Yes, it's that time. I'm pregnant again and we are going to have baby#2! Our excitement quickly got muffled when things turned sour and I started having what feels like a long list of complications that as it turns out have turned my life upside down. So what' wrong?
My biggest problem is that the hormones produced during pregnancy raises cholesterol levels in your gallbladder (if you are unlucky) which can cause your bile to turn into a thick sludgy mass. This is extremely painful when the gallbladder will try to function normally but cramp and spasm instead and the bile is not able to be released the way it should. Since it's very irritated it may do this all the time but not always with the same intensity. I am lucky so far that no stones have been found or that the gallbladder is not infected as that means surgery. Although, getting that non functioning organ out sometimes sounds pretty good to me. What does this mean for me and baby on a day to day basis?
Baby is fine, no problems there yet anyways. For me it means unpredictable pain most days, sometimes all day sometimes a few hours. It can mean anything from a dull lingering pain to sever attacks that put me in a hospital bed until it's under control again. I never know what the day will bring. I spend at least a few hours in bed most days. Luckily with a low fat diet I am able to reduce the severe attacks a lot and with a steady dose of morphine I can get through most pain here at home, no hospital needed. I am told this likely will go on until the baby is born which is 6 months away, yuck. The hope is that it wont get worse and that surgery is not needed, at least not until baby is born. Most likely this will go away by itself after birth, that's about the only good news about this I have gotten. Sounds fun, right? But wait there's more!
As I have a history with my last pregnancy of kidney infections and kidney stones (yes, I had a great time then too..) I am high risk for that again. Like a junkie I leave my urine sample every week and hope it's clean! In the last 4 weeks I have had 2 infections, awesome, they are pretty painful on their own and I am getting sick of antibiotics. Now you though I was done?
But lets not forget about a little thing called gestational diabetes. I had it last time and now they tell me I have it again. The good news is that I can wait a few more weeks before I start checking blood sugar levels 4 times a day and I am not on their strict diet quite yet. I am on my gallbladder diet only right now. You just wait until I have to be on a diabetes, gallbladder and pregnancy diet all at the same time. Please invite me for dinner, I'm so fun to cook for!
I have a great medical team helping me though.
1- Midwife, oversees the "normal" aspects of the pregnancy thus far
2-Ob-gyn, follows my complications during pregnancy
3- Surgeon, decides what happens with my gallbladder
4- Family doc, oversees and makes sure I see all the right people
5- Speciality nurse, diabetes clinic at LGH, follows my diabetes
6- Dietitian at LGH, helps me with what I can and cant eat
All I can say is I could not be luckier to live in Canada, seriously, the medical care is AMAZING. Never complain about it.
I may sound bitter, well, that's where I'm at right now. I try to focus on the fact that there will be another incredible little person in my life pretty soon and that I have an end date to all of this. Some people are sick and never get better, I at least know I will. My body just cant handle pregnancy so this will be the last time I put myself through this.
//Nina
