So this week, has been seriously one of the worst weeks of all for my
pregnancy. There are so many details to my hospital experience (not all bad
actually!) that I am just going to cut to the chase.
Monday
It all started on Monday, I woke up feeling a little bit down to what
seemed to be a cold. Surprise, surprise! I haven’t been sick in over a month
and kept thinking about how lucky I was especially with my awesome immune
system BEFORE pregnancy. It started out with a slight runny nose and sore
throat. By the end of the day my sore throat got so much worse, the pain was
unbearable. I’ve had many sore throats before in the past but none were as painful
as this one. It was hard to even move my neck because everything was so swollen
and sore, forget about swallowing. I started gargling salt water like crazy,
upping the doses of vitamin C anyway I can (berries, oranges, tea with lemon
and honey) and just drinking a lot. I started to get concerned it could be
strep throat.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, I called my primary care provider in the morning to
schedule an appointment. I was already feeling very run down the day before and
this day wasn’t any better. I got lucky because on Tuesday he works in the
Ilion office, which was wonderful that I didn’t have to drive to New Hartford
especially since the weather was not the best. At this point I started having uncomfortable
pains in my lower back, very slight, but they were constant that day and would
not go away. My urgency to go to the bathroom also bothered me that day which I
just happened to share with him (and good thing I did, although I thought this
was just more fun pregnancy symptoms.) He did a influenza swab test (not very
pleasant, they stick a long q-tip up both your nostrils and swab them,) a strep
throat swab, and a urine test for a possible UTI (urinary tract infection/
bladder infection.) The strep throat test they were able to tell me was
negative, which was alright since my throat started to feel magnificently
better that very morning ( the salt water gargling must have done the trick,)
but everything else had to wait until the lab could report the results. That
day did not get any better for me. My lower back pains started getting much
more intense and not tolerable. I would not be able to find a comfortable position
to sit, lay or stand in. I started soaking in hot baths which would help
relieve some of the pain, and of course taking Tylenol as often as I could.
That night was horrible. I woke up every 3-4 hours from the horrid back pain,
take the Tylenol and try to fall back asleep again and not do too well with
that until the Tylenol would kick in.
Wednesday
This was not an easy day for me. I had a last minute college
orientation day. Not to get too off track with the story, but I applied to
Utica College this semester in hopes of going back to school, and it took
forever for them give me my acceptance letter. When they did they were asking
for a $200 tuition deposit, which I asked if they can waive. Then it turned out
my FAFSA was not filled out for this term and they were not able to approve a
waiver until they have my financial info. I filled that out ASAP, and was
calling them several times a week finding out if they received my info, keeping
in mind classes are probably starting soon and I still don’t have a schedule
set. Anyway, they finally received my info on Tuesday, and told me on Tuesday to
come in for orientation on Wednesday and that classes start Thursday, no big
deal!!!! So, I had no choice but to go to this thing to get my schedule and
finances and all the other fun stuff figured out – the day before classes
start. Which later on, ended up being a
waste because of how money and schedule stuff worked out, we decided to skip
out on this semester and go for it in
the fall, because with the way I have been sick it would be choosing between my
health or good grades at this point. And I think with how things are going, it
is better for me to have a healthy and as stress free pregnancy as possible (that’s
the short version of my college story.)
Back to Wednesday! I had about 4 hours of sleep, and the pain in my
back got worse now on my sides, extending to my middle back and on my lower
stomach putting pressure on my bladder. I started thinking this really might be
a UTI, but was also questioning it because I was told by others usually doctors
tell you on the spot. The urgency to go that night was bad too, I got up 4
times feeling like I really had to go and nothing was really coming out. But I
took my bottle of Tylenol and went to the stupid college orientation thing.
Which, I assumed would a couple of hours of just getting my schedule, student
ID and such. Well, I get there, and there is a whole program planned until 4pm.
Great. Good thing I had my Tylenol, but
even with that, walking all day with my pains getting worse was not a fun
experience at all.
During the orientation thing, I get a missed call from the doctor’s
office, which I immediately call back, and guess what I do in fact have a
UTI! I asked them if the pains I am
having are related with a UTI and they told me they are. This made me happy,
simply because I had an answer and knew what the problem was; it wasn’t a
matter of questioning anymore, just a matter of getting better.
I got out of the orientation
thing around 5; at this point my pains were so intense I am not even sure how I
drove myself home. My hubby picked up my antibiotics for me, so I took them
immediately after coming home and then went straight to the bathroom to soak in
hot water. Which wasn’t working as effectively as it did the day before. I
started looking online about UTI’s and pregnancy and all that fun stuff, and
didn’t really see the symptoms of these really bad back pains. I have never had
a UTI before of course, so I wouldn’t know, but I also spoke with some other
people and I know when others have had UTI’s they really just had a burning
feeling and the really bad urgencies of going. What I found about the pains is
if it gets serious it could lead to a kidney infection. This is where I got
worried. So I call Bassett and tell them about my symptoms to this point, and
the woman I spoke to told me that everything can be just UTI related and to
just drink lots of fluids, cranberry juice, use a heating pad, and keep taking
my antibiotic and Tylenol. As long as I don’t have a fever or chills then the
antibiotic should kick in 24-48 hours after taking it and should start making
me feel better.
So, I sent my dearest Zhenya to Wal-Mart since I was in such excruciating
pain that Tylenol wasn’t completely taking
care of and hot baths weren’t soothing as much. He bought me some natural
cranberry juice, more Tylenol and a heating pad. I started chugging the
cranberry juice, which was a bad idea, I guess baby didn’t like it as much,
because I had a meal right before it and I ended up puking up only the
cranberry juice. That night, I turned on my heating pad, took my Tylenol, and took
some Benadryl to help me sleep and passed out at 11pm.
I woke up at 3:15 am with
extreme pain and to add to it all, chills and what seemed to be a fever. I
barely make my way out of bed to check my temperature, which ended up being
only 100, but I felt it was getting worse, I take a Tylenol immediately. I really
start to worry with the thought of a Kidney infection running through my mind.
I wake Zhenya up and tell him, and we decide for me to call Bassett and see
what they say, if they offer that it is so serious to come to the emergency room
now. I call, and the nurses there speak to the doctor who is on the shift at
the time, Dr. Deaver, who says a fever of 100 is nothing and because it has
been less than 24 hours of me taking antibiotics I should just keep doing what
I am doing. Okay, if you say so doctor.
A little off track- 15 minutes after waking up we hear a loud horn
beeping outside. Like someone is blowing their car horn but just holding it. We
look outside, and Zhenya suddenly runs outside and discovers it’s OUR car!!! He
tries to get it to stop by turning it on, looking at the hood- nothing. He runs
upstairs to get his tools and runs back down to dismantle the battery and then
the car shuts up. It was -27 degrees Fahrenheit that night, and I guess some
water must have froze and was pushing on
some sensor or something making the horn blow. Let’s just say his 6:30 drive to
work in the morning was a very loud one too, and lasted for about 15 minutes
until the car fully warmed up. All of Ilion must have been woken up that night,
and in the end now our horn doesn’t work at all. Gotta love winter.
Thursday
After taking another Tylenol at 3:15 that morning it made my chills and
fever go away almost instantly, but couldn’t completely go back to sleep until
about five. At 6:45 I was burning up again. I check my temperature again and
this time it was 101. I take my Tylenol and call Bassett again, and this time
there is a midwife working there, that was really kind to me and told me to
come into the emergency room and they would take it from there. So Zhenya comes
home from his first shift around 9:30 am, asks for the rest of the day off and
we head out to the hospital. Although I am on Tylenol, it brings down my fever
and some of the pain, but not all the pain so I am still miserable in the midst
of all this.
We arrive at Bassett around 11:30, and even though I feel like complete
poop I am stunned by how clean, nice it looks and how amazing the service is!
We wait literally only 5 minutes in the ER. They take me in, give me my own
room- in the ER, with my own bathroom, and immediately start doing testing on
me. At this point my Tylenol was slowly starting to wear off and I could feel
that I am getting a fever again. I started out with a 99 degree fever, I kept
asking for Tylenol but they were assuring me it wasn’t a fever yet. They hooked
me up to IV for fluids, took some blood, (after a couple of attempts, ) and
ordered an ultrasound on my kidneys. During all this my pains are getting much
worse since I am off Tylenol, and I’m getting warmer. They ended up checking me
2 more times, first was a fever of 101, and then finally when I reached 103,
did they realize I AM burning up and decided to give me Tylenol!
When the results come back, they say I do have a kidney infection. The
blood test shows a high white blood cell count which apparently means there is
an infection. Then Dr. Chanana who was the OB on shift at the time and the gyn
I went to see the first time after switching to Bassett ( although she did not
remember me) came in to evaluate me and advised me to get admitted. This was
probably the only time we really “waited.” We were waiting for a room to clear
up so they can take me up to the birthing center where I would be taken care
of. I am just comparing my experience at the hospital I was at in Brooklyn. We
come in; they put me in a bed in the hallway if there isn’t a little place
where they call a “room” which is basically just a curtain in front of you.
There are crazy people all around, bums and drug addicts having God knows what
sickness. And you wait for 5 or more hours just to get some sort or attention
or testing done. Here it was NOT like that, everything is so clean and they
were right on the dot with getting
testing done and so many different nurses would come by and just always be near
to make sure how I was doing, it was amazing. They even gave me and Zhenya lunch
and took my order for dinner like I was in a restaurant or something. IT was
just WOW.
When the time came they took me up to the third floor which is the
birthing center and basically put me into one of the rooms I am going to be in
when I give birth. WOW! Zhenya took a variety of pictures of me throughout all
this and I was yelling most of the time but I am actually going to make use of
two of them in my blog. But here is a shot of me feeling miserable in our room.
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It was really nice, big room, with a couch, TV, and actually
comfortable bed with a remote I can control the TV, lights, and walkie talkie
the nurses over for any reason. Not to mention we have our own bathroom with a
shower. Just wow.
At this point my pains were really bad, they would go down a bit when
they would give me Tylenol and be a little more tolerable, but would not go
away at all. And my fever was at it every 3-4 hours, so they were giving me Tylenol
every 4 hours on the dot. They ended up
increasing the Tylenol dose to a higher one, but said that would have to be
given every 6 hours. They also added an antibiotic once a day through my IV,
different from the one I was taking orally for the UTI. We weren’t really
expecting nor prepared to stay overnight, so it caught us off guard, and were
definitely surprised we stayed for how long we stayed.
To be continued, it's getting late and I am off to bed. Part two will be up tomorrow.
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