I am 35 weeks pregnant, which also means I have 35 days to go. 35?!!?!?! How did I get to be THIS pregnant?! (and yes I do know how, don't be gross people).
This weekend I finally felt really pregnant. I'm having difficulty bending down to get things, and maneuvering this big belly of mine. Getting in and out of comfortable couches or our bed is a challenge that often provides much entertainment to Ian. The heat is also making me rather uncomfortable. We stepped out the door to walk 3-4 blocks to church and as soon as I felt the humidity, I told Ian to get the car keys because I did not want to walk in the heat. Also, car rides aren't so fun anymore. Baltimore streets are in pretty bad condition so it does not make for a very smooth ride - as we go over all those bumps and pot holes, baby girl's head bounces up and down on my bladder.
Am I really complaining? Not really. I think all of these things are mostly funny. And at the end of the day, the fact that I'm this uncomfortable just reminds me that the end is nearing and the best thing is right around the corner!
Baby girl has likely reached her full birth height, and weighs in at about 5 1/2 pounds. She is filling out at about 1/2 pound per week still, smoothing out all those wrinkles. Her brain is doing a lot of growing, as are her lungs. She was a moving maniac this weekend - Ian said it felt like she was trying to kick her way out. Often she quiets down as soon as he lays his hands on my belly - but this weekend, she was not shy for her Daddy! She didn't even seem to slow down. He was shocked by how much she moves all the time.
We are working on finishing up her nursery - we are waiting for some shelves to arrive that I ordered online. I've sorted through her clothes and pulled all of the newborn and 0-3 month outfits out to wash.
As a sidenote, the kidney infection saga continues. Last week at my 34 week checkup, they took a urine sample to make sure the infection was gone (I had been on antibiotics for 7 days). Well, I got a call yesterday saying that the antibiotics clearly did not work. This probably also explains why I had so many contractions throughout the weekend. So today I start a new antibiotic. It may explain why I've been feeling kind of off the last several days. Here's to hoping this thing finally goes away and I can enjoy the rest of this pregnancy without any bladder/kidney issues!
Emotionally, I'm kind of on a roller coaster. One minute I'm thrilled that she is almost here and confident that we're ready. Then, the next minute I will start panicking because there seems like there is still SO much to do, SO much to get. I start worrying about money. As I mentioned before, babies cost a lot of money! I feel like there is still so much to do, along with me trying to do some stuff for law school (like figuring out my schedule for the fall, getting lots of paperwork completed and turned in, and working on revising my huge paper again). Will all of these to-dos get done? I don't know...but I hope so!
35 days to go...can't believe she's almost here. Baby girl, I need you to stay put for about 3 more weeks.
Showing posts sorted by date for query kidney infection. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query kidney infection. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Interruption Part 2, and probably way too much information
I talked about the minor bump in the road of an otherwise healthy and happy pregnancy about 2 weeks ago.
Luckily that stone has either passed without me knowing, or it's just become dormant. Either way, I haven't really had much pain from it (thank God).
This post is mostly about urine. Fun stuff.
A couple days ago I noticed that the other kidney was having some little twinges of pain, the same twinges of pain I normally get when I'm starting to get a kidney infection. (I've had quite a few of them). I increased my water intake and took a cranberry pill, hoping to avoid an infection. But overnight it seemed to get just a tad worse. Still nothing too crazy.
As a precaution, I called my midwife. She wanted to see me right away, to put a catheter in for a clean urine sample. Ummm, say what?! I got off the phone with her yesterday and bursted into tears. I was going to have to get what, put where, and have to go BY MYSELF?! Ian has some craziness going on at work so I knew he wouldn't be able to join me.
I drove myself to the office, the whole time my hands were clammy from anxiety. I got there, and asked her how bad this was going to be. I wasn't worried about the pain (if I was, I probably wouldn't be planning on a medication free birth with baby girl!), but just hate medical stuff in general, and hate the anticipation of it. She calmed me down and said it wasn't going to be bad at all.
She was right! It wasn't bad at all, and it was over so quickly. Seemed like it was 30 seconds - she said it was a few minutes.
The good news is that the quick results showed no infection - but she thinks that the 3 day culture will have something. I was super well hydrated which can sometimes dilute things so much that nothing shows up (this has happened once before). So they are treating me just in case because my symptoms are pointing towards the start of a kidney infection.
I'm not thrilled to be on antibiotics - but I know kidney infections, especially during pregnancy, are nothing to mess around with. And the antibiotics are safe for baby.
At least these types of situations are reminding me of why I love that I switched to this group of midwives - they are on top of things, and super patient. Love them!
Luckily that stone has either passed without me knowing, or it's just become dormant. Either way, I haven't really had much pain from it (thank God).
This post is mostly about urine. Fun stuff.
A couple days ago I noticed that the other kidney was having some little twinges of pain, the same twinges of pain I normally get when I'm starting to get a kidney infection. (I've had quite a few of them). I increased my water intake and took a cranberry pill, hoping to avoid an infection. But overnight it seemed to get just a tad worse. Still nothing too crazy.
As a precaution, I called my midwife. She wanted to see me right away, to put a catheter in for a clean urine sample. Ummm, say what?! I got off the phone with her yesterday and bursted into tears. I was going to have to get what, put where, and have to go BY MYSELF?! Ian has some craziness going on at work so I knew he wouldn't be able to join me.
I drove myself to the office, the whole time my hands were clammy from anxiety. I got there, and asked her how bad this was going to be. I wasn't worried about the pain (if I was, I probably wouldn't be planning on a medication free birth with baby girl!), but just hate medical stuff in general, and hate the anticipation of it. She calmed me down and said it wasn't going to be bad at all.
She was right! It wasn't bad at all, and it was over so quickly. Seemed like it was 30 seconds - she said it was a few minutes.
The good news is that the quick results showed no infection - but she thinks that the 3 day culture will have something. I was super well hydrated which can sometimes dilute things so much that nothing shows up (this has happened once before). So they are treating me just in case because my symptoms are pointing towards the start of a kidney infection.
I'm not thrilled to be on antibiotics - but I know kidney infections, especially during pregnancy, are nothing to mess around with. And the antibiotics are safe for baby.
At least these types of situations are reminding me of why I love that I switched to this group of midwives - they are on top of things, and super patient. Love them!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Interruption
I'm hoping what happened last night is just an interruption in the otherwise very smooth and healthy pregnancy I've had.
I was very active yesterday. I went for a 2 mile walk, I cooked, I cleaned my car in the heat. I noticed that I had been having contractions throughout the day, but wasn't really paying much attention to them. Finally at around 5 pm, I decided to lay down, drink a huge thing of water, and count my contractions just to be sure I was in the clear (more than 6 in an hour requires me to call my doctor).
Well, within a 1/2 hr I realized I had already reached my 6 per hour limit. I gave it another 1/2 hour just to be sure, and they did continue. So I gave the doctor a call. She called me back quickly and instructed me to go drink at least 32 ounces of water in 20 minutes, then lay down. If things were not better within 1 more hour, I needed to call back.
They weren't better, and in fact started to get worse (they started making me very uncomfortable). I called back, and was told to head into labor and delivery.
Ian and I quickly looked around and grabbed a few things just in case we'd be in overnight, or longer. Throughout me getting ready to leave the house, and the car ride and walk through the hospital, I became extremely uncomfortable.
Quite honestly, I was thinking "how am I ever going to go through labor naturally." After lots of tests later - baby girl was determined to be absolutely fine (although irritated with the poking around of my belly). Her heart rate was monitored, as were my contractions. My midwife called them "irritations." Cervix was completely closed and the tests came back negative for signs of pre-term labor. All good news!
I continued to complain of horrible back pain that got worse when I was standing for more than 10 seconds, and if I was laying on my left side. The last resort test was a ultrasound of my kidneys.
Finally, we got answers. I have a kidney stone. The doctor knew I wasn't really interested in anything for the pain, but stressed that I at least get the prescription filled in case I needed it. He said that most pregnant ladies say that passing a kidney stone is more painful than labor. Thank goodness the pain I had been experiencing wasn't labor related - it had me worried. Now it explains why the pain got worse after drinking about 40 ounces of water so quickly (my kidney had to work overtime and was also working on trying to move the stone). It also explains the contractions - when you have some type of bladder or kidney infection, normally contractions will increase. I can ignore the contractions over the next several days until this stone passes.
We stopped on the way home and got the prescription filled. Luckily, I didn't need any of it to sleep last night as the pain had mostly dissipated once that huge amount of water had gone through me.
I am so grateful they were able to find out what was wrong, that baby girl is perfectly healthy, and that what is wrong is not a huge deal in the scheme of things. Yes, it's going to be painful as my body tries to pass the stone - but I'll deal with it.
And I'm so grateful that I was able to go home, and get a good night sleep. I made sure the doctor was okay with me going away this weekend.
You see, I'm in one of my good friend Leah's weddings in NY. Ian is staying here to go to Stacy's wedding. My bestie Lauren is flying to the airport near the wedding where I'll pick her up in a few hours. She'll be my date for the weekend!
Stacy, have the most beautiful wedding weekend! I'm so sad I'll miss it but have already charged the batteries for the camera so that Ian can take lots of pictures for me to see!
I'm off to NY - if possible, can you say a little prayer (or send some positive vibes) that I have a healthy and smooth (hopefully pretty pain free) weekend?
I was very active yesterday. I went for a 2 mile walk, I cooked, I cleaned my car in the heat. I noticed that I had been having contractions throughout the day, but wasn't really paying much attention to them. Finally at around 5 pm, I decided to lay down, drink a huge thing of water, and count my contractions just to be sure I was in the clear (more than 6 in an hour requires me to call my doctor).
Well, within a 1/2 hr I realized I had already reached my 6 per hour limit. I gave it another 1/2 hour just to be sure, and they did continue. So I gave the doctor a call. She called me back quickly and instructed me to go drink at least 32 ounces of water in 20 minutes, then lay down. If things were not better within 1 more hour, I needed to call back.
They weren't better, and in fact started to get worse (they started making me very uncomfortable). I called back, and was told to head into labor and delivery.
Ian and I quickly looked around and grabbed a few things just in case we'd be in overnight, or longer. Throughout me getting ready to leave the house, and the car ride and walk through the hospital, I became extremely uncomfortable.
Quite honestly, I was thinking "how am I ever going to go through labor naturally." After lots of tests later - baby girl was determined to be absolutely fine (although irritated with the poking around of my belly). Her heart rate was monitored, as were my contractions. My midwife called them "irritations." Cervix was completely closed and the tests came back negative for signs of pre-term labor. All good news!
I continued to complain of horrible back pain that got worse when I was standing for more than 10 seconds, and if I was laying on my left side. The last resort test was a ultrasound of my kidneys.
Finally, we got answers. I have a kidney stone. The doctor knew I wasn't really interested in anything for the pain, but stressed that I at least get the prescription filled in case I needed it. He said that most pregnant ladies say that passing a kidney stone is more painful than labor. Thank goodness the pain I had been experiencing wasn't labor related - it had me worried. Now it explains why the pain got worse after drinking about 40 ounces of water so quickly (my kidney had to work overtime and was also working on trying to move the stone). It also explains the contractions - when you have some type of bladder or kidney infection, normally contractions will increase. I can ignore the contractions over the next several days until this stone passes.
We stopped on the way home and got the prescription filled. Luckily, I didn't need any of it to sleep last night as the pain had mostly dissipated once that huge amount of water had gone through me.
I am so grateful they were able to find out what was wrong, that baby girl is perfectly healthy, and that what is wrong is not a huge deal in the scheme of things. Yes, it's going to be painful as my body tries to pass the stone - but I'll deal with it.
And I'm so grateful that I was able to go home, and get a good night sleep. I made sure the doctor was okay with me going away this weekend.
You see, I'm in one of my good friend Leah's weddings in NY. Ian is staying here to go to Stacy's wedding. My bestie Lauren is flying to the airport near the wedding where I'll pick her up in a few hours. She'll be my date for the weekend!
Stacy, have the most beautiful wedding weekend! I'm so sad I'll miss it but have already charged the batteries for the camera so that Ian can take lots of pictures for me to see!
I'm off to NY - if possible, can you say a little prayer (or send some positive vibes) that I have a healthy and smooth (hopefully pretty pain free) weekend?
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Thoughts and Prayers
My grandfather was one of 10 children - a very catholic family. Out of the 6 girls, 5 became sisters/nuns. Out of the 4 boys, 1 became a priest. Out of such a huge family, I have only have 2 first cousins.
I didn't ever get to meet my grandfather - he died before I was born. Luckily, he left an amazing footprint on the lives he touched. He taught at the oldest jesuit all boys high school in the country for 37 years, as athletic director and teacher. I hear stories of him through the students he taught.
I also hear stories about him through my great aunts and uncles. Little by little, I've had to witness them getting older and passing away. Not surprisingly, the sisters/nuns have all lived to be well into their 80's, and some into their 90's.
Now, I only have one left. My Aunt Cyrilla. She lives in the Boston area, has a thick New England accent, and is as sharp as can be. She is a smart ass almost always and has energy that I can only dream of having when I'm her age, which is 88. Health wise, she has been in fantastic shape. The only thing we've seen a change in, is that she's become a little more hunched over the years and walks slightly slower. She just stopped driving a car this year, much to her disappointment.
My mom just went to visit her cousins and my Aunt Cyrilla over the weekend. She spent almost all day sitting and talking with her on one day, and stopped by again on Sunday before she came back to DC.
We got a call from my mom's cousin last night. My Aunt was found in the hallway of her building, very disoriented yesterday morning, as in, less than 24 hours since she had been totally fine with my Mom. She's now in the hospital, not responding, not talking, not eating. She opens her eyes when my cousins go into the room and she looks right at them. The doctors are running tests - nothing has come back conclusive. We thought it might be a stroke - but nothing has shown up yet. They think it may have been a mini heart attack - but the confusion doesn't make sense with that diagnosis. The heart damage may be something pretty old that didn't give her symptoms when it happened.
My heart is breaking. I have neglected to go see her over the last couple years. Ian and I had a trip planning in December/January, but I had a kidney stone/infection and we ended up cancelling at the last minute. I desperately tried to find time this summer - but it went by too quickly.
And now, I'm not sure if I'll get the chance to see her. I don't know if she'll get to meet Ian. Please, if you are the praying type, say some prayers for her. If you're not the praying type, please send some positive thoughts her way.
My last great aunt - I'm not ready to lose her. I realize she's had a long, very fulfilling life. But I'm not ready. And I don't know what I'll do if I don't get to see her - to live with that regret - I don't want to.
I'm just not ready.
I didn't ever get to meet my grandfather - he died before I was born. Luckily, he left an amazing footprint on the lives he touched. He taught at the oldest jesuit all boys high school in the country for 37 years, as athletic director and teacher. I hear stories of him through the students he taught.
I also hear stories about him through my great aunts and uncles. Little by little, I've had to witness them getting older and passing away. Not surprisingly, the sisters/nuns have all lived to be well into their 80's, and some into their 90's.
Now, I only have one left. My Aunt Cyrilla. She lives in the Boston area, has a thick New England accent, and is as sharp as can be. She is a smart ass almost always and has energy that I can only dream of having when I'm her age, which is 88. Health wise, she has been in fantastic shape. The only thing we've seen a change in, is that she's become a little more hunched over the years and walks slightly slower. She just stopped driving a car this year, much to her disappointment.
My mom just went to visit her cousins and my Aunt Cyrilla over the weekend. She spent almost all day sitting and talking with her on one day, and stopped by again on Sunday before she came back to DC.
We got a call from my mom's cousin last night. My Aunt was found in the hallway of her building, very disoriented yesterday morning, as in, less than 24 hours since she had been totally fine with my Mom. She's now in the hospital, not responding, not talking, not eating. She opens her eyes when my cousins go into the room and she looks right at them. The doctors are running tests - nothing has come back conclusive. We thought it might be a stroke - but nothing has shown up yet. They think it may have been a mini heart attack - but the confusion doesn't make sense with that diagnosis. The heart damage may be something pretty old that didn't give her symptoms when it happened.
My heart is breaking. I have neglected to go see her over the last couple years. Ian and I had a trip planning in December/January, but I had a kidney stone/infection and we ended up cancelling at the last minute. I desperately tried to find time this summer - but it went by too quickly.
And now, I'm not sure if I'll get the chance to see her. I don't know if she'll get to meet Ian. Please, if you are the praying type, say some prayers for her. If you're not the praying type, please send some positive thoughts her way.
My last great aunt - I'm not ready to lose her. I realize she's had a long, very fulfilling life. But I'm not ready. And I don't know what I'll do if I don't get to see her - to live with that regret - I don't want to.
I'm just not ready.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Mysterious Case
I visited the urologist on Tuesday to determine why I keep getting kidney infections/pain. They did a urinalysis and an ultrasound. The results are that my kidneys are functioning properly, look to have no stones in them, and nothing is out of the normal range. All good news!
The bad news is that they aren't sure why I keep getting the infections/pain. Just to be safe, I am going for a catscan of the abdomen/pelvis this morning. The doctor isn't suspecting that anything will come back abnormal, but just wants to be sure we are covering all the bases. Apparently it's not entirely abnormal for ladies in my age group, if you get one kidney infection, to get repeated ones. He said I'm probably one of the mysterious cases. At least it's not bad news!
Well, unfortunately, in order to do the catscan, I have to drink this:
It's barium EWWW!! Currently I have one bottle down, 1 to go. And I was shocked by how big the bottled are - 18 ounces each!! Yucky:( It tastes orangy, and the texture is like thick milk. Thick sour milk. 1/2 bottle to go down at 9:00, then another 1/2 bottle at 9:30 before I leave. Then 1/4 cup at the radiologist. I think I will reward myself afterwards with a yummy bagel from panera!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Happy 2009!
We had a fantastic Christmas that we hosted this year! My mom and Ian's parents joined us while my brother and his fiance stayed in NY for their Christmas. To start, we had beet salad with goat cheese and walnuts (minus the walnut for me), then continued with a whole roast of beef tenderloin, roasted potatoes, brussel sprouts, green beans, English stuffing, and bernaisse sauce on the side. To finish, we had a delicious peanut butter chocolate pie and Christmas (English) pudding. We drank lots of mimosas and wine and talked and laughed lots. It was quite lovely.
What was supposed to be my fabulous break from school has turned into something a little less than fabulous. Last Friday, I woke up with lots of pain in my back. By night time, I was very uncomfortable and started with major nausea. To Patient First we went where they determined I have another kidney infection and now a kidney stone. Now, I'm feeling better, not 100% but better. But it did require us to change our trip plans. We had planned on going on a big road trip to the New England area to visit my cousins and great aunt, then to Rochester to visit Lauren, then onto Hoboken to visit my brother and meet his fiance's family. We canceled the first leg of the trip and headed to Rochester once the kidney infection seemed to clear up a bit. We had a lovely time there and spent lots of time indoors after 14 inches of snow falling there on our first night. I then woke up with a cold that I seem to be getting over now. But all in all, Rochester was fantastic! Then we were off to Hoboken to visit my brother for a night. We met his fiance's family and it was great to see them all together.
We're glad to be home and have our pup back! Tomorrow, I head to a kidney specialist to figure out what is going on. This is about my 4th or 5th kidney infection in 2 years. They now suspect that I may have something wrong with the adrenal gland which attaches to the kidney. It controls many processes, including potassium, carb and sodium intake. This could also be why I have gained a whopping 17 pounds over the past several months for no apparent reason. Even with working out a few times per week and eating normally, I can't seem to stop gaining. Hoping tomorrow will give me some answers!
I have lots more to recap...I'll save more for my next post. In the meantime, I'm enjoying a very lazy Monday at home with Tessa!
What was supposed to be my fabulous break from school has turned into something a little less than fabulous. Last Friday, I woke up with lots of pain in my back. By night time, I was very uncomfortable and started with major nausea. To Patient First we went where they determined I have another kidney infection and now a kidney stone. Now, I'm feeling better, not 100% but better. But it did require us to change our trip plans. We had planned on going on a big road trip to the New England area to visit my cousins and great aunt, then to Rochester to visit Lauren, then onto Hoboken to visit my brother and meet his fiance's family. We canceled the first leg of the trip and headed to Rochester once the kidney infection seemed to clear up a bit. We had a lovely time there and spent lots of time indoors after 14 inches of snow falling there on our first night. I then woke up with a cold that I seem to be getting over now. But all in all, Rochester was fantastic! Then we were off to Hoboken to visit my brother for a night. We met his fiance's family and it was great to see them all together.
We're glad to be home and have our pup back! Tomorrow, I head to a kidney specialist to figure out what is going on. This is about my 4th or 5th kidney infection in 2 years. They now suspect that I may have something wrong with the adrenal gland which attaches to the kidney. It controls many processes, including potassium, carb and sodium intake. This could also be why I have gained a whopping 17 pounds over the past several months for no apparent reason. Even with working out a few times per week and eating normally, I can't seem to stop gaining. Hoping tomorrow will give me some answers!
I have lots more to recap...I'll save more for my next post. In the meantime, I'm enjoying a very lazy Monday at home with Tessa!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Honeymoon 1
I'm going to break up the honeymoon into a few parts based on how many places we stayed. I have lots of scenic pictures as well as food pictures!
On Monday after our wedding, the day we were leaving for Greece, I woke up with a horrible pain in my lower back. I panicked. After a quick trip to the doctor where I was given antibiotics for a kidney infection, we were finally on our way! We arrived extremely exhausted at about 9:30am Athens time on Tuesday. By the time we got to the hotel, I was ready to collapse from the back pain. I began searching for the advil I just knew I had packed, only to realize I must not have. So our first trip in Athens - the pharmacy. Everyone in Athens spoke very good English, but somehow the words for "I need something to take for headaches or muscle aches" doesn't translate. The pharmacist took me over to give me the samples of different hair colors I can get there. I speak with a different pharmacist who asks if I'd like shampoo to scrub my head. I wasn't sure I was going to make it out of there with something that would help, but a different pharmacist came to my rescue and handed me a box of pills for about $1. We go home, I take 1 pill (hoping that's the right dosage since I can't read Greek) and 5 hours later, wake up for dinner. Never again on the trip did I have kidney pain. That stuff is great! I even brought the extra medicine home so next time you have cramps or a headache, I've got you covered.
Our hotel was in an area called Plaka and close enough to walk to just about everything we'd need to see. Here are some pictures of our 2 days there with captions:
Our beautiful hotel: Electra Palace
Our balcony overlooked the beautiful Acropolis:
We had a suite (regular rooms in some parts of Europe are big enough to fit a bed - this basically equates to a regular room):
We had amazing salads just about everyday. Here's a picture of Ian eating one of these at our first meal in Athens:
And a picture of the two of us after dinner:
After our first dinner, we opened the bottle of wine that our travel agent had sent us and sat outside on our balcony to write postcards:
The next day, after lots of sleep, we decided to suck it up and deal with the heat (about 105 degrees). We took the 10 minute walk to the Acropolis through streets and shops:
Then, we began our very hot hike to get to the top of the Acropolis. I continually had to take breaks because I was sweating so badly (if you don't know already, I have a serious sweating problem). Here's a picture of me taking a break and not very happy:
We finally made it! Here are some pictures of me being happy to be at the top, of the sites, and of the view from the top:
After a very long shower, we got ready and headed to dinner at the hotel's rooftop restaurant overlooking the Acropolis, the pool and the city. The food and service were fantastic and we had some good wine - but nothing quite can beat the view we had:
My delicious lamb entree with herbed potatoes and a spinach in phyllo side:
Next up: Elounda in Crete!
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