AW: I went to L&D and all I birthed was a 3mm kidney stone...

2MamazInSeattle · May 2014

Hi!

Well I had quite the ordeal on Tuesday night and wanted to share. Welcome to the third trimester, and so long to my drug-free pregnancy I was aiming for...

Short story: I had a kidney stone attack, ended up spending the night in the high-risk/antenatal unit and fortunately passed the stone, avoiding surgery!

(very) Long story:

So, Tuesday I woke up feeling kind of off, at 5 a.m., and took a bath. Got through the day ok, but I feel a lot of urgency to pee - yet, no pee came out - and what did kind of trickled, no proper 'pee stream' could be made. I definitely did not drink enough water that day, but still. It was odd. I had a nutritionist appointment in the afternoon and asked to have my pee tested for a UTI. They obliged, but said it was likely the baby sitting on my bladder (later, the OB triage nurse said "um, a little soon for that").

I came home and around 5 p.m. got some serious, telltale flank pain that to me had kidney stone written all over it. I called my MFM and the NP taking calls said to try two tylenol and to rest, but if it got unbearable to go to OB triage after calling her back to alert them I was coming in. I took another bath and got the dry heaves, twice (always pretty to puke in the tub). I laid down for a while and tried relaxation techniques, only to find myself vomiting again from the pain. I called back deciding it was time to go in, and then texted J to come and get me!

The OB Triage was a great experience. WAY superior to an ER! They first monitored the baby for about 30 minutes. I was in *so much pain* but I just tried to breath and her rhythmic heartbeat was relaxing. I rated my pain an 8 of 10 - and I have a pretty high pain tolerance. It took quite a while and then finally they gave me morphine. So much for my drug-free pregnancy:(. It did absolutely nothing to address the pain, at all, and I was sent for a kidney ultrasound. That was less than awesome as it felt like I had a knife in my side and they were pushing and ultrasounding all over it. I whimpered through it. They definitely saw stones (duh) and I headed back to OB triage.

Luckily, even before the u/s my MFM was there and said she was admitting me. It was kind of a relief to just know I could settle in and honestly, in my head there was no better place to be! They moved me to my room (now I'm at a 9 of 10 pain) and said "we need to do an internal cervix check" - ug. Good news was it was high, long, and closed. The bad news was it was seriously uncomfortable. No one at any point was worried about the baby which was reassuring.

Finally at around 9:30 p.m. they gave me a different drug ("the big guns"..."we use this for drug addicts"...) that worked great for about 2 hours but could only be administered every 3 hours - so I started resting/sleeping for 2 hour chunks, waking in pain and watching the clock till my next dose but that was tolerable. Meanwhile, the doc came in (this was right after I got painkillers, and J ran home to get clothes as she has to work at 4 a.m. so I was alone and whacked out) - to tell me I'd almost certainly require surgery in the morning to put in a stent to allow the stone to pass. She said "We can't leave you this way." I was cut off from water or food at midnight.

So when J returned I told her about surgery and she was shocked (I was too, well, as shocked as you can be on drugs that make you not care about anything) - so she arranged for my sister to come in case I needed surgery since J had to be at work (the manager of that shop was out drinking, so she didn't trust him to cover for her as he was drunk when she called at 11:30 p.m....). This was stressful but I was kind of like "whatever we have to do - keep the baby safe and stop this agony." The nurse I had was awesome and kept up on my meds, but kept saying "no one has ever passed a stone in my 20 years ... I've never seen one." Thanks for the pep talk, Mary.

Well they were hydrating me like mad via IV, and gave me a pill to relax my ureter, and so I was peeing a LOT more which was great. I woke up around 5:30 a.m. with no pain. Now, the drugs are awesome but you still feel pain, just not so bad that you can't handle it. At this point - it was totally GONE. I tried to put off the next dose of meds, suggesting maybe I passed the stone, but Mary said "we're on top of it now so it's best to stay that way" and shot me up. Then she checked my pee (she strained it all) after the shot and I hear her say "Huh?!" from the bathroom. She got her charge nurse and low and behold, I managed to pee out the 3mm stone!! They came over and showed me and congratulated me. Apparently my stone made the rounds because all the nurses had never seen one that passed! (They do high-risk OB, and basically push you to surgery ASAP, minimizing your chance to pass it on your own like a non-pregnant person might be able to do given enough time).

The urologist came at 6:30 a.m. and said, "well I have all the consents for the surgery you no longer need"

. She gave me follow-up instructions and basically I will likely need to get some treatment after the baby is born. It's not uncommon to develop stones in pregnancy, and I even went for an "all clear" CT scan in June last year before we tried again to be sure nothing was amiss and I didn't have stones then. They did a 40-minute monitoring of the baby, had me eat a few times and then discharged me around 2:30.

The good out of this:

I got a dry run of going to L&D
I had a great experience there - everyone did what they said they were going to do, set expectations and gave us consistent messages
I was in the high-risk OB ward, and realized how lucky I was! One woman just delivered twins after 65 days of hospital bed rest; and my nurse had two patients on magnesium for high blood pressure/pre-e who she had to help pee because they were a fall risk. My kidney stone was small potatoes.
The food wasn't bad, once I was allowed to eat and surgery was off the table I had both lunch and dinner; and J had lunch too ($8)
My urologist, MFM, MFM fellow, and both nurses I had told me kidney stone pain actually surpasses labor pain! So now labor will be a breeze, right? (says she who wants an unmedicated birth but was begging for drugs on Tuesday...hm...we'll see). My MIL texted at the time, having had both, that she would birth 100 babies over 1 kidney stone attack.

Oddly, I hardly was worried about the baby - I think because she was monitored right away and I could feel her moving. J told me she was terrified about the baby more than anything, but thankfully she concealed that worry from me because she didn't want me more stressed or worrying about her. I think I was in too much pain to think about anything else, and I felt very safe with the hospital and doctors.

Anyhow, that is my story! It was quite an ordeal and I am happy to put time between me and that experience! I'm dealing with the aftermath of my narcotic binge - itchy, constipation expected - but overall, phew. I'm just so glad that is OVER.

Thanks for listening/reading!!!

2momsinCA · May 2014

Wow!!!! What an unexpected event! That is amazing, I'm so sorry you went through it, but congrats on passing the stone and avoiding surgery!! Sounds like given the circumstances you had the best possible outcome and it's great to read that the L&D team took such awesome care of you. Can you even imagine going through this in the ER? Get some rest and yes, put time between yourself and that experience. You made it, Simone made it, and welcome to the third tri!! I hope it's far more quiet and predictable from here on in!

KH826 · May 2014

Holy cow! I am sooooo sorry you had to endure this, but so very glad that you and Simone are home and well. You are a rock star for passing it on your own. I hope you can get some rest now! Hugs!

2MamazInSeattle · May 2014

@jrtmom, yes, Swedish - and I was kind of nervous to deliver at the big "machine" but after this, I'm totally comfortable there! I thought of you b/c I know you delivered Henry there. The nurses were all fantastic, agreed!!

StacyLH24 · May 2014

I'm glad everything is ok! At least now you know what you'll be in for (at the hospital) for L&D...though unfortunate that this was how you had to see it all.

ball.and.chain · May 2014

Only you, my dear. But I am very glad all turned out well in the end.

trisholio · May 2014

I am so glad that all is well now. That really stinks you had to go thru that. You are such a trooper!

Amber&Reva · May 2014

I am glad you were able to pass the stone without needing surgery. I like to think our bodies do their best to take care of us (even if it was your body that got kidney stones in the first place) and knew it needed to pass the stone without surgery. Sorry you had to go through such a scary ordeal and so much pain but glad everything turned out well.

CageyMack · May 2014

What a rockstar.

Really glad you powered through so well, and baby S, too!

healz413 · May 2014

Wow! I do not envy you in the least!!!! I'm glad it is over now and that you're on the other side and can appreciate what you just accomplished. Also glad that Simone is doing great.

firstcomeslove2013 · May 2014

Kidney stones are the WORST!!! I have a rather hilarious kidney stone story if you're ever interested! You are so strong!

ATXmommas · May 2014

Yikes, mama! Glad you are seeing the positives in the situation. As for the pain - not gonna lie - childbirth hurts like hell, BUT it's pain (not suffering) with a purpose. Like your MIL, I would go through it a 100x over experience some of the worst pain/suffering I've been through it my life. Kinda like running a marathon. DURING you're wondering what the hell you got yourself into and think it's the dumbest thing you ever decided to do and want it all to stop. Immediately (well, shortly) after, you're wondering when you can do it again. Magic of hormones!

Jazibel · May 2014

First of all I'm glad to hear that you and Simone are okay. But wow what an experience! It's not fair to have 2 full blown "labor-like" experiences so close to each other. You're my new hero. ;-) I love how you always look at the bright side of life @2mamazinseattle. And that your "takeaways" are that you've chosen the right place to bring Simone into this world, with great facilities and kind nurses and doctors (plus the bonus of decent food!). Here's to an uneventful 3rd trimester for you and J to get ready to meet Simone in person. I can't wait to read about your L&D visit part deux in a couple of months.

redrockmama · May 2014

Glad everything went okay, it doesn't sound fun at all. I hope you and Simone get to have an uneventful 12ish more weeks.

mwagner25 · May 2014

Ugh, that totally sucks to get a kidney stone while pregnant. So glad things are better... Here's to a hopefully less exciting remainder of your third trimester!