32 Weeks 3 Days

The last two weeks have given me the most pain I've dealt with yet. It's constant and intense. I've been in either the Vaca ER or Sac L&D almost everyday and there was one day that I was there twice.

Last night found me in L&D again for the same old foot pain. There is always a nurse or doctor who thinks I'm in definite labor! Dad took me the previous night but mom came with us this time. I had a good and sympathetic nurse and doctor which was very nice since the night before I had very sarcastic and callus doctors and nurses. My pain last night wasn't a very high level. Mom massaged my foot and leg the entire drive while I laid across the back seat with pillows and ice under my back. I was at about a level 8 pain but it wasn't super intense. As I waited for pain meds and spoke with the doctor, explaining the situation yet again, the pain rose and the doctor acted fairly quickly. Within 20 minutes of the injection of meds into my butt (Dr C's orders are that I'm not allowed IV meds anymore due to risk of dependance) my pain was gone from my upper leg and slowly working it's way out of my calf and by 35 minutes out of my foot almost completely! This was the first time in probably the entire pregnancy that I've been this pain-free. 

I had been texting Joseph and he said that he really wants to make it a point to go to church this weekend. It's been 5 months that we haven't been able to go because my pain has been keeping me home during service times. He texted that he feels that God is leading him back to The House and that we have a lot of people praying for us, but we haven't contacted our pastors. He sent an email to them asking for prayer.

When we got home, I emailed both my pain med doc and my diabetes doc, Dr.C and Dr F. I explained how I'm totally at the end of my rope. How I'm desperate for help and during these pain episodes I'm praying for relief in the form of death. I'm not the type of person who is looking for attention and being dramatic and saying these things, this is really how bad the pain is and it seems no one is able or willing to do what is necessary in order to help me. How will I bear the next 8 weeks if I can't bear one day at a time? ...

Joseph received an email from Pastor Joseph within 2 hours of sending his message for prayer around 10pm saying that he will be praying for our situation, pain, healthy baby and all. He forwarded the message to the rest of the pastors making sure they all received it.

I headed to bed after sending the emails and my pain started to kick in. Joseph got my ice and heat packs and put them behind my back and under my foot. He started to massage my leg and within a half hour I fell asleep. Joseph has been sleeping on the floor next to the bed because he is afraid that if he rolls or moves in his sleep, I'll wake up and pain will start again. I told him that tonight I wanted him to sleep with me. I hate waking up lonely in a big empty bed. Once I fell asleep, he laid on the floor to sleep. After an hour or so, he said I started moving around in my sleep so he got in bed with me and I stopped moving. . . . Can you believe I slept solidly from 12:30am til 8am when my alarm went off?!!?! 

I looked back at yesterday's notes and pain medication timings to see what I'd done differently that could account for the drastic change during the night... Joseph suggested it was prayer.

 I received an email from Dr.C by this morning stating that she has contacted people by phone and that she hopes things will start going through. I had my NST and OB appointments which Mom drove me to. When I got to my appointment, Dr F came in and said how she called her friends in certain offices and said if they don't contact her with the info she asked for, then they've got it comin by 5pm. Dr. F is a very intense woman and intimidates everyone LOL! According to her note after leaving the appointment,  I should be hearing from Pain Management and Pain Clinic soon. She also said I should email them and ask why they're refusing to see me when they haven't seen all the imaging and test 

results.

This afternoon went well. I was sitting on the couch getting ready to get comfy and all of a sudden I felt odd... I couldn't tell if it was a constipated feeling or contractions. With Blake, I never could tell if my belly was getting hard. Even while laying in the hospital in labor and the monitor spiking every few minutes, I couldn't tell! So anyway, I rushed to the bathroom and nothing happened and after some cramping and a few minutes, I headed back to the couch. In just a few minutes later, the pain was back! I rushed to the bathroom... and nothing happened. I came back to the couch and as I sat there upright, pain came back.I headed back to the toilet and mom touched my belly and said how it was quite hard... I started timing my pain and duration. For the next half hour, while sitting "comfortably" on the toilet, pain came every 4 minutes and lasting 2-3 minutes between. The pain was so intense I was extremely close to throwing up! Panting and breathing rhymically, the pain spread from the pelvic floor, up the sides to the top of my belly. I still couldn't tell if it was uterine or intestinal! haha. Nothing went into the toilet so I had Joseph buy some Milk of Magnesia (cramp free laxative) and it didn't seem to do anything! An hour sitting on a nice chair without a bottom, I headed back to the couch. Being upright and sitting on my bottom, the pain started to return! I promptly laid on my right side and my tummy stopped cramping and hours later, only returns when I sit upright or sit on my bottom =)

Two days ago we moved (everything except our kitchen sink) into my parents house. That way Blake and I have 24/7 care. Until a room can be cleared for us, Mom and Dad have given Joseph & I their room. Blake sleeps in my old room with my Mom =) We don't know how long we will be here. I expect the whole pregnancy and even quite a bit of recovery time depending on how I'll be doing. Because I'm looking at surgery on my ankle and possible procedures on my back, we might be here a few months at least. It's weird living in a house full of people again! Joseph brought our tv over and when I came into the house today after my appointment, Dad was watching tv, and Joseph &Chad had each of their own tv's on the left and right side of Dad's while they played their games! haha

The rest of today my back and pain level have been quite a bit less than all the other days these last two weeks. I've only needed massage once and that was due to restless leg syndrome and some foot ache from moving it too much!
Joseph and I had planned to go to church tonight for the worship service but my cramping episode took up that time instead =(

Joseph has received some more messages from our pastors... which I'll post...  CLICK HERE!