Two Very Scary Rounds at the Hospital

Round 1:
At the start of the 4th of July holiday weekend Matt and I both suffered from a case of food poisoning. The following day, I woke up feeling much better but about half way through the day I started to experience a pretty bad pain on my left side. I chalked it up to gas from the food poisoning, however soon came to realize that it might be something else. By 10pm I was in agony (or so I thought). A quick call to the doctor and we decided it was a good idea to get it checked out. We went to OB triage in the hospital that we will deliver at in October and they ran a battery of tests. They came to the conclusion that it was either a case of gastroenteritis or .... kidney stones!
Duh! that's when the lightbulb went off...I have kidney stones. They were found when I had a CT scan 3 years ago for unrelated reasons. I have never passed them. Once I filled them in on my lurking condition they decided that must be what it was and prescribed Percocet and sent me on my way since the baby was doing just fine. It was a long night but by the time we left the hospital at 5:30am, I was feeling better.
Round 2:
The entire week after the first episode of pain, I was feeling great. Went back to my normal routine and even attended yoga, all was good. Then on Saturday I woke up to some odd discomfort that I could not really place. I didn't think much of it as it was not really pain. Then in the afternoon, I laid down to rest and the pain started. It hit me like a ton of bricks in a matter of minutes, this time on the right side radiating down from where my kidney lives. Matt came in and I was writhing in pain. We quickly called the doctor and she told us to head back to OB Triage immediately!
We made it to the car and by the time we left the neighborhood I was in tears. Half way to the hospital and the contractions started. They were incredibly intense and that coupled with the kidney pain, I thought I wouldn't make it. We arrived at the hospital and I was wheeled upstairs and they began working on the tests and trying to get it figured out. I was in so much pain all I could do was try to focus on my breathing. Eventually they got an IV in and delivered some much needed pain medication that stopped the contractions. It had little to no effect on the kidney pain but I could deal a little better. They ran the same battery of tests and came up with same results, couldn't see the stones but are assuming that's what it is. They were very concerned and did find a bit of an infection which required some antibiotics. Luckily, again, even with all of the contracting, the baby is doing just fine. The pain this time was something I could not imagine having to experience again. The doctors and nurses told me that what I experienced was much worse than childbirth pain so I should be good to go when the time comes to deliver.

So I am still recovering from all of that, but I am feeling better and our girl is doing just fine (huge relief). After talking to my mom I learned that gallstones are hereditary in my family (many of the women in my family have had their gallbladder removed). That could explain all of my symptoms as well as why they were unable to see any kidney stones, but who knows! We'll see how it goes, but I'm hopeful that I've seen the last of this. I have enough to worry about with pregnancy...