Pregnancy Pains

This has been an interesting week to end my first trimester. Monday morning I woke up with some pains in my right side. They were hurting to the point that as I was getting dressed, I couldn't even stand up straight. I went to work still having the pains and thinking that they'd go away as the day went on. I was definitely wrong. Within an hour of being at work, the pains were getting worse and it hurt to walk around the office. I called my OB's office and the nurse suspected that I had a UTI, so I needed to come in for a urine sample and then they'd get me some medicine.

Lunch came and went as the pains continued to intensify and spread into my groin. By the middle of the afternoon I was in tears because the pain and because of the unknown of what was happening to me. I called my OB's office again and they told me to come in as soon as possible. As I was waiting for the doctor, I had the worst pain that I could have ever imagined. I couldn't sit or lay comfortably and nothing seemed to be helping. My sister had been thinking that I was having appendicitis, so my mind was running through what would happen to baby if my appendix was rupturing. I was terrified! I finally saw my OB and the worst of the pain had seemed to pass... but there was definitely still pain. She did an ultrasound and baby was perfectly normal. That news was wonderful!

By the time I left her office at 6 pm, she had admitted me to the ER for further testing. Her concerns were that my right ovary was twisted or that I was having appendicitis. In the ER we did another ultrasound to check out my ovary and everything came back great. That only left appendicitis. The ER doctor and my OB had talked and decided that I needed to be admitted to the hospital overnight and would need an exploratory appendectomy. Matt and I got settled into our hospital room for the night with the plan of me going into surgery in the morning.

Let me tell you... you can not get a decent night of sleep in a hospital. First of all, nurses come in and check on you and take your vitals, etc.. then with my pains, I just couldn't comfortable. Finally the morning came and my OB came and visited. She told me the latest news.... no surgery! We were quite surprised. All of my lab tests were coming back perfectly and even my white blood cell count showed that I wasn't fighting an infection, so that meant no appendicitis. So, my diagnosis is "pregnancy pains."

The specific pains are called Round Ligament Pain. This is the ligament that attaches the uterus to the abdomen and during pregnancy it must stretch just like the uterus does. After some online research, I've discovered that these pains could last me my entire pregnancy. I'm hoping not!

Since being released from the hopsital, I've taken it easy. I didn't work on Tuesday or Wednesday, and only a half day on Thursday. My nights are still filled with tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable way to deal with the pain. I've discovered that a heat pad does wonders, and that my pain is now only occurring after I walk around too much. I'm now slowly recovering and trying to learn to move around without aggravating those nerves and ligaments too much. Please continue to pray for the baby, me, and Matt.