A not so Merry Christmas after all

Well it’s been a bit of radio silence from the Irelands in Norway these last couple of weeks. You last heard from us returned from an amazing trip to Switzerland, and looking forward to a quiet but enjoyable Christmas and a trip to the mountains for New Years.

Well it was a great plan, but unfortunately wasn’t to be. I woke up on Christmas Eve morning experiencing quite a bit of pain. I guess this is a bit of a debrief for me as well just to write down what happened. Maybe I’ll be accused of over-sharing, so be it. I don’t mind sharing what we’ve been through, it’s a bit rare but just goes to show even the most ‘normal’ pregnancy can take a bit of a turn… but as I said it’s all ok in the end so don’t worry! Now if you’re not good with hearing about gory pregnancy details and medical stuff I suggest you skip to the happy ending in the last paragraph!

So yes, pain. Right side abdominal pain. It has been a somewhat reoccurring theme for me in this pregnancy to have some pain – I was hospitalised for 2 days back in October for the same thing and have had a couple of milder doses in between. But then I believe the diagnosis was something many pregnant women experience – constipation. Glamorous isn’t it, this pregnancy caper! During pregnancy the hormones in your system slow down your digestion so that the baby can get as many nutrients as possible from the food you digest, just my luck that my damn system was so good at this that things would grind to a halt every now and then. I was managing it with diet and fluids and exercise (or so I thought) so was quite annoyed when I got this mega pain on the 24th December.

So I just thought, ok I’ll just get through this painful few hours and all will be fine. Problem was the hours turned into a day, turned into 2 days, 3 days and no relief. I was very sick (pain and vomiting) and on Boxing Day we decided it was time to go to the hospital to make sure the baby was ok and to see what was going on. They monitored the baby at hospital and told us he/she was fine, that it probably was constipation again and I should take some pretty simple treatments (I won’t go into details there…!) and it should be ok. By then I had stopped vomiting, and was just feeling drained and still in a lot of pain.

I managed to get my system ‘working’ again, was able to start to eat and drink a bit and thought things were on the improve. But there was still the pain. And the pain if anything got worse. So I soldiered through a few more days at home with paracetamol and hot showers until on 30th December I thought I needed to go to the GP because the pain was terrible and it just wasn’t going away. I was pretty sure this wasn’t just a stubborn poo anymore…

The GP took a simple finger prick blood test which showed some elevated levels of infection/inflammation, so it was over to the hospital for more tests. At the hospital they were thinking along the lines of appendicitis. This wasn’t news to us – it was what they had to rule out back in October during my last hospital visit. Problem was it some of the symptoms didn’t really support it and the stage of my pregnancy complicated it all – everything in the abdomen moves around and changes so much it’s hard to know what is going on. Anyway, they did an ultrasound and found an area of inflammation, and came in on the evening of 30th December and said they wanted to operate on suspected appendicitis.

GETTING EXAMINED IN EMERGENCY ROOM IN HOSPITAL

Joel and I were of course very worried and nervous about the affects of an operation and general anaesthesia on the baby (32 weeks). We were also a little nervous that the particular young surgeon who bowled over to my bedside and announced that they wanted to operate right away seemed a bit scalpel-happy and wasn’t doing the things we asked – ie. To consult with a senior obstetrician and senior anaesthetist (who we would also like to speak to) to get some advice. So to be honest Joel and I were being difficult and asking lots of questions.

Fortunately there was a shift change and the next surgeon who came on duty was a lot more diligent and came and spoke to us at length. He’d sat down with the radiographer who did the ultrasound and his consultant surgeon and discussed what it could be. After much discussion of the ultrasound and my case history (6 days of pain) they felt it was likely that the appendix had already burst and created an abscess and that the best approach would be to treat it with antibiotics overnight and then drain the wound. They could also see if the antibiotics had any affect to shrink it overnight. They/we were cautious about doing any more tests such as a CT scan due to the risk of exposing the baby to harmful radiation. So it was a bit of guesswork and deduction involved.

So I was of course happy that I wasn’t about to be wheeled into surgery, but also not that thrilled with the idea of a burst appendix in my abdomen! The next morning, New Years Eve, they did another ultrasound and Joel, the radiographer and I were joined in the lab by about 4 other radiographers, including we think some pretty senior doctors, and our original radiographer came up with a new theory, that it was actually a twisted ovary, not the appendix after all. There were lots of nods and pats on the back for this switched-on guy as all the pieces seemed to fit that diagnosis, and it was quite left-of-field.

So then I was transferred over to gynaecology, and they advised the only treatment was surgery. Fortunately there was a very experienced laparoscopic gyno surgeon on duty and she would be operating on me. Some calming words from our friend Jonno Evans, an anaesthetist in Melbourne about the surgical risks to the baby (minimal) and I was in the theatre within the hour. I was scared of course but just trying to remain calm for the baby. One of the biggest risks for the pregnancy was that I would go into premature labour, and I knew that I just had to remain calm and composed, I’m quite proud that I managed it. As I was being taken to theatre a surgeon said to me “normally we’d give you some relaxant drugs before you go into theatre but you seem quite calm, I don’t think that you need that”. Our poor baby had already had to put up with more drugs than we’d ever want, so I was pleased that at least I could do that.

So the surgery went very well, they found that my ovary had twisted twice and the tissue had died. There was absolutely no chance to save it so it was removed. Post-op I was moved into a really lovely private room up on the top floor of the hospital with a fantastic view over Stavanger. Joel was with me as we watched the fireworks start to light up the sky on new years eve. We felt quite happy at this point – happy the surgery had gone well, happy the source of my week-long pain had been identified and resolved, happy that I wasn’t in labour! We were happy that we’d worked together and with the doctors to continuously question the diagnosis, the risks and benefits of the plans that were outlined to us, and advocated for ourselves and our baby to ensure we got the best possible care. We also put our faith in the doctors who we know were thorough, diligent and skilled, and who communicated with us about what was going on, including those things they weren’t sure of.

JOEL WITH SMUGGLED IN RED WINE TO HOSPITAL ON NEW YEARS EVE (7th FLOOR WITH GREAT VIEW OF FIREWORKS ALL OVER THE CITY)

JOEL SMUGGLED IN SOME SWEETS AND TREATS (INCLUDING S&V CHIPS) TO HELP ME RECUPERATE

So now I’m into day 3 post-op and although I have some normal post operative pain, I can’t say how relieved I am to have the original pain gone. The focus now is just to rest, get moving again (physio Joel has me on a pretty good rehab plan!), eat well and recuperate. Joel has been an absolute solid rock of support over the 10 days, I couldn’t imagine going through this with anyone else, he is just amazing. He’s been running around after a wife in pain, keeping family informed, talking with doctors, taking care of Cooba. He has spent almost every minute with me at the hospital just going home to feed Cooba and sleep. I am so lucky to have the most wonderful husband in the world. So now we’re just looking forward to a completely uneventful next 7 weeks or so until the baby arrives. We are also hugely looking forward to the arrival in a few weeks of Mari and Kev’s second child, a little brother or sister for my god son Oscar. So much to be thankful for.

Happy New Year everyone!