45 days

I'm stealing sometime out of this day to capture the crazy events of the last few days. So the doctor put me on labetalol to reduce my bp. It dropped my bp down to into a much more normal level and for the most part it has stayed put ever since. Watching that number go down was a huge relief until around 6pm on Monday night when I started to experience a lot of menstral like cramping and off and on back pain. I figured it was just growing pains. I made myself a nice bath to see if it would help, but it was no good. After an hour in the bath, I layed down on the couch with a big jug of water (it's always good to stay hydrated) and a heating pad. The pain wasn't getting any worse but it wasn't getting any better so by 9ish, I gave up and tried to go to bed. Within a few hours I began to have horrible back spasms. It was like some was jabbing a knife into me. They would come and go without any predictable frequency. If I was in labor and these pains were actually contractions (which I have no clue what they feel like) I assumed I would have ripped through my cerclage and be bleeding like crazy by now. But I hadn't. Still trying to think rationally, I assumed it was either some sort of kidney/uti infection, I pulled my back out or I am having some sort of reaction to the lebatalol that I began taking just 6 hours prior. I've already been in the triage once in the last week (friday bp problem) and really did not want to go back so I stuck it out till 8am when I could get into see my doctor. Of course when I called they told me to go straight to triage.

As I was getting ready to leave the house, the tornado sirens started to go off. We were about to be walluped by a nasty line of storms and now I had to hope like heck that I made it to the hospital before it hit or I was going to be stuck out on the road during it. I'm thankful there weren't any cops along on my route because I think I was traveling around 60mph in a 45 mph zone nearly the whole way there. I started to just feel the first drops as I waddled my way into the triage department. As soon as the doors closed behind me, the sky opened up and the streets began to flood almost immediately. Upon checking into triage, the pain in my back was excrutiating. Every wave of pain just brought tears to my eyes. I thought I was very clear with the nurse that I thought I was NOT in labor but she didn't seem to believe me. She hooked me up to a couple of monitors. I wasn't really having any contractions, just a few small ones here and there. Baby's hb looked good. The nurse decided to check to see how dialated I was. 1cm. I was a little shocked to hear that I had dialated at all because I thought the cerclage would prevent that. Shows how much I know. The nurse then proceeded to do a fetal fibronectin test. I swear she is a really nice nurse but damn I hate that woman!! She inserted the speculum, performed the swap and proceeded to yank the speculum out without closing it!! I jumped and nearly nailed her in he face with my knee. She apologized profusely and apologized even more when she told me I'm probably going to be bleeding from the exam. I kept telling her it was ok (I'm sure it was truly an accident) meanwhile in my head I was calling her every name in the book. She then disappeared for the next two hours while I tried to find some position that would relief the back and vajayjay pain. When she finally came back she said the Fibronectin test came back negative and that I was not going to be delivering my baby in the next 2 weeks. Great news but I didn't think I was in labor. So what is causing all this pain I asked. She told me it had to be muscular pain and that I should sit around on all fours as much as possible to put counter pressure on my back.

Call my a cynic, but I really wasn't buying it. At age 24 I was in a horrific car accident which took months to recover from and this pain was on par with that pain. I was afraid to ask if she was sure, she's a medical professional but then again I didn't feel like she was giving me the right answer. I felt that way once before when I came in because I thought my water broke (granted they were right, but the way the information was delivered didn't really give me a vote of confidence). I made the decision to not question her judgement, I decided to take her advice and go home to hang out on all fours. She told me to get dressed and that I was free to go. After I signed the release paper work she asked me when my next doctors appointment would be. It was scheduled for wednesday afternoon, the following day. She said great, you might want them to check your urine for a UTI because that could be causing all of this pain too. WTH????

I think I just glared at her. I felt like demanding her to check it right then and there (which I really wished I had) but I was so pissed that I've been sitting in triage in horrendous pain for over three hours and all possible causes weren't explored that I just wanted to get as far away from this woman as possible. Could it just be pain caused by the strain of my growing belly....yes absolutely. Could this be an infection....yes (insert sarcasm) but lets not rule out any common pregnancy infections that can harm my baby or me (which incidently is a very cheap, quick test)!!

I took the day off and tried the "all fours", heating pad, layin down, a shower etc, but nothing was working. By the end of the day I could barely take four steps without having to stop moving. I tried sleeping sitting up in the living room chair but that wasn't really cutting it either. Crap, if labor pain is anything like this I'm going to ask them to hook me up for an epi as soon as I walk in to the hospital.

I took another day off and waited for my 1pm appointment. I got there at 12:45 and, go figure, the receptionist forgot to check me in to the system. I sat out in the waiting room for an hour before I finally go up and asked her how much longer it was going to be. Her eyes got as big as saucers when she realized she made a mistake. I think at this point I just about had it with the medical profession (pregnancy hormones talking here). I tried to redirect my rage which then turned me into an emotional mess. My doctor's nurse called me back and I explained that I had been in triage the day before, the pain, and that I was directed to ask for a urine screening from the doctor today. She did a double take. I don't think she even believed me at first until they read the notes on the triage visit. When I told my doctor (again I was very emotional), I told her as calmly as possible that I never want to go into that triage again and that they're all assholes there. As the word asshole still lingered on my lips I instantly regretted it. Oh my god, I'm pregzilla! My doctor started to laugh until she realized I was pretty serious. She asked me what the nurse's name was, I told her, and she said that was really surprising for that nurse to make that kind of mistake. I just sat there still mortified that I called the triage unit a band of assholes, yet a little miffed that my doctor didn't seem to believe me. UUUGGGHHHHH.

I'm sure it was mostly to appease me but the doctor agreed to send me for a urine test. She also repeated the nurses orders to hang out on all fours. I was just so embarassed at this point I was grateful for the appointment to end. The doctor was nice and pleasant the rest of the appointment, scheduled my cerclage removal (the 30th and it is coming out fast, ironically procedure will be done in triage), and covered the bp issues.

This morning I get a phone call from the doctors office. I have a raging UTI and am now on the antibiotics. After the first round I've started to see a wee bit of a difference and am so grateful for any relief I can get. Maybe I can sleep in my bed tonight. I'm clearly still miffed about the nurse not jut checking for a UTI on Tuesday but I'll get over it. Now I'm just worried my doctor repeated my complaint to the triage people. Can you be black-balled in triage? I still have to go in to that place at least 2 more times and I really don't want them to show me their "bad side". I can see the birth of my son now, the nurses are high-fiving each other out in the hallway while one is in telling me that they "can't figure out" why my epi is not working. Gulp....

Seriously can this pregnancy get anymore crazy? I thought I would love every minute of being pregnant but I think this rollercoaster was almost worse than going through IF treatments. Don't get me wrong, I love watching my belly dance around and I am going to get a great son out of this but I am ready to have this baby and get this phase done and over with. Only 45 days left.

Ok ladies, pj's are out of my hospital bag. I had to laugh when I looked at the bag because it is so empty I thought briefly about not taking it at all. Of course I'm joking but my sister thankfully reminded me that the hospital sends you home with a ton of things so the extra space should come in handy.

Ali, I found a great baby book for single women. It was kind of expensive but I love how easy it is to personalize it. It's made by Tesserra book company out of Milwaukee, WI. I ordered it off their website and I had it within a few days. I love it!