My third pregnancy has definitely been, by far, the most challenging. I was nauseated all the time for the first 14 weeks and just so uncomfortable there after. There were days that carrying the laundry basket upstairs, pushing a shopping cart, or trying to lift Avery in and out of her bed were so painful.
One Saturday afternoon, while sitting on the couch knitting, I started having chills and my lower abdomen started hurting, bad. The pain wrapped around my legs and into my back. I tried laying on the floor, sitting, nothing helped. I took some Tylenol, put my kids in front of a movie and took a bath. Still no relief. Of course Chad was on call. I was able to get a hold of him and he said just to take it easy and see what happened. I did only the minimum to take care of the kids and sat until I was able to put them to bed at 7 at which time I laid in bed, in pain for the next two hours. I finally decided things were getting worse so I paged Chad--I never page Chad so obviously it was a big deal. Chad told me to call the OB triage and that he would be home shortly to pick me up.
When I talked to the nurse she said "Oh it sounds like you have a UTI. You can either come in tonight or just wait until tomorrow morning and go to Express Care" I hung up the phone feeling so stupid that my husband left work for this even though I didn't feel like that was all that was going on. When Chad got home he looked and me and thought we should go in. I called my good friend to come sit with my sleeping children and we went to the hospital.
When I got there they hooked me up to the monitors. Landy's heart-rate and mine were faster than normal and I had a fever. They tested for a UTI and the results came back negative. They took some blood cultures, started antibiotics and fluids and moved me to a Labor & Delivery room where they could continue to monitor the baby and my contractions which started coming every 2 minutes. Around midnight Peyton woke up totally freaked out because I wasn't there so Chad had to go home. In the meantime, my blood cultures came back positive for Group B Strep. They changed my antibiotic and testing began. I was taken to ultra sound around 1am so the doctors could take a look at my kidneys and appendix. When those results came back negative, I was given steroid shots to help Landy's lung development progress in case we needed to deliver him early. Then I was taken to obstetrics where they did an ultrasound and performed amniocenteses. They thought maybe I could have chorioamnionitis-an in uterine infection. The results for that came back negative as well. Finally I had an MRI for a more in depth look at my kidneys and appendix. Despite the exhaustion from all the testing I felt a lot better by Sunday afternoon, the baby was doing extremely well and the doctors could not explain why.
I continued antibiotics and the doctors continued to monitor me. Although I was feeling normal they were very reluctant to let me go home because they still didn't (and don't) have an explanation for how GBS got into my blood stream. It was a pretty emotional few days not knowing what was going on, figuring out what to do for Peyton and Avery's care and just not knowing if were were going to have a healthy baby when all was said and done.
Finally I was able to go home on Wednesday but for the next two weeks I had to go into the hospital everyday for infusion therapy for my antibiotics and I am now taking an oral antibiotic 2x daily until this baby comes though at this point, the doctors and Chad and I are confident that we are going to deliver a healthy baby.
It was a pretty unsettling experience. I am so grateful Chad is a medical professional. The doctors would come and tell me what was going on and all I could hear were their worries, uncertainties, and negative risk factors. At one point I had to just have the fellow call Chad and have her tell him what was going on because there was no way I was going to be able to relay the information. It was all so overwhelming. I'm also grateful for the amazing dad Chad is. He took such great care of the kids. He brought them to the hospital everyday to see me (Peyton always brought me a snack) and he made arrangements for other people to cover for him at work so he could be home with the kids. I'm also grateful for his optimism and ability to help me see things clearly and rationally. And finally for his priesthood and the wonderful blessing of healing and comfort he gave me.
I am also so grateful for my amazing friend Ashley who was always there at the drop of a hat when I needed her to watch the kids, pick me up from the hospital and even watch Peyton and Avery basically every day for the two weeks I had to go in and get my antibiotics. It's hard not living close to family but so wonderful when you have friends close enough to call your family.
I am now 33 weeks and feeling better than I have this entire pregnancy. This whole experience was a bump in the road that really made me appreciate my family more, strengthened mine and Chad's relationship, helped me bond with baby Landry and draw closer to the Lord as we put our trust in him.
One Saturday afternoon, while sitting on the couch knitting, I started having chills and my lower abdomen started hurting, bad. The pain wrapped around my legs and into my back. I tried laying on the floor, sitting, nothing helped. I took some Tylenol, put my kids in front of a movie and took a bath. Still no relief. Of course Chad was on call. I was able to get a hold of him and he said just to take it easy and see what happened. I did only the minimum to take care of the kids and sat until I was able to put them to bed at 7 at which time I laid in bed, in pain for the next two hours. I finally decided things were getting worse so I paged Chad--I never page Chad so obviously it was a big deal. Chad told me to call the OB triage and that he would be home shortly to pick me up.
When I talked to the nurse she said "Oh it sounds like you have a UTI. You can either come in tonight or just wait until tomorrow morning and go to Express Care" I hung up the phone feeling so stupid that my husband left work for this even though I didn't feel like that was all that was going on. When Chad got home he looked and me and thought we should go in. I called my good friend to come sit with my sleeping children and we went to the hospital.
When I got there they hooked me up to the monitors. Landy's heart-rate and mine were faster than normal and I had a fever. They tested for a UTI and the results came back negative. They took some blood cultures, started antibiotics and fluids and moved me to a Labor & Delivery room where they could continue to monitor the baby and my contractions which started coming every 2 minutes. Around midnight Peyton woke up totally freaked out because I wasn't there so Chad had to go home. In the meantime, my blood cultures came back positive for Group B Strep. They changed my antibiotic and testing began. I was taken to ultra sound around 1am so the doctors could take a look at my kidneys and appendix. When those results came back negative, I was given steroid shots to help Landy's lung development progress in case we needed to deliver him early. Then I was taken to obstetrics where they did an ultrasound and performed amniocenteses. They thought maybe I could have chorioamnionitis-an in uterine infection. The results for that came back negative as well. Finally I had an MRI for a more in depth look at my kidneys and appendix. Despite the exhaustion from all the testing I felt a lot better by Sunday afternoon, the baby was doing extremely well and the doctors could not explain why.
I continued antibiotics and the doctors continued to monitor me. Although I was feeling normal they were very reluctant to let me go home because they still didn't (and don't) have an explanation for how GBS got into my blood stream. It was a pretty emotional few days not knowing what was going on, figuring out what to do for Peyton and Avery's care and just not knowing if were were going to have a healthy baby when all was said and done.
Finally I was able to go home on Wednesday but for the next two weeks I had to go into the hospital everyday for infusion therapy for my antibiotics and I am now taking an oral antibiotic 2x daily until this baby comes though at this point, the doctors and Chad and I are confident that we are going to deliver a healthy baby.
It was a pretty unsettling experience. I am so grateful Chad is a medical professional. The doctors would come and tell me what was going on and all I could hear were their worries, uncertainties, and negative risk factors. At one point I had to just have the fellow call Chad and have her tell him what was going on because there was no way I was going to be able to relay the information. It was all so overwhelming. I'm also grateful for the amazing dad Chad is. He took such great care of the kids. He brought them to the hospital everyday to see me (Peyton always brought me a snack) and he made arrangements for other people to cover for him at work so he could be home with the kids. I'm also grateful for his optimism and ability to help me see things clearly and rationally. And finally for his priesthood and the wonderful blessing of healing and comfort he gave me.
I am also so grateful for my amazing friend Ashley who was always there at the drop of a hat when I needed her to watch the kids, pick me up from the hospital and even watch Peyton and Avery basically every day for the two weeks I had to go in and get my antibiotics. It's hard not living close to family but so wonderful when you have friends close enough to call your family.
I am now 33 weeks and feeling better than I have this entire pregnancy. This whole experience was a bump in the road that really made me appreciate my family more, strengthened mine and Chad's relationship, helped me bond with baby Landry and draw closer to the Lord as we put our trust in him.
My cute visitors
The day I went home they took my blood pressure on an arm that previously had an iv in it. The vain popped. I was spraying blood just like in the movies :)
My companion for 2 weeks. I got a new iv every 72 hours.
32 weeks and the last day of infusion therapy.
(That white accessory hid/protected my iv)
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