Tuesday, September 12, 2006

baby scares

I guess no pregnancy can be totally perfect, and maybe every baby has to give you a bit of a scare before he or she is born. This Sunday, as we were leaving to run errands like picking up paint samples and looking at cribs, I began having stabbing abdominal pains. At first, I wasn't concerned, but simply followed the advice of all my pregnancy books and drank a glass of water, put my feet up, tried lying on my left side, but nothing helped.

The pains got worse, until I couldn't stand up straight and Josh was begging me to call the emergency line at my Ob/Gyn. We finally got through to the doctor on call at the hospital, when she proceeded to further scare me to death by telling me that she was concerned that I was either in early labor or had appendicitis and wanted me to go straight to labor and delivery. The pains were radiating downward, starting at about an inch to the right of my belly button and a couple of inches down. Walking or touching the area made the pains worse.

I tried to keep my emotions under control, but the only thought running through my head was "25 weeks... 25 weeks... 25 weeks... it is just too early." I didn't know whether a baby could survive surgery, if it really was appendicitis, and even contemplating anything different made me want to vomit.

After 3 hours at the hospital, blood tests, urine analysis, exams and ultrasounds, we could come to no conclusions. The pains eventually faded after a couple of hours, and the on-call doctor's best guess was that my growing uterus had been compressing one of the organs in the area, causing the organ to be unable to function and therefore spasm and contract with accompanying pain. I was told to come straight in if the pain recurred, but in the meantime I could resume all normal activities and try not to worry.

All has been well since then, and I'm back to feeling great. Thankfully, the whole time I was experiencing the pains, the baby was kicking up a storm so I didn't worry about how the baby was at that instant. I just worried about the future.

I guess I'll just chalk this one up to phantom pregnancy pains, and put it in my pregnancy book as one of the many things I'll hold over this baby's head along with labor, hemorrhoids, and sleepless nights.

23 comments:

K said...

Glad you and the baby are okay! I hope the pains don't come back!

nancy said...

Oh no, how awfully scary for you all. I am relieved and pleased to hear all is fine now. Please take it easy, but try to continue to enjoy and savour this wonderful time.

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness you and the baby are all right! Call/email if you need anything, OK?

Maribeth said...

I'm so glad you are okay. About this time in my pregnancy I had terrible shooting pains like that and it turned out to be my bones spreading in my hips. (which have never been the same)
Take it easy and remember to spend part of each day with your feet up and relaxing.

mc said...

What a relief that everything was ok!

Girl said...

Phew...I'll keep praying....keep praying

Lucy said...

I'm glad everything's okay!

Anonymous said...

How scary! I'm so sorry, but I'm glad you're feeling better now.

Anonymous said...

Yipes.

I'm glad you're both okay. Best wishes.

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh I had the exact same thing with one of my kids. I was diagnosed with a hernia, but i think that was because they had no idea what it was.

it left and never came back.

jo(e) said...

How scary! I'm glad things are okay now ....

Yankee, Transferred said...

Glad all is well, and so sorry you had a scare.

Suzanne said...

So glad you're both okay.

Jane Dark said...

Yow. Like everyone else, I'm glad things are better.

ccw said...

How scary! So glad the mystery pains have gone away and you are feeling better.

K said...

Whew, that title made me nervous! I'm so glad everything's okay!

Rev Dr Mom said...

How scary! Glad everything is okay now.

Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

goodness! scares like that are no fun. :( i'm so glad everything turned out just fine for you and baby. that lil one needs to stay put for at least a few more months. :)

Anonymous said...

I am glad you and baby are OK. I had a scare like that with my first pregnancy -- it was truly frightening. Take care of both of you. :-)

Anonymous said...

Oops, that was me (darn Blogger!)

Anonymous said...

I'm glad all turned out well, but Yow! Scary!

And if anyone comes here by googling "appendix pregnant" I will just say that a friend had to have her appendix out while pregnant. It was scary, but mother and baby were both fine in the end.

Anonymous said...

don't even like thinking about your emotional state right then. as everyone has said - so relieved you guys are ok.

Anonymous said...

I've had pains like that, only I felt them at the bottom part of my ribs and it hurt like heck... I am scared of having the baby before he is ready..I guess it's normal to worry, but I am glad you feel better and everything is going smoothly again. Good Luck with baby! :)