Monday, October 28, 2013

Week 14, 5 days

Week 14 has been a trip to say the least. Tuesday the 22 I spent the whole day at the hospital ER after a night of some serious pain for me. After an ultrasound (baby was doing some gymnastics!) I was released in the early afternoon....that was quickly halted as I couldn't walk upright. The ER doctor came over and sent me for an ultrasound of my appendix and gall bladder. After a long time the tech and radiologist looked very concerned and said they couldn't say for sure but they thought I did have appendicitis. This was incredibly annoying to me because when I walked in at 10 am I told everyone that was what I thought was wrong. Soon after I met Will downstairs again I met the surgeon and my midwife at my bed. Basically I had two choices, wait for an mri and to determine if it really was appendicitis or just have the surgery not knowing and risking having a miscarriage and perfectly normal appendix. So the surgeon was able to get a local imaging center to see me immediately (in hospital terms which means 3 hours). Will and I went by ambulance and we waited there for an hour. Let me tell you...having an mri sucks when you have a history of anxiety and panic attacks. I ended up crying and hyperventilating by the end of it. By the time I got to the hospital again the surgeon was waiting for me and he was pretty adamant that even though the mri was inconclusive that I was having surgery within an hour. I was feeling worse by this time and felt that I probably needed the surgery. The whole time the reason it took so long to get to the surgery is that 1. I'm pregnant and 2. No one was really sure I had appendicitis because I wasn't in excruciating pain at any point. The surgeon just kept saying he couldn't be sure because of my lack of physical symptoms (low fever, hungry, not doubled over in pain). When I got to the OR (at almost 10 pm) the surgeon had gotten a second opinion and assured me that it was indeed appendicitis. Next thing I knew I was saying bye to my mom and Will and being wheeled to the OR. It was weird to be making jokes to the team and the anesthesiologist about how I have babies at home to avoid surgery and yet here I was. Both men kept asking if I really had my babies without drugs which they found to be insane apparently. And I was asleep. The pain I felt after the surgery (at least it was laparoscopy) was what I imagine the doctor was expecting me to being feeling before in the ER. I have never felt so bad in my life. Coming out of anaesthesia and the abdominal pain was intense and panic inducing. I barely remember the couple of hours after I went to my room. There were some nurses that Will yelled at when they were pushing on my stomach to check for the baby's heart beat with a Doppler, some lady in the bed next to me watching some awful show as loud as she could, me needing help to get up just to go to the bathroom. Morphine and antibiotics, an IV that hurt and blood pressure being continuously low. Wednesday morning Will left because he had to sleep before working the overnight and I was alone until my mom came. The surgeon came and said I had to stay another night because my blood work wasn't good yet and I was still in a lot of pain. He said that he didn't expect my appendix to be as bad as it was when he went in because I wasn't showing symptoms for as severe an infection as I had. I guess it was close to perforating by the time I had the surgery. Thank goodness it didn't! After more pain meds and antibiotics and my Mil and friends coming to visit, the next afternoon (Thursday) I was able to go home after normal blood work. I've been at my mom's house ever since because Will has been working overnights and doubles. I'm feeling a lot better but not 100% yet. I'm just happy things turned out fine and little baby is doing great considering what he/she went through with me. Let's hope for the next few months to be as uneventful as possible ;)
My next post is going to be one I wanted to post last week but want to write for a friend who wanted me to write my birth stories so in honor of Gabriella's 2nd birthday last week that's what I'll be doing.

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