How Far Along: 28 Weeks!
Maternity Clothes: Yep..
Stretch Marks: Not yet...
Sleep: So-so....some nights good, some not so good.
Best Moment of the Week: Getting my hair done
Miss Anything? Feeling relaxed...
Movement: all day, every day!
Food Cravings: nothing
Anything making you queasy or sick: haven't been feeling great the last few days, but nothing in particular
Showing: you betcha
Gender Prediction: Girl!
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button In or Out? In....for now...
Wedding Rings On or Off: On
Happy or Moody Most of the Time: Moody, emotional wreck!
Looking forward to: Getting a better idea of what the future holds for me and baby girl...
So, here's a play-by-play of the past few days:
Sunday to Tuesday: I was experiencing some hip pain that was making it difficult to sleep. It felt like a pinched nerve in my hip.
Wednesday: I though I pulled a muscle in my left thigh while trying to reach into my back seat to get my purse, thought nothing of it.
Thursday: Had the day off, got my hair done. In the afternoon, Andrew and I started putting down the flooring in the basement. My left thigh was feeling kind of heavy and tense, I thought it was from my pulled muscle.
7pm - Andrew and Rob went out to watch the hockey game. I had difficulty walking around the house. When they got back, I went upstairs and had a bath hoping that would relax my leg. When I got out of the bath, I realized that my left leg looked bigger and redder than my left, and it felt like it weighed 100 lbs.
9pm - Debated whether or not to page my midwife or go to the hospital. I called telehealth, and they recommended that I go to emerg right away.
Approx. 11pm - Arrived at the hospital. The triage nurse looked at my legs and immediately stated that she thought there was a good chance I had a blood clot. We were called back into a room where we waited for 6 hours!!!! Some nurse checked my vitals a couple of times, but no one checked baby's heartbeat or anything. Also...the room was 27 degrees...we were dying!!!! Around 2-3am, all the drunken crazies started to be brought in, it was quite entertaining but we were over it because we were so tired.
Friday
4am - Doctor finally comes in to see me and says that blood clots are rare, but she would like me to get an ultrasound anyway. And oh by the way, the hospital doesn't have 24-hour ultrasound so we have to come back for 9:15am. So, I did some bloodwork, we left around 5am and went home until 8:30am.
9am - Went back to the hospital for my ultrasound, by this point I was in pain and having a lot of difficulty walking. The ultrasound was actually pretty painful, the tech was really pushing on my legs and particularly into my groin which killed!
10:15am - We were taken back to emerg to wait for the ultrasound results. We were again taken into a room to wait.
Approx. noon - A nurse practitioner came in and she was lovely. She told me she had reviewed the scans and read the technicians notes, and that I did appear to have a substantial blood clot. I immediately began to sob. She explained that this would mean giving myself daily injections and a lot of other things also. She told me that she still had to wait for the official results, and would come back with the doctor once they received them. I asked her if someone could check the baby, as no one had checked her yet. Less than 5 mins. later, two nurses came in and checked baby's heartrate, she was all good.
Approx. 2pm - the nurse practitioner came back with the doctor. The doctor was good, but extremely blunt. He immediately told me that they had to explain the risks of blood clots, and that there was a risk the clot could move into my lungs and I could die. He then said that I was young and we would begin treatment right away to hopefully stop that from happening, but it would continue to be a risk.
They then advised that my clot was very large and in the largest vein in my thing/groin area. They explained that most people would be given two blood thinners for treatment, but I could only take one due to the pregnancy. They explained that they would be consulting with the OB on call and McMaster before prescribing anything.
While we waited for them to speak with the other doctors, the pain through my hip/groin area continued to increase. At this point, I could barely walk across the hall to use the bathroom. A nurse came in and did an ECG.
The nurse practitioner came back and explained that I would be sent to McMaster to their thrombosis clinic for pregnant women which is on Mondays. She said they would call me. She also said she had consulted with OB Dr.Oliver, and she would be taking over my care - her office would also call me. They would be prescribing Lovenox (blood-thinner), and I would be taking two injections a day for the first two weeks, and then likely down to one per day after being assessed by McMaster. They would arrange for a nurse to come to our house the first few times to teach me how to do the injections. They also prescribed Morphine tablets, which they explained are actually considered safer that tylenol with codeine, and gave me a note to be off work until the end of the week.
4:30pm - We left the hospital with our prescriptions and very worried. I was prescribed such a high dose of the injections, that none of the pharmacies in KW were able to fill it. One pharmacy had 5 days worth, so that's all we have for now.
We came home, I took morphine, and attempted to sleep. I didn't leave bed again until the following morning, but only slept a total of about 3 hours. I was in pain all night, couldn't walk, and had no appetite.
Saturday
The nurse came late to give my injection. When she left, I took morphine and tried to sleep again, however, the pain never decreased and continued to get worse. I was in tears several times due to the pain. Andrew was gone during the day, and I talked to people on the phone and tried to sleep here and there.
Around 8pm, I was crying because I was in so much pain. We had decided to just go to McMaster, but I called and they don't accept pregnant women in emerg unless there are already registered to deliver there. I cried more. The lady finally came to give my evening injection.
9pm - We headed back to the hospital in Kitchener. I called labour and delivery before we left, and they said I could go to triage on the 4th floor instead of emerg. This was the best thing that happened throughout the experience.
The nurse and nurse practitioner were amazing. They immediately checked baby and had me do a stress test where I pressed a button each time baby moved. I told the nurse that the morphine wasn't doing anything, and that I hadn't been able to eat, sleep, or walk since going home the day before. The nurse looked at me and said she understood I didn't want to drug the baby, but I needed to "drug the shit out of myself". She explained that it is more harmful to the baby for me to be on a rollercoaster of pain and not managing it consistently. She also told us that when women get kidney stones or other conditions that hospital drugs them to the point they can barely walk.
Then, the most amazing OB, Dr. Andrew Stewart, came in and he was the loveliest doctor I've ever met. He seemed genuinely concerned for us and listened to our worries. He located my ultrasound, and confirmed that my blood clot was very bad. He prescribed me percocets, and gave me the same speech as the nurse about being sure to take them as prescribed. He confirmed that I would be induced, and that I would need to be monitored closely. At this point, it's possible we could be having our baby girl in 9 weeks, or possibly sooner. When he left, I told the nurse I wanted him to be my OB. She leaned out and asked him, and he said sure, and told me to call his office on Tuesday morning and he'd see me before the end of the week. He also said he would refer me to a local hematologist on top of the clinic at McMaster.
So one hour later, we had more answers than we had received from the previous two days. And I have an OB who seems amazing. The percocets have definitely helped with the pain, but I don't like feeling drugged. I will have to take these injections for the blood clot until at least 6 weeks post-delivery. Andrew and I did the injections yesterday and today, and they went fine, so I'm not stressed about that anymore. Once I've had the baby, they will likely put me on a second injection which is more aggressive and should help to break down the clot faster. Also, the biggest risk is if the clot moves into my lungs. The OB told me that if I experience any shortness of break, any dizziness or tightness in my chest, to call an ambulance immediately.
Also, the whole situation means no more midwife. Again, I've just accepted that because there's nothing I can do about it, and given the seriousness of the situation I'd rather have the best possible care.
At this point, I have no idea what all this means for work. As of today, I can't imagine going back. However, who knows how I'll feel at the end of the week. The nurse practitioner in the ER told me not to expect to be better in 3-4 weeks...so that was discouraging. Even if I physically feel better, I'm not sure that emotionally I can handle the stress of my job right now. Andrew is going to pick-up my computer for me tomorrow so that I can at least get the rest of the week sorted out, then we'll take it from there.
As of now, the pain is better, but I still have no appetite, it's very painful to walk, and I'm not sleeping well. Tomorrow I'm going to do my glucose test and my rhogam shot at the hospital. Also, I'm hoping to have my appointments with the OB and McMaster booked.
This has been by far the most stressful few days. Andrew has been amazing and has been the best caregiver ever, I wouldn't be able to function without him right now. Everyone else has been great too, and I really appreciate all the supportive phone calls and texts. I promise to keep everyone posted.
These are the only pics I have this week.
Andrew waiting impatiently at the hospital:
And me freaking out waiting (with newly done hair).
I truly hope that next week's update will be much more positive than this one and that we'll have more answers by then. Please keep us and baby Cummings in your thoughts!!!
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