Well I had good intentions for a picture post this week, but a kidney stone passing got in the way. In my last post I mentioned apple picking, and on our way home from doing that, I had intense pain come on out of nowhere with nausea and vomiting. Earlier this pregnancy, I was in and out of the hospital trying to pass what we think was a kidney stone. Since I had that experience to draw from, I knew that this pain was identical to that pain and by the next morning I could not keep any food or water down. My dad drove us to the hospital in what felt like the longest car ride ever. I tried to tell myself that it was practice for labor, hopefully minus the vomiting. I have now realized that when in intense pain, I keep my eyes closed, I breathe calmly to myself and I shake my foot vigorously. Eventually, I received anti-nausea meds and some pain medication which made it so very much better. I will endure intense pain for a baby, but not for a kidney stone. A renal ultrasound showed a 7mm stone in my right kidney and some fluid buildup in my left. I was having no pain on my right side, but a lot of pain on the left so we initially thought they had messed up the results. However, they later explained that the left side could have a stone as well, but ultrasounds are not as good at showing them. By the evening, I was no longer having intense pain and I had passed some small bits of stone, so we figured that was it and were discharged in the morning. After leaving the hospital, the pain returned off and on and I was drinking lemon juice and water around the clock and I started chanting, "get it out" over and over. Pain does weird things to me, but it worked! Friday night I passed a 5mm kidney stone. I have never been so excited. You would have thought someone gave me a puppy. I sent a picture to all of my siblings, which Eddie told me is disgusting. I just figured if they were praying for my health, they should join in my celebration full force. I'll be sending the stone in this week to be analyzed and hopefully they can let me know what is causing the stones so that I can prevent any more from forming.
In other news, I started having Braxton Hicks contractions while in the hospital and yesterday, they were very stubbornly sticking around. At one point they were every 3 minutes lasting a minute. Caleb and I had a heart to heart and I told him he is not allowed to come yet and I prayed God would keep him inside at least a few more weeks. They eventually subsided, so hopefully they stay spread far far apart. I will try to take a 34 week picture and post it soon. I am certain that my belly is much larger than it was at this point with Joshua. I told Eddie that it is unfathomable that it can grow any larger and yet, I know it somehow will. 'Til next week!
