Tuesday evening on my way back from work I started getting back pain. I thought it was just the usual back pain caused by being in a car for a long time sitting in traffic. Then it quickly got worse. When I got home I tried to lay down, but no position would alleviate the pain. It was unbearable. I told my husband to run me warm bath water, thinking that might ease a back ache. But then 30 seconds later I realized there was no way I could get into the tub in this kind of pain. Around this time I decide this is definately not normal back pain and maybe it’s kidney pain. So I try to call the doctor. In my pain-driven haze I misdial the doctor’s phone number three times. Finally I give the phone to my husband and he miraculously dials a number with a human on the other line. Yep, sounds like kidney stones, need to go to the hospital.
The drive to the hospital was horrendous. Every bump in the road, every read light felt like it was jabbing a knife into my kidney. Once we got to the hospital everyone was very nice and helpful and they pulled me back right away. After a few tests (including a catheter – ick!) they confirm that it is kidney stones and that I need to stay overnight. The nurses on the night shift were great, they started an IV with no trouble, gave me pain meds, and were all around nice. It really makes such a big difference when you feel like crap and people are nice. I had my last painful attack around 3am, and after that no pain. So the stone must have passed out of the kidney with that last attack.
The next morning we waited for what seemed like an eternity for the doctor taking my OB’s place to make rounds. It was Wednesday, the day my OB has off. I always manage to get sick on Wednesday, my body is plotting against me. When the doctor did decide to mosey into the hospital (at 1pm) it was a doctor I hate. Do you know those people that the mere sight of makes the hair on your back stick up straight and your claws come out defensively? She is one of those kind of people. I can’t pin-point why, but she has this attitude that really rubs me the wrong way. During my hospital stay the hemoglobin level in my blood had dropped drastically and below the safe zone for my particular blood disorder. So I asked if she could refer me to a hematologist since a Hb of 7.5 is too low. She tried to spout out a canned statement about how pregnant women often need iron, and I should take iron supplements. I won’t bore you with the details, but I have had so much iron pumped into me over my lifetime that they could have used the iron to build a sky scrapper by now. She obviously doesn’t understand this blood disorder; so she should refer me to someone who does, like a hematologist! But being the evil villain that she is, no hematologist for you. I was discharged and told to keep my next prenatal appointment.
Now I am out of pain and fine. The baby was also fine during the whole process. I do have an appointment with a hematologist, thanks to my friendly OB that referred me today. I’m glad all that is over, and now I am trying to drink more water so that I don’t have this problem again. The only silver lining is that I’ve heard from a few people that kidney stone pain can feel worse than labor. So that gives me just a little bit of confidence that I will be okay during labor. Granted, I did cry like a baby through the pain, but I made it out alive, so hopefully I can do the same for labor.
