Saturday, September 11, 2010
Follow up to Bloody Pee
I went to the doctor yesterday for my first visit since the second hospital episode with blood in my urine (hematuria). They checked all of the labs that had been run and everything appeared normal, so they weren't particularly concerned. While relieved that it's not something alarming to the doctors, I did feel a bit frustrated by the inconclusive nature of it all. They don't seem to think I need to do any follow-up at this juncture, but if it happens again, they do want me to go in for evaluation.
Port Ache
So far during the pregnancy, I've had no unusual port-related symptoms...until today. According to the doc's measurements, my "fundal height" (top of the uterus) is now three to four inches above my belly button. My port is located about six inches up from this from my belly button and two inches to the right.
I imagine that what's going on is my uterus is starting to push directly on my port or push on my guts (yes, that's a fancy medical term) that are then pushing on my port.
It doesn't really hurt - it's more of a dull ache, but it's enough to make me aware of my port's presence and location.
When I touch my port, it's a bit more tender than usual, but not super-sore.
It seems logical that this port ache is only going to intensify as the pregnancy proceeds.
I'm now officially in my third trimester...so not super long left to go!
I imagine that what's going on is my uterus is starting to push directly on my port or push on my guts (yes, that's a fancy medical term) that are then pushing on my port.
It doesn't really hurt - it's more of a dull ache, but it's enough to make me aware of my port's presence and location.
When I touch my port, it's a bit more tender than usual, but not super-sore.
It seems logical that this port ache is only going to intensify as the pregnancy proceeds.
I'm now officially in my third trimester...so not super long left to go!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Hip Pop
I've developed this weird thing where when I move in the night, my hips pop loudly. I feel the vibration in my pelvis, but it doesn't hurt at all...it's just kind of disconcerting.
Doc says it's perfectly normal and is a product of the relaxin hormone that is working to loosen up my muscles and joints in prep for baby's exit. Weird!
Doc says it's perfectly normal and is a product of the relaxin hormone that is working to loosen up my muscles and joints in prep for baby's exit. Weird!
Blood Part Deux - With Food Poisoning to Boot! (British Pun Intended.)
So, the blood in my urine thing happened again. I had been feeling kind of achy in my lower abdomen all day, but charted it up to the fact that I'm pregnant and didn't think much about it. However, in the evening when I got home, I again noticed blood in my urine. Around that time, I also noticed that I didn't seem to be passing anywhere near as much urine as I should have been considering the amount of liquid I had been drinking.
I called the doc who encouraged me to go in to the hospital, although they had done nothing useful for me on the previous visit. I told her I'd have dinner and then bring myself in. She seemed satisfied enough with that. She also suggested that I have them catheterize me so that we could find out once and for all if the blood was coming from my bladder(which I insisted it was) or if it was vaginal bleeding (which they were pretty convinced it was).
I went into the "pregnancy ER" and they remembered me from last time. I got all checked in and eventually they got around to doing the catheterization. I don't think I've ever been catheterized before. It wasn't super fun, but it wasn't too horribly awful, either. The verdict? Blood in my urine. I resisted the urge to say, "I told you so!"
They took blood samples and made me hang out hooked up to the fetal monitor for an eternity. I guess they wanted to get 20 minutes straight of baby's heartbeat and movements on record, but baby kept moving out of range. Hours later, after I asked what was going on, the nurse explained this 20 minute thing to me - so I took it into my own hands (literally) as I wanted to get out of there and go home (it was now well past midnight). Every time baby moved out of range, I'd chase him with the monitor until I got a good solid heartbeat. This involved some pretty weird contortions to keep the monitor reading - but it was totally worth it because I did finally get released from the hospital around 2:30am.
Exhausted, dehydrated (they would only give me ice chips) and famished, I headed home. Once home, I fried two eggs, ate them, climbed in bed, kissed GeekBoy, and fell fast asleep.
At 6am, I woke up feeling horribly nauseous and proceeded to go to the bathroom and have a dry heaving fit. That was followed by a nice round of diarrhea. I won't continue with the lovely details, but in a nutshell, my entire day was spent yacking and pooping. I called the doc and he didn't think that my bloody urine episode and the gastroenteritis were related. At first he wanted me to come into the hospital, but when I protested (as they'd done nothing useful on the past two torturous visits) he agreed that I could stay home as long as I was able to hold liquids down by afternoon/evening.
Thank heavens things settled down by then and I was able to drink some tea without losing it. After that point, I worked hard to rehydrate and I woke up the next morning feeling achy and battered, but much better off.
During the food poisoning day, I was a bit confused what to do about insulin and blood sugars since I was unable to keep anything down and I'd heard that blood sugars can skyrocket when one is sick. I decided to skip the insulin (and avoid the possibility of a low that I couldn't address) and keep a close eye on my sugars. Surprisingly, all day, they stayed just over 100 which seemed perfectly reasonable to me.
As a side note, I bought the eggs the day before from underneath a sign stating that the store's eggs had NOT been part of the big salmonella egg recall. So who knows?!?
I called the doc who encouraged me to go in to the hospital, although they had done nothing useful for me on the previous visit. I told her I'd have dinner and then bring myself in. She seemed satisfied enough with that. She also suggested that I have them catheterize me so that we could find out once and for all if the blood was coming from my bladder(which I insisted it was) or if it was vaginal bleeding (which they were pretty convinced it was).
I went into the "pregnancy ER" and they remembered me from last time. I got all checked in and eventually they got around to doing the catheterization. I don't think I've ever been catheterized before. It wasn't super fun, but it wasn't too horribly awful, either. The verdict? Blood in my urine. I resisted the urge to say, "I told you so!"
They took blood samples and made me hang out hooked up to the fetal monitor for an eternity. I guess they wanted to get 20 minutes straight of baby's heartbeat and movements on record, but baby kept moving out of range. Hours later, after I asked what was going on, the nurse explained this 20 minute thing to me - so I took it into my own hands (literally) as I wanted to get out of there and go home (it was now well past midnight). Every time baby moved out of range, I'd chase him with the monitor until I got a good solid heartbeat. This involved some pretty weird contortions to keep the monitor reading - but it was totally worth it because I did finally get released from the hospital around 2:30am.
Exhausted, dehydrated (they would only give me ice chips) and famished, I headed home. Once home, I fried two eggs, ate them, climbed in bed, kissed GeekBoy, and fell fast asleep.
At 6am, I woke up feeling horribly nauseous and proceeded to go to the bathroom and have a dry heaving fit. That was followed by a nice round of diarrhea. I won't continue with the lovely details, but in a nutshell, my entire day was spent yacking and pooping. I called the doc and he didn't think that my bloody urine episode and the gastroenteritis were related. At first he wanted me to come into the hospital, but when I protested (as they'd done nothing useful on the past two torturous visits) he agreed that I could stay home as long as I was able to hold liquids down by afternoon/evening.
Thank heavens things settled down by then and I was able to drink some tea without losing it. After that point, I worked hard to rehydrate and I woke up the next morning feeling achy and battered, but much better off.
During the food poisoning day, I was a bit confused what to do about insulin and blood sugars since I was unable to keep anything down and I'd heard that blood sugars can skyrocket when one is sick. I decided to skip the insulin (and avoid the possibility of a low that I couldn't address) and keep a close eye on my sugars. Surprisingly, all day, they stayed just over 100 which seemed perfectly reasonable to me.
As a side note, I bought the eggs the day before from underneath a sign stating that the store's eggs had NOT been part of the big salmonella egg recall. So who knows?!?
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