I.AM.ALIVE.

Wow. It's been a{excuse my language} hell of a week. I'll try to sum it up for you as quickly as possible so I can get back to resting.
Monday morning came, I woke up and peed like every other morning. Ate breakfast and had the urge to pee again. No pee though. Lots and lots of burning though. This goes on for two or so hours. I take a shower to find that I had passed a kidney stone. FUN stuff! Shortly after my shower I call my midwife's office to have a urine sample taken so I could get a antibiotic for the apparent UTI I was experiencing. Matt took me to the medical center (takes about 20 minutes to get there) and on the way there, a pain in my back started to kill me. At one point I started crying. After some tears, I gave my sample, got some lunch and headed home.
When I got home, I realized I was having contractions of some sort. They weren't consistent but were def freaking me out, as you can imagine. I call my midwife's office again and they wanted to see me immediately. We made the 45 minute drive to the hospital- I was in agony the entire time. They checked my cervix- closed and no thinning. Thank God! Then they admitted me into labor and delivery for observation. They hooked me up to the contraction & baby's heartbeat machines. They drew some blood, I gave another urine sample, and an iv was inserted into my right arm. Next came the Demerol- for the intense back pain I was experiencing. Shortly after my pain medication was given to me they started an antibiotic intravenously.
The long day was coming to a close when they wheeled me downstairs to have an ultrasound done on my kidneys. The verdict: possible kidney stones and moderate to severe renal colic (unilateral hydronephrosis). I stayed the night and went home the next afternoon (Tuesday). Tuesday, my pain increased and Matt ended up calling the doctor for some pain medicine, something to get me through the days and nights.
Over the next few days and nights, I cried a lot. The pain would get so intense that I would end up moaning like a woman in labor. Once the pain meds kicked in I was able to find a little bit of  relief. I could sleep for a couple of hours at a time but only to wake up and be back in misery. I would take a hot bath in between pills. The heating pad had also become a good friend of mine.
I had a follow up appointment with my midwife on Friday. I lost 3 pounds- in a week. She checked my cervix, still closed with no thinning- thank God! Claire's heartbeat sounded great. She mentioned that my pain could also be from my appendix. Ummmm... that's scary, I thought. She wrote me a new script for a different pain med and I was off on my way.
Matt got home from work around 3. I had been trying to nap but was having a hard time getting comfy- too much pain, once again. When it was time for another pill, I took and it with hopes of getting some relief. That didn't happen. I ended up back in labor and delivery. Another two days and another night in the hospital, I'm home and feeling a little better.
I'm still contracting every once in a while- when the pain gets really bad- but I've been able to make it longer without taking medicine. The sucky part is that this is something I'm going to have to deal with until I deliver Claire. It's SO hard knowing that these pain meds are being shared with her but the doctor says that the stress of the pain on me can be more harmful to her than the actual meds themselves. All I can do is rest and try to stay as comfortable as possible for as long as I can in effort to minimize the amount of medicine I consume. Good news is that I've been able to eat and drink a lot more. Praise be to God! I am thinking that I'm going to be gaining a lot of weight over the next few weeks, but if it means Claire is safer and healthier, than I will get as fat as I need to! :)

Hope you're having a great weekend!