Breathing Thing

I'm not really sure how to describe all of these things, especially how it was in the beginning, but here goes.

In May, I started having this really annoying thing where it just felt like there was too little space in my lung area. Understandable seeing as how there was a baby growing in there, but it wasn't just that. Occasionally pressure would start to build up, so I would find ways to burp it out. Most of the time this would take care of it, but sometimes not. Pressure would build up so bad that my back would start to hurt really bad, it would hurt to breath, and nothing was comfortable. When it got like this I would just pace the halls, lay down, writhe in pain, decide that wasn't helping, repeat process.

One time it happened so bad that I really couldn't breath to the point that I was blacking out and could no longer feel my fingers or toes. Being 16 or so weeks pregnant and not getting oxygen is a little frightening, so we called 911. I am a little embarrassed to say it, but we did. Had it just been me I probably would have toughed it out, but I had no idea what was going on and I figured me having oxygen was important, so we did it. Apparently, when you say "blacking out" and "pregnant" on a 911 call, they send out the troops. I can't remember exact numbers, but I think they sent a handful of police officers, 3ish paramedics, and a guy from the fire department. Our whole parking lot was full of their vehicles and I don't recall this being normal. Maybe it is...

I digress.

They gave me oxygen and offered me a ride in the ambulance. Seeing as how I was doing fine then and not wanting to pay for such a fancy ride, we opted to drive ourselves to the hospital. Long story short, they gave me a breathing treatment, offered x-rays, which we again declined, then went home without any idea of what had caused the problem. They really didn't have a clue and we could tell.

I talked about it with my OB, who didn't seem to know what was going on, or at least didn't share his thoughts. Everyone just blamed it on pregnancy and said it would go away after the baby was born (FALSE!), so I learned how to deal with it: avoid certain foods, if the pain started - get a Sprite and hopefully burp it out and take extra strength Tylenol and hope it kicked in before the pain, if it continued, build up enough pressure to force myself to vomit until my stomach was completely empty, go to bed and hope I could sleep pain free til morning.

I really got the hang of that and was able to avoid the extremes of vomiting most of the time.

3 weeks after Henry was born it started happening again. 3 nights in a row, in fact. After 2 nights of that lovely fun, I called my OB to tell them it was still happening and they said next time to go to the ER while it was happening so they could see stuff while it was a problem, so I did. They gave me painkiller (very nice :D), did an ultrasound and found that I have gallstones. The ER doctor then referred me to a surgeon. I visited him and we decided that the best thing for me to do is have my gallbladder removed. I'm not looking forward to more of the hospital, more IVs, more blood work, more recovering, or any of that, but at least they know what the problem is.

The surgeon pointed out that after Henry was born I had a high live enzyme count, which is what happens when a gallstone goes into the ducts and get stuck. Stuff starts backing up into your liver and can eventually cause serious problems if the gallstone doesn't become unstuck soon enough. Luckily my liver enzymes were back down to normal, so no need to worry about that, but apparently pregnancy increase your risks of gallstones and once it's a problem, it's not a problem that will go away. So, because we would like to have more children, in order to keep it from being a problem in the future, I'm having mine removed. If I didn't there is always they chance of having a "gallbladder episode", getting a gallstone stuck in a duct which would lead to emergency surgery that is much riskier, or it becoming a problem while I'm pregnant and having to have it removed then, which would be risky for me and the baby.

Since visiting the ER, I've been on a non-fat diet (except I cheated the day of Henry's blessing). Non fat can be very boring, but I haven't had an "episode", so it's worth it.

That's my story. It is what it is.