So the weekend between Christmas and New Years I landed myself in the hospital with a kidney stone. Around 9 pm on Saturday I started having back pain on my left side. I didn't think it was too unusual, especially since I had cleaned the house earlier that day. I put a heating pad on and started watching an episode of "The Office". Kevin decided to go to bed early. Less than halfway through the episode, I couldn't take it anymore. I turned off the TV and went to get into the bath. It was during my bath when I realized something had to of been wrong, there is NO WAY my back should hurt that bad. It had started to wrap around to my entire left side and down into my pelvis. I started getting nervous that I was going into early labor, but knew that labor wouldn't only be on one side. I got out of the bath and got dressed, the pain just getting worse and worse. I sat down on the bed and just told Kevin "it hurts". I went into the other room and then just started bawling. Kevin woke up and stayed with me for a while, while I tried to find a comfortable position or just get some relief, but it kept getting worse. He kept telling me to call my doctor, but by then it was almost 11:30 and I felt bad waking her up. Finally I caved and called her. I told her what I was feeling and she said that it didn't sound like labor, but if I was in that much pain to go to the ER because it could be an infection. So we went! The car ride was miserable, I couldn't stay still and the pain was unbearable. When we walked into the hospital and up the registration desk I just lost it and started sobbing, so Kevin had to check me in. Since I was 35 weeks pregnant, it's policy that they take me up to Labor and Delivery. To my embarrassment they brought out a wheel chair and wheeled me up. When we got into the room, both Kevin and I started freaking out. It was surreal to see all the labor and delivery equipment and baby stuff. I told Kevin "we should not be here, I don't want to be here, it's way too early". They strapped me to the monitors to check the baby's heart rate, and to see if I really was having contractions. They also tested my urine to check for an infection. I felt like I was laying there for forever, and finally the nurse came in and said there were large amount of blood in my urine, and it was most likely a kidney stone. I started having a panic attack, and was crying uncontrollably and hyperventilating. I couldn't believe I had a kidney stone! I knew it was possible, because I have a big family history of kidney stones, and my mom had one when she was young. Finally they took me down to the regular ER and got me some morphine. Have to say I was a little disappointed! It only dulled the pain, it didn't take it away completely, and only lasted about 30 minutes each time. But at least I was calmed down and somewhat comfortable. They ran some tests, and at that point I was able to call and talk to my mom, which helped a lot. By this time it was about 1 am. The pain started easing around 4 am, and the doctor told me they couldn't tell how big the stone was, but I should pass it anywhere from a few hours to a few days. They also told me I had another one in my kidney that could cause issues in the future. They send me home with some prescriptions and said if I continue to have pain or don't pass the stone in a few days to follow up with a urologist. We went home exhausted, and tried to get some sleep. I woke up feeling pretty much fine, just tired. Kevin actually got up and went to church (he only went until he found us subs for nursery). I passed the stone around 2 pm the next day, with no pain. The whole experience was just crazy, and I am soooo lucky to have such a loving and supportive husband. He was so awesome through the whole thing. I am just so glad it was a kidney stone and not early labor. The only positive thing is strangely I feel more prepared to go into labor now. Everyone keeps telling me that a kidney stone is worse than labor pain... hopefully it's true! We also no longer need to tour the hospital before the baby come, because we got the full experience over the weekend.. haha. The most important thing is that the baby is perfectly fine and healthy, and I should still have a few weeks until we have to go back to the hospital, but next time it will be much more exciting and less scary!
