Pregnancy

I think one of the main reasons I haven't blogged in a long time is because I don't really like to complain.  This has been a rough pregnancy and has effected so much of my life lately.  I really fee like I need to write this all down so I remember everything I had to go through to get this little girl here.  Don't get me wrong... I haven't been on my death bed but it has been hard enough that it has us pondering the prospect of future children.

The pregnancy started out pretty normal and non exciting.  I was pretty sick in the beginning and we figure out that I was lactose intolerant.  I had to cut out anything that had any milk ingredient.  This was hard but we got through it.  I did end up loosing 15 lbs the first trimester and lived mostly on.... um.... I can't even remember what I ate.  I do remember only able to eat turkey, sweet potatoes, and apple pie for Thanksgiving. 

I was happy to find that my lactose intolerance ended before Christmas and was able to eat whatever I wanted.  I had a couple blissful months until about February.  Now is only April, but February seems so long ago.  A lot has happened since then.

It all started with some back pain.  On a Saturday night my back had started hurting and it just got worse and worse.  I was unable to get comfortable and nothing relieved the pain.  It lasted for 4 hours and then just disappeared.  I had about a 4 hour break where I was able to get some sleep, but then woke up to it again.  It lasted another 4 hours.  It was then Sunday and I stayed home from church and tried to relax and get some sleep.  I had a doctors appointment that friday, so I just waiting to ask the doctor then. 

The appointment happened to be the lovely glucose test.  I started to feel the back pain on the way to the appointment and also started to feel pressure in my chest.  I was getting really uncomfortable during the appointment but the doctor just said it was normal pain for pregnancy and that if it got "bad" that I should go to a chiropractor, get a massage, or do physical therapy.  He didn't even give me a referral and just chalked it up to being "normal".  I have never really appreciated this office.  There are 5 doctors and I hadn't see one more than once.  They didn't know me or act like they wanted to know me. 

I had a couple more "episodes" each time getting worse and would happen every other day.  It now started as pain in my chest and radiated to the back.  I went into our family doctor that next week and he suggested a new obgyn who worked in his office.  I scheduled a physical therapy appointment as well as an appointment with the new obgyn for the next Tuesday. 

That Saturday the pain got so bad we ended up at instacare.  This doctor was able to determine that it wasn't muscular and wasn't anything life threatening but gave me lortab to help with the pain. 

I was had the pain again on Monday, and had taken half a lortab with no effect.  I put a call into my new obgyn and prepared to go into labor and delivery.  The actual doctor called me back and told me to take the other half of the lortab.  He didn't have appointments that day and just happened to be in the office to sign some paperwork and took the time out to call me himself.  I took the other half pill and it took just enough of the edge off so I wasn't crying in pain, but still not enough to be functional.

I went in the next day and fell in love with my doctor.  He walked right in and said, " I talked with you yesterday".  He knew me before he even met me.  He knew right off the bat what the problem was.  I was blessed to happen upon a doctor who also studied orthopedics.

The condition I have is called Costochodritis. To put it in lame man's terms, my ribs come out of joint and because of the inflammation around them, they are not able to slip back into joint.  The only thing usually prescribed for this is an anti-inflammatory, which I cannot take while pregnant.

This is not uncommon in pregnancy because of the hormone our body produces in pregnancy called relaxin.  It makes our joints all loose so we can carry and deliver babies.

Because of this and my history of having surgery on my ribs and sternum back when I was 12/13 it is extremely painful.  He said that many people with the condition believe they are having a heart attack. 

The hardest part was hearing that there was nothing he can really do to help and that it will get worse as pregnancy goes on.  It will also begin earlier and be worse with each pregnancy.  We were very blessed that I did not experience this while pregnant with Rusty. 

The doc put me on "restricted movement" and gave me "joint juice".  These have really helped me heal over the past month and if I strictly follow the "restricted movement" then I should be okay.  The doctor did say that it will most likely get worse closer to delivery because our body dumps relaxin the month before we deliver.

So what does "restricted movement" mean?  I am pretty much not able to do anything at this point.  Daniel has taken on 100% of the house hold duties.  Things I am unable to do: lift Rusty, cook, clean, vacuum, laundry, play with the dog, dishes, etc.  Pretty much anything where I lift over 5 lbs, bend over, or stand for more than 5 min. Doc said that even a sneeze or rolling over in bed can trigger the pain. 

This has been hard on all of us.  Daniel has everything put on him and doesn't get much of a break. I have to sit there and do nothing as my house gets messy and Rusty gets into trouble.  While Rusty goes stir crazy stuck in the house.  I am unable to go out of the house unless someone is there to lift Rusty into the shopping cart, car seat, or stroller. 

The hardest part is feeling like I can't be a Mom to Rusty.  I am unable to pick him up to comfort him when he is hurt, physically put him into time out when he has done something wrong, take him out to the park, etc. 

We are more than ready to have this little girl join our family in around 6 weeks.  Hopefully we can get there without any more "episodes".