ER visit = Overnight stay

Oshin's alarm wakes us all up at 6:30 a.m. Friday morning.

I head downstairs, walk into the kitchen, and the smell of last night's tilapia dishes made me run to the bathroom.

I throw up nothing but stomach acid.
Oh joy!!
It's the most awful feeling in the world. (It feels like my entire stomach is going to come out of my mouth).

Oshin thought it was the tilapia, because I should be past morning sickness at 13.5 weeks.
I didn't think so.

The entire morning I was lying on the sofa feeling nauseous.
I was trying to avoid everything.
My poor Andres kept watching Toy Story 3 and The Little Engine that Could.

I finally shake the feeling (or so I thought) around 1ish and we get dressed to go to the commissary to buy meat.

I did Self Check Out and it was the most painful thing ever.

Checking out, I started getting this intense cramping pain on my lower right side stomach area and an incredibly intense pain underneath my breastbone. I've never experienced a pain like this before. (It kind of felt like chest pain, but what do I know about that).
I was barely able to make it to the car pushing the shopping cart.

The pain has me in tears!!

I call Oshin.

He rushes to pick us up, then drops me off at the ER across the street.
(He has meat to put in the fridge and there's no point for him & Andres to be with me, since a toddler has no patience for hospital visits like that).

I'm in an ER room by 3:30 p.m.
The doctor comes in to see me an hour later.
(I'm still in pain).
They check for baby's heartbeat.
Do a pelvic.
Draw blood, give me fluids through an IV, some antacid cocktail.
And last but not least, pain meds.

I'm still in pain, but go get an ultrasound.

By the time I go back to my ER bed it's 6:45 p.m.

My breastbone pain has subdued.
Finally!!
But my abdominal pain lingers on.

The ER doctor tells me she's calling an OB doc to get a second opinion.
"About bloody time," I say to myself.

About an hour later the OB doctor questions me.
Does another pelvic exam and touches my belly.
She wants them to do another ultrasound to check my ovaries/stomach.

15 minutes later she comes back into the room telling me that she's admitting over night, for observation. (She's thinking it might be my appendix).
She tells me that I do have GERD, which is just acid built up in the stomach/throat, hence the extreme pain in my higher abdomen (breastbone area, as I've been calling it). Which is common in pregnant women.

She also informs me that the pain on lower right side could be due to my appendix and that's why she's admitting me, just in case surgery is needed.

I was lost once I heard the words admitted & surgery. 


I was scared!!!

(Oshin & Andres had stopped by to check on me just an hour earlier, but the toddler was restless, so they left).
I text him the news.
He's a little worried now, but reassures me.

I'm admitted to the 2nd floor SIU by 10ish.

I'm exhausted.

The OB doctor told me they were doing a bowel rest, which meant no food or fluids for the entire night, just IV.  (My blood pressure was really low and they allowed me to have some grape juice & graham crackers around 7ish).

They took really good care of me.

I was given a sleep aid by 11:30 and woke up at 6 a.m. this morning.
(Talk about a good night's sleep. Uninterrupted by a snoring husband, a toddler, nausea, or having to pee).

Turns out, it was not my appendix but bowel blockage which was causing my abdominal pain.
DAMN the constipation!!!

I've even been taking colace on a regular basis, eating fiber, but still having such a difficult time going to the bathroom.

I was given an enema (fun, I know) and sent home with almost every stool softener/stool helping aid on the market. And then some for the after effects, if you know what I mean.

photo source

 I was never constipated while pregnant with Andres.

Again, no wonder I'm having such anger/rage issues.
Constipation is no joking matter people.
And painful like a mofo!!

I've been hearing that 2nd + pregnancies are the worst!!
I'm thinking they are right.
My pregnancy with Andres was a cake walk compared to this, so far.

I give kudos to the women who continue to bear children and get sicker & sicker which each pregnancy. Kudos to you ladies!!

I'm not that strong.

Oshin will have his "snip it" appointment lined up soon after I give birth.