6.1.11: My Evening

I must be fast. Greg has ordered me to sleep, not just be in bed, but to sleep. But he's out doing my bidding so I have a few minutes.

I'll tell you the end of the story first and then start from the beginning.

I am on semi-bed rest for the next few days.

Yesterday, I woke up with slight cramping. I thought I was just hungry so I got some food. This made the cramping worse, but I've experienced enough fast Sundays to know that's semi-normal. I went on a run and felt pretty good but by the afternoon, I was feeling worse and worse. I thought I had the flu. But by 9:30 last night, it was apparent that I did not. I was concerned about my low-lying placenta so called a few nurses. Nurse number one said I had appendictis and told me to go straight to the ER. I've heard about appendicits and knew I didn't have that so I called my midwife for a second opinion. She said I most likely had a uniary tract infection so told me to take some Tylenol and call in the morning if things weren't looking up.

Around 2 am the Tylenol wore off and I was in pain. I tried to sleep and succeed a bit. I got up with Rex at 6:30 ate, took more Tylenol, took a hot shower and got back in bed. Rex was very good about the whole thing and didn't bug me one bit. "Mom sick" he said as he left my room and closed the door. Greg got up and turned on Sesame Street for Rex so I had about an hour more to sleep. When I got up I was feeling great but decided to go in and see the midwives anyway. Rex and I took the car in and went to the part and then up to the doctor's. By this time the Tylenol was wearing off, but I was still functioning.

The midwife ran a few tests and determined that I do not have a UTI. I was just experiencing bad ligament stretching from a growth spurt the baby was going through. I should keep taking Tylenol and it would go away in a few weeks. Awesome.

I picked Rex up from Great-Grandma Robins house and came home. Rex feel asleep in the car so I decided to lie down for a bit to let the Tylenol that I took at Grandma's house take effect. I feel asleep for an hour. Oops.

When I woke up, I finally did the dishes that I hadn't done for a few days and then started working on my research paper. I got about three paragraphs written when I got really uncomfortable. I decided to lie down for a bit to let my cramping muscles relax. Then I decided to sit on the toilet a bit (TMI?), as I sat down the pain became intense and unbearable. I turned on the tub and got in, hopeing the hot water would help ease the cramping. I also called Greg and told him I needed him to come home, thinking he would play with Rex and I would rest.

A few minutes later, I was in immense pain and decided we needed to go to the hosptial. I carefully put my clothes back on, pretty much crawled downstairs, emailed my professors and explained why I would not be in class tonight, crawled back upstairs and waited for Greg.

Greg ran in the house, got Rex up, and we rushed to the hospital. I was in more pain than I was in when I was in labor with Rex. Greg got me checked in and then took Rex to a friend's house to play.

Meanwhile, I languished on the oh-so-comfortable hosptial bed trying to remember my Hypnobirthing while the nurse pushed and prodded and poked and tried to find the baby's heartbeat. I was about to punch her and tell her I didn't care, when she gave up and left. So there I lay, all alone in tons of pain and the nurse refused to give me anything because she couldn't find a doctor to ok it. By this time, Greg was back and was pretty upset that they wouldn't give me anything. He called my uncle who works at the hospital but he was with other patients so couldn't come. Greg continued to insist that we not wait for the doctor on call and that the nurse find another doctor--we were in a hospital afterall. She finally did and he came in and proceed to poke and prod--asking which hurts more. I don't care just give me something. But he refused. He wanted to run some tests first--really I can't just have a little Loratab?

He came up with a diagnosis that had something to do with muscle spasms, but I think he's wrong. After sitting in the hospital for a few hours, I was able to get my Hypnobirthing on and relax, at which point I could better distinguish the pain and it definately felt like labor--contractions and all. But I had it under control (ish). The nurse assured me it wasn't labor. Finally the test results came back, the doctor was still convinced of his muscle spasm theory, but agreed to give me something for the pain. This is after Greg had gone in search of my uncle to get his own perscription.

So after getting to the hosptial around 4:3o in more pain than labor, I got some Loratab around 7:20. Awesome. I laid in the bed waiting for it to take effect for about 40 minutes; Greg very kindly dressed me; got me a wheel chair and took me to the car.

And now I am in my bed still in a bit of pain but definately bearable. I plan to stay here for a few days. Doctor's orders. Semi-bed rest. Greg will take tomorrow off work to watch Rex and then we'll see what we need to do from there.

So what do I think is actually wrong? Stretching ligaments. I got cramps similar to this with Rex but they came more like contractions and were done in about 30 minutes. I think I'm just more stretched out than I was with Rex; this is my second after all. But I also think I'm done running. I had hoped to make it to 30 weeks like I did with Rex, but I'd rather not spend another evening in the hosptial begging for relief and being told to wait for the test results to come back.

So that's what we did tonight. Greg took excellent care of me and Rex. Rex even promised to stay in his bed because "Mommy sick. Res seep." I don't know how I got so lucky with the boys in my life.