to him trying to assess what was going on, and at what point I needed to go into the ER.

Fast forward to the nighttime. I would have gone to the ER much earlier in the day if I wasn't so worried about the cost it would be. So, I spent much of the night in major pain in bed weighing whether I hurt enough to pay to go to the ER or not. Also, we have good friends here in Spokane(their son goes to school with Solace) and I knew the husband was the resident in the ER, and I seriously would not care having him see me in the ER, except I was sure I was going to need a pelvic check and that just made me feel awkward, and I thought it wouldn't be the most comfortable for him either. Then it occured to me that it was also very likely that if I went to the ER and told them I didn't want to see the resident, they would be ok with that, but very likely the attending I would see instead also has a child in Solace's class. SO it was awkward all around...

SO, I came to the decision that it was not worth the money and awkwardness...until about 2 am. At about 2 AM, I hit a wall, and as I said before, I would have been in the hospital well before that if I hadn't talked myself out of it worrying about money and awkwardness. So, I woke Wes up, asked him to give me a blessing, then talked to him about my concerns for a good half hour or so, and finally decided that I needed to get the the hospital. On a pain scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst, I was at a solid 9...it was like the worst pain ever for me (I don't think I have ever felt a 10 pain in my life). So, since I had just taken a Tylenol with codine and did not feel real secure driving, we had to wake everyone up, get shoes and coat on them and Wes and the kids drove me to the hospital. I went into the ER and got as far as "I'm 30 weeks pregnant and have major pain in my lower right side..." when they immediately had me in a wheelchair and were rushing me over to labor and delivery.

I spent all morning in labor and delivery. I have a chronic history of urinary tract infections and have been on maintenance doses of macrobid this pregnancy to try to avoid a kidney infection. The most similar pain to what I was feeling was when I had kidney stones as a teenager. So, they checked for infection and there was infection. They thought that the pain might be a muscle thing, so they were going to release me at about 11 am with Tylenol for pain and leave it there, but before they released me they decided to do a pelvic exam to make sure I was still nice and closed off (they had recorded quite a few contractions throughout the day and just wanted to check to be sure). SO, literally, they had my discharge papers all drawn up and ready to go and then did the exam. They were surprised to note that in the exam my cervix is soft, appeared to be quite thin, and I was barely starting to dialate (just a fingertip). So obviously, this little turn of events kept me in the hospital at least long enough to get an ultrasound (thus the pictures of the baby-or the silver lining). Anyway...

Basically this is the outcome of all that-I was discharged from the hospital late Thursday afternoon with pretty strict instructions on what to eat and how to limit my activities (no carrying kids, groceries, take it easy, no drinking any caffeine, etc...). The ultrasound revealed the the baby is huge (as we already knew from previous ultrasound), but this one put baby's due date the earliest yet (May 4-3 full weeks early), baby measures well over the 90th percentile they said, and based on the measurements should weigh 4 pounds 7 ounces right now (they would expect about 3 pounds at this point). I also have extra amniotic fluid which was a new discovery. That being said-this will not be the last ultrasound...Baby is too big, and with the extra fluid, and the soft cervix, I am in for more to come. (The cervix measurement came back a bit thin, but not thin enough to cause great concern) As of this point I am not being put on bed rest yet, but I am in early labor stages, not in active labor yet, and they want to keep it that way-thus the rules and instructions. They also think I am probably passing kidney stones. So I am on some pretty intense pain pills to try to control the pain. I am trying not to knock myself into active labor, so I am trying to take it easy. It is kinda crazy. I can feel contractions every once in a while, but nothing huge or consistent. So, I am sure all will be well in the end. And at this point, I am no longer worried about the money because I have most assuredly hit my premium now, so bring on the extra ultrasounds...