{ I'm not dead }

It's been a busy couple of weeks.

It all started off with a hospital visit for chest pain.  It had happened a couple times during the previous week, especially when I would first wake up from a nap.  So I called the nurse line.  I figured it was pretty much nothing, and they would just pat me on the head and tell me to check with my doctor at my next appointment.  Apparently the nurse thought I was having a heart attack. Which to be clear I knew I was not having, but she advised for me to be seen immediately.  But after a normal EKG and X-ray, the doctor decided that the chest pain that I was having was likely due to how I was laying and Alex cutting off circulation to my heart.

In either case, we went home not knowing that several hours later we would end right back in the hospital. I had gone to bed and woke up with severe pain in my left flank and back.  So I took a warm shower, some Tylenol, and laid on my side and drank tons of water.  The pain didn't go away.  It continued to get worse.  And then the vomiting started.  I called Mike, pleading for him to come home.  It got to the point where I was moments away from calling 911 when Mike got home.

At that point, I was rushed to labor and delivery, they started an IV and gave me 3 rounds of pain killers - which did nothing for my pain.  It did make me sedated enough to rest and allow them to monitor Alex.  When the morning shift came in, I had an ultrasound of my kidneys and a CBC drawn.  We found out that my left kidney was retaining fluid and my white blood count was high.  So on top of the fluids I was given IV antibiotics and finally some pain medication that seemed to help take the edge off the pain.

Later in the early afternoon the doctor on call finally came in to see me.  He pounded on my back, told me it was my rib cage and sent me home on antibiotics and pain killers.  I wasn't exactly happy with the doctor who came in.

But I took some time off work and tried to hydrate as much as possible.   Thankfully I saw my OB that week.  When I told her what happened she shook her head and was completely disappointed.  She told me that I had developed a common complication called Hydronephrosis, basically the weight and size of Alex is putting too much pressure on my left ureter so, I'm retaining fluid in that left kidney.  It will correct itself once Alex is delivered, but I was told I had two options, I could have a stent put in, or I could treat it with antibiotics and pain killers as needed.  Because I only have less than 3 weeks left, we went the route of antibiotics and pain killers (which I may take once a day if that).  If it was earlier in my pregnancy, we may have gone another way but for now we agree this is the best way to go.

Also in talking to my OB about my chest pains, it started to sound more and more like I was having a physical reaction to my anxiety over this pregnancy and Alex's kidney complications.  So we upped my antidepressant and I can thankfully say I have not had anymore chest pains.

But on top of the fun week of running to the hospital and my doctor, I have been working a crap load, getting Evan ready for Kindergarten (which he starts next week) and swim lessons (also starts next week), and trying to get ready for Alex as much as possible.  Oh...and my sister got married.

I only have another 19 days until Alex makes his appearance, only another 14 days left of work and before my mom gets here to help with everything.  Thankfully I have a 3 day weekend because of Labor day and I'm hoping to get things a little more under control.

...so I'm not dead...I'm still here.  Just trying to grasp on whatever sanity and energy I have to get everything done.