Appendectomy In Pregnancy??

It's been a while since I've posted, but I think I have a pretty good reason...

April 7th I began having some belly pain that I attributed to stress or nervousness about a meeting Frank & I were going to about doing background checks on children's workers at church. We went to the meeting and it went well. Well, aside from the crazy right sided abdominal pain...

When we picked Trey up from our friend's home, the pain seemed to get worse. I thought this was odd, since the meeting was over. I had Frank press on my belly to see what he thought and he had a certain look on his face. He had me take Tylenol and we would see if it got better.

We got to our house about 30 minutes later and the pain was not any better. Frank called my OB who thought it sounded like my gall bladder and said we should probably head to the hospital. So, we left for the hospital.

An gall bladder ultrasound was ordered for in the morning (because an u/s tech isn't there overnight). They started an IV and drew labs. I got pain medicine and was feeling better, however I was feeling crampy/contraction like pain in my lower abdomen. I was hooked up to a fetal monitor and was given Brethine to stop the contractions.

I was only 22 weeks along. Scary.

Frank and Trey were going to go home and come back in the morning...that is, until the contractions started. So the poor guys stayed the night with me.

The next morning my OB came in. We discussed the contractions, which she believed to just be uterine irritability. And she also ordered a CT Scan to check my appendix and consulted surgery. This was around 9am.

I had my gall bladder u/s and they also looked at my placenta, which was all normal.

The surgeon came in around noon. I had still not had my CT Scan. He proceeded to pull his cell phone out in my room and call radiology to find out why Mrs. C hadn't had her CT Scan. He proceeded to tell them that either we do the Scan or he would have to go in laproscopically to diagnose what was happening. The Scan was clearly the better option.

Now, let me be the first to say that radiology in pregnancy is not recommended. I am fully aware of that. I am aware that there could be some effects to the baby. HOWEVER, if my appendix burst and I die, then the baby would not live either. My OB, my doctor husband, and my surgeon all agreed that this was the best course of action.

Unfortunately, the radiologist was not comfortable doing the scan and needed a little "convincing" by the surgeon. My CT was done around 4:30pm. My OB came into the Radiology Dept after my scan and told me that it was my appendix.

I was wheeled into surgery around 5:30pm, put under and had a laproscopic appendectomy, while 22 weeks pregnant.

How amazing is that!?

My OB (who I LOVE) was in the surgery and I saw her before they put me under. The relief I felt can't be described to know that she was there to watch out for my baby. And she did a great job.

The surgeon, who spoke up for me when I couldn't, was awesome. There was some pus around my appendix, which definitely confirmed the fact the this needed to be done sooner versus later. Just the fact that he did it laproscopically is amazing. The recovery time was near nothing. I only took pain meds for less than a week.

We are so thankful that God has been watching out for us. We know that all of this was in His hands. It is just amazing.

I am now 27 weeks along and the baby is kicking me like crazy. I am so grateful for every one of those kicks...such reassurance.

So, that's where we've been...hopefully I'll get a belly picture on here soon. Oh, and ultrasound pics. I'm so behind!!