I know that you all have been DYING to hear the whole story about my fun post-pregnancy surgery...because I'm such a drama queen.
While I was pregnant, I would get this burning chest and back pain. It was terrible. Sometimes it would be hard to breath for awhile. I assumed that it was part of being pregnant. I mean, don't women complain about how hard it is all the time?
After I had Zach, the "episodes" increased to once every night instead of once ever couple weeks. I was waking up once a night in terrible pain that lasted for at least 20 minutes.
I tried looking it up online to figure out what this crazy pain could be. The only thing I could find that made sense to me was a pinched nerve connected to a rib. I told myself at some point to make a plan to see a chiropractor.
Wednesday the 12th, I woke up at 1:00am in terrible pain. The pain was so intense that it was hard to breath. I couldn't fill up my lungs because my chest hurt too bad. This went on for 20 minutes and wasn't letting up. I was starting to panic...you know...because I like to be able to breath normally. It was worse than labor. I woke up Aaron because I was getting into the shower to "ease my muscles" and he needed to be awake in case Zach needed something ( Aaron doesn't wake up to crying babies).
Aaron followed me into the bathroom and would freak out when he stopped hearing me gasping for air. He assumed I had stopped breathing. After another 20 minutes of the pain, I told Aaron I had to go to the emergency room...because, no joke, I felt like I was dying. He packed us up Zach and we drove over.
I walked into the hospital and told them I couldn't breathe. They took my vitals and my blood pressure was 160/100. I don't know if you know about blood pressure but...that's bad. They asked if I had recently given birth. That's when Aaron came in with Zach and I said 2 and a half weeks ago.
Immediately they moved me to a room. With blood pressure like that, they thought it was eclampsia and that I was about to have a seizure.
I wasn't worried about that because I knew it was my back. I mean, it couldn't be a heart attack even though it was feeling like what I imagine a heart attack would feel like.
The doctor came in and started asking me some questions about the pain. I explained how I thought that it was my back and he said,"It sounds like your gall bladder." That made no sense to me at all. And I told him that. I tried to explain how the pain was all in my chest and upper back. I must have thrown my back out.
He had me roll over onto my back and he poked me in different places on my abdomen, all of which didn't hurt. Then...he poked over my gall bladder and I yelled and jolted off the bed. And he said,"Did that one hurt?" Yes...snarky doctor man. That one hurt.
I was wheeled into ultrasound so they could see if they could find gall stones. It took them about a minute to confirm I was full of little stones. I was hoping that "little" meant, easier...it does not. "Little" means that it is easier for them to scoot out of my gall bladder and clog other tubes inside me and cause really horrible damage to my liver and pancreas. The ultrasound technician told me that I would most likely have to have surgery soon or risk an emergency surgery down the line. Then he reassured me that it would be much easier than having a baby. He didn't know that for me, that meant faster than 4 days and 19 hours.
The doctor explained to me that during pregnancy, especially for women with short torsos, the gall bladder can't fully empty and the bile hardens into stones. Excellent.
When we left the emergency room, I messaged my mom to let her know what was happening...since I was pretty sure that surgery and a 3 week old baby would be a little much for me to handle on my own.
Consultation with a surgeon the next day. He told me that since I had just had a baby, the laproscopic procedure might not happen. There was a chance they would have to cut me all the way open. After that I was a bit scared. He told me that if all went well, it would be 7-10 days before I would be getting back to normal...a month if it didn't go well.
I picked the following Monday for the procedure.
I was so lucky that my mom was able to fly back out to Utah to help me. Aaron used all his time off when Zach was born so he couldn't stay home with me and I don't think I know anyone in Utah who could have taken care of Zach and I for a whole week 24/7.
Monday I went in for surgery and Aaron, Zach, and my mom came to the hospital with me.
I got to nurse Zach one last time before they wheeled me in for surgery. The anesthealagist said something really comforting before they took me back. He looked at who my surgeon was and said,"Awesome. This should only take 30 minutes." I like to hear other people who work with the surgeon have faith in him because that man prepared me for the worst ahead of time.
As promised, I was in and out in 30 minutes. As I came to, I was really confused. My eyes were too tired to open and people were talking around me. I realized was in a hospital and being wheeled somewhere. I had movie visions of people being rushed through the emergency room. I asked,"What happened?" And they said,"You just had surgery." That scared me even more! "Why?" I almost cried. "We just took your gallbladder out." ...oh...then I remembered. This wasn't an emergency. My family was waiting for me.
My mom came into recovery first. "Where is Zach?", was my first question. Aaron had planned to go back to work so my mom coming in without my son was a little distressing. But Aaron had stayed and was talking to the doctor with Zach. Everything had gone perfectly.
My mother asked how long it would be before I could hold Zach on my own... 7 days...that was going to be a tough one.
Once they got my pain under control and I could breath on my own (I was kindly bad at that at first) they let me go home.
And that is the picture-less story of when I decided to add some drama to my post pregnancy life.
