Recovery

What a week it's been at the Binkley household! This week was filled with ups and downs and to be perfectly honest, I'm glad it's over! The story is long, please bare with me!

Between your 24 -28 week of pregnancy your doctor will have you go in and take a glucose tolerance test. This is the general way of checking to make sure your body can properly process sugar. If you fail and your numbers are borderline then you go back and do a three hour glucose challenge test. This is what I had to do with Harper - and the three hour test came back fine. Woo hoo! So last Saturday I went to get my one hour glucose test done. On Tuesday, I got the call from my doctor that said I had again failed the one hour test, but this time my numbers were way to0 high. She diagnosed me with gestational diabetes. Now while this felt really heavy and daunting for a day or so, after talking with my doctor she reassured me that this more than likely genetic disposition (my dad's a diabetic) can be controlled through diet changes and that the risks to my baby are minimum as long as I can manage my blood sugar. I was feeling much more at ease. We set up an appointment next week to meet with a dietician where they will educate me on how to manage it all.

On Wednesday evening, after dinner I began experiencing strange pains in my upper abdomen. I knew they weren't labor pains or stretching pains. To be honest it felt like severe heartburn. So I drank water, laid on my side, and ate some Tums. The pain finally died down around 3:30 a.m. I was scheduled to see my doctor on Thursday afternoon but I went ahead and called her to tell her about these strange pains. She sent me to labor and delivery to be tested for Toxemia (which from my understanding is high blood pressure). While there, the nurse concluded I'd probably just pulled a muscle, it would be fine. My toxemia test came back negative, but my doctor ordered a scan of my gall bladder just to be sure I didn't have gall stones. Unfortunately it was after 5 and the radiology department at my hospital was closed (please note the sarcasm). So I had to go back to the hospital Friday to scan my gall bladder. Again, unfortunately no one informed me that I wasn't supposed to eat before this test. So I fought tooth and nail with the radiology department Friday morning to scan me on Friday so I wouldn't have to wait. They agreed to see me at 4, but after the scan of course told me I wouldn't know anything until Monday because it was Friday after 4 (please note the sarcasm again). So - still in pain (yeah tylenol did nothing) I went home - again.

Jon had scheduled his annual bird hunting trip this weekend. So he went ahead and left and my mom packed up her bags to stay with me. He was very reassuring that if anything changed or went wrong he would come right home, but at this point we all thought it would be Monday before I knew anything - what point was there in him staying and watching me suffer? Friday night the pain became so intense I couldn't deal with it. I'd made up my mind to call the OB department again to hopefully get some help. The nurse was sooo kind. She was able to read my scan from earlier that afternoon (thanks again radiology) and my gall bladder did not contain stones, my pancreas was fine and my liver looked healthy. At this point I didn't care if the yellow brick road showed up outside my door to take me to the land of Oz - I just wanted relief! She paged my doctor who told me to go to the ER. When you live an hour away from the hospital you want your trip to be worth it. So My mom and I loaded up in the car and made the trek to Jeff City. My poor sleepy sister came to my house to watch Harper (you're the best!).

I kid you not - in less than 5 minutes the ER doctor diagnosed me with gull bladder disease. It took two presses on my abdomen and back (and me flying off the table in pain) for him to conclude that although I don't have stones, my gall bladder is still inflamed. They started an IV right away and the drugs were wonderful. It was the best I'd felt in days! Since the inflammation is not affecting my liver enzymes we are going to try and manage my pain through medication and the contractions of my gall bladder through diet until Elliette arrives, then they will remove it.

Between the diabetes and the gall bladder I'm definitely on a strict diet (no sugar, low carb and no fat). But I will do what's necessary for the baby to be born healthy - even if I am overwhelmed at the moment. I'm feeling much better today and hope that this is the end of our pregnancy complications. WHEW!

I told you it was a long story - but the road to recovery is starting to form little yellow bricks, and who knows, maybe it will lead me straight to Oz.