It's back....

Well, my gallbladder relief was short lived. I was in so much pain last week. I had felt so much better from my first attack a month ago that I'm afraid I overdid it with different foods. I felt even worse this time and it's really wearing on me. Saturday I almost had a breakdown in the middle of the grocery store. I held off and just called my mom crying from the car instead of melting down in public. I just don't know what to eat. I can eat something one day and be fine, then the next day it irritates my gallbladder. I have a food diary and I'm keeping track of everything so I know what triggers pain. I cut out all dairy- which I had mostly done except for milk with cereal anyway, but I switched to rice milk because I ate a few slices of cheese and figured out quickly that's a no no. I love cheese too :(. I spent all last week eating carefully and finally felt some relief yesterday. Today I had pain again (even though I ate "safe" foods that didn't bug me before) but the pain was moderate at least.

I also had my first trip to labor & delivery on Saturday. I was having such a hard day- in so much pain and frustrated with grocery shopping and not being able to eat. I kept having these cramps that would come and go. I figured it was just round ligament pain (RLP) but after taking Tylenol and a warm bath I didn't feel any relief. I started to panic and called the OB. Mine wasn't on call but the other OB in the practice called back. He said it was probably normal, but if Tylenol wasn't helping I could go to the hospital and get checked. Cue breakdown #2 of the day. I was home alone and had no idea when DH would get off, so I called my good friend B. She left her two kids with her husband and came over immediately (I'm so lucky to have her!) and drove me to the hospital. When I got there they debated sending me to the ER because technically they don't treat you in L&D until 20 weeks. I was 18 weeks 5 days so they let me stay. As soon as I got checked in, DH showed up so B went home. They hooked me up to a monitor and used the doppler on Baby T. I also gave a urine sample to rule out a UTI. After an hour, it was obvious I wasn't having contractions, and my urine came back clean so they attributed the pain to stretching and RLP. Once I actually got into the hospital bed and felt the pain there, I realized it was a lot milder than I thought. My anxiety was making it so much worse at home.

It is comforting to know that I can go to L&D and get checked so easily. They didn't make me feel silly or stupid or like I overreacted. I am very glad I went because it gave me peace of mind and then I didn't freak out all night. I think weekends are the most difficult for me because I'm alone most of the time and I'm not very busy. At school I go nonstop so I don't pay much attention to any minor aches I may have. This could be bad because after week 32 I will be out of school and be home. I hope I don't become a frequent flyer in L&D! I need to find ways to keep myself busy.

On top of all this, I have a chest cold now. I had 7 students absent today (out of 20) so there is something nasty going around my classroom. I really hope whatever I have doesn't get worse, because right now it's tolerable. Despite all these issues, I am still extremely grateful and thrilled to be pregnant. I told my mom that I feel guilty being upset about my pain because of course I will do ANYTHING to keep this baby. She said it's okay to be upset- pregnant women are not supposed to spend 9 months in pain, and I can hate the pain and situation but still love the pregnancy. I'm going to see my PCP again this week to ask if there is anything else that I can do for my gallbladder. I haven't gained any weight at my last 3 OB appointments. My OB isn't concerned, because Baby T is obviously growing, but I've got to find a way to fill myself up and eat comfortably. I will figure this out!

 

19 weeks. Keep growing, baby (girl?)!