I'm back home finally! I have wrote out a short version of events and a long version of events.
LONG VERSION.....
Sunday: Normal Sunday for us, church, visiting, relaxing. Patrick and I were at home in the p.m. I made a salad with some raw veggies and chicken breast. He made some pizza rolls and split half with me. I got about half-way through my meal, when I started getting a pain about where my diaphragm is. I got up, walked around and the pain got worse. It felt like severe pressure on my chest and radiating pain through to my back. It was so intense that I told him that we needed to go to the ER. We jumped in the van and took off. About 2 miles down the road, the pain was so bad that I could hardly talk. I told him to call the ambulance. We pulled off onto the side of the road and waited for the ambulance to arrive. I think it took them about 10 minutes to get to us. I called my dad in the meantime, and asked him what a gall bladder attack was like (he had a bad one a few years ago) and told him that we were going to the hospital. I wasn't sure if I was having a heart attack or what. The ambulance came to the intersection and I jumped out of the van and over to it. They checked my vitals and told me that it probably was not my heart. Anyways, we finally made it to the hospital. I was literally in the hospital room for two minutes, when I threw-up. After that I felt completely fine again. Whoo...I was so relieved to be rid of that horrible pain! Long story short for this day...the Dr. told me that I probably just had some acid-reflux from the hormones of pregnancy. We got discharged and went home to sleep.
Monday: I woke up, ate a bowl of multi-grain Cheerios, topped with some raspberries and drenched in rice milk. I went to work as usual, still feeling OK. My first customer arrived around noon or so...and that's when I started feeling the pains again. I layed down on the futon in the back, took some maalox and called my mom. She agreed to relieve me at 3:00 from work, so I could go home and rest. I called Patrick and told him that I wasn't feeling well again. He got out of work early and brought me some prilosec. The pain was getting more intense, so I called my Dr. She said to go back in if the pain was bad and if I was unable to eat or drink. So, we headed back to the ER. This time they did an ultrasound of my gall bladder. They found that I did have some issues with it. My blood tests also came back, showing that my liver enzymes were elevated. They decided to admit me to the OB floor and hook me up to fluids. Once we got over to the OB floor, I noticed I was having alot of tightening or contractions. I was put in a room with another girl and told that my husband could not stay with me. I could not help but start to cry. After everything we went through last year, I was not going to be by myself through this new journey. Finally, after talking to the doctor and nurse, they moved me to a private room so he could stay with me. I was contracting every ten minutes or so, which they said was probably from dehydration. That night the contractions led up, thankfully.
Tuesday: I was taken for an MRI. They found a stone blocking my bile duct. I had to talk with a surgeon, GI Dr., and OB. They all said that I had to get this taken care of, because it could potentially lead to pancreatitis, which can get bad in pregnant women. The surgeon did not think that he could do a surgery to remove the gall bladder, because my uterus was getting too large. The GI Dr. was not comfortable doing the procedure to clear our the bile duct on a pregnant woman. He recommended that I go to a more specialized hospital like the University of Michigan Hospital. I think that day I was allowed to eat a liquid diet. I only got down some jello and a few bites of broth. I just was in constant pain. I was leary about taking pain meds, not wanting to expose my baby to too much. After they decided it best to send me to U of M, they did not allow me to eat or drink anything. The plan was for me to leave the next morning. During the night, I started having contractions every 2-5 minutes. It was not a good night of sleeping. The nurse told me that I needed to take a medicine to stop contractions, but the med would make my heart race. I am not a caffeine drinker, because I hate the feeling of my heart beating fast. So, because I was half asleep, I told her no. Anyways, in the morning, the Dr. told me that I really needed to take a medicine. I ended up taking Procardia, which does not make your heart race.
Wednesday: We basically waited all day for the word on if they had a bed ready for me at U of M. At about 1 pm, my bed shook. Come to find out, I had felt the tremors from the earthquake in Canada! Finally, around 4:30 pm, the ambulance guys arrived to take me to U of M. It was a 2 hour ride full of bumps. I was wheeled to the 5th floor of the main hospital. We were only in our room for 20 minutes, when everyone got evacuated into the hall because of a tornado warning. Patrick's mom and sister arrived (safely thankfully) and we all waited in the hall. They did all of my Iv's and stuff out there. I started feeling more contractions around this time. After the tornado warning was lifted at 10:30, they took me to the OB floor to get checked out. I was contracting again every 3-5 minutes...oy! We were super anxious to find out if this was causing me to go into pre-term labor. I had an internal, and it showed that my cervix was great. She also did the FFN test, to see if I could possibly go into labor in the next 2 weeks. We were told to just sit tight until the tests came back. We were both so exhausted. At about 2 am...the doc came in and told us that the test was negative. I did test positive for group B strep, and also for a bacterial infection (which could be treated with antibiotics). We got back to our room around 3 am. We had a new roommate. She was in her 80's and talked the whole night. She was in pain and the nurses were in and out constantly.
Thursday: We met with different doctors to decide the plan. They all agreed to not remove my gall bladder at this point in the pregnancy. I would need to go on a low-fat diet the rest of the pregnancy and get it removed after the baby is born. They also decided, to do a procedure called the ERCP. With a scope, they would go through the esophagus, through the stomach to reach the bile duct. They would cut it, to enlarge it, and remove anything that was blocking it. I would be put under with general anesthesia. They explained the risks. One was that the baby could go into distress and they gave me the choice of taking her by a classic c-section to save her. They also went through the risks of the x-rays that had to be done during the procedure. My belly would be shielded though. It was a very scary time for me. I felt so guilty for exposing my little girl to all of this stuff. Not at all what I had planned for her...but we had to weigh the risks and benefits. We were scheduled at 3pm...we made it to prep and after waiting for hours, found out that they were not really ready for me. They OB department was not lined up with the gastro department. I won't get into all of the details, but along with the doctors, we decided to reschedule for the following morning. That night was another sleepless one. Our roommate was not doing well at all. Her family was coming in from out of town and the entire night was filled with comings and goings of nurses, doctors and lights on and off.
Friday: We headed into pre-op at 10 am. I was super nervous. The procedure started around 11. I woke up to a wonderful OB nurse and she said that all went well! I asked to see Patrick right away. The baby was kicking away and doing well. I spent the afternoon with my family. I even got to go outside. I also got to eat!! The surgeon checked on me in the evening. He told us that the bile duct getting blocked during pregnancy was very rare. They do about 10 of these procedures a year. I was looking forward to a night of rest, but unfortunately we had roommates in and out of the room all night. They had moved the one lady to a private room, moved a new one in (who passed gas all night and who could not hear, so everyone was yelling at her), she got moved to ICU at 2 am...another new roomie moved in at 4am. She kept complaining that she could not swallow. So yeah, I think I slept for 2 hours.
Saturday: Released at noon...yay!! Freedom and food. On the way home we stopped at a Panera. I of course ordered low-fat items. We got onto the highway and our van was not gaining speed. The speedometer was not working either. We drove a few miles on the shoulder to the next exit. We pulled off and made a few calls. Patrick filled the transmission fluid. We ended up driving home on back roads under 40 mph. We finally made it home around 4:30. My parents made us dinner and we chilled the rest of the night. Thank you Lord for getting us through the week!!!
(I left out a few things...I am sick of writing though :) )
Short version....
Went to the ER sunday night, released and back in on monday. Found out that my bile duct was blocked from my gall bladder. Surgeons in Saginaw did not feel comfortable doing anything to me because of the pregnancy. I was transported to the UofM hospital in Ann Arbor on wednesday. Thursday, ERCP was supposed to be done, but things got messed up before the procedure with scheduling. Friday, ERCP was done successfully. Bile duct is all cleaned out and opened up. I will get my gall bladder out after the baby is born. I was released on Saturday. My week was not the greatest. I could not eat or drink (except for 2 days I did try clear liquids), I had old ladies for roommates that were loud and we got nooo sleep all week. I had lots of contractions and was given medicine. It was a very suspenseful week and thankfully we are home. Oh, on the way home from Ann Arbor, our van had some transmission trouble. We had to drive under 40, in 3rd gear, on back roads. What a week!!
My husband was absolutely phenomenal through this. He literally never left my side. I noticed after about a day, that he would not eat around me. He hardly ate, because he felt bad that I couldn't eat and he slept in very uncomfortable conditions. We have been through so much in our marriage, and I am more and more amazed by his loyalty and love for me and our children. Our families were also very supportive. My parents visited several times and so did Patrick's mom and sister. My brothers, wives and kids also visited. I was so uplifted to see my niece and nephew. Our pastor also visited twice, and so did the our special friends from church the Greenfield's. Thanks guys for the prayers and love. :)
