Pregnancy: After Loss Community

Praying all is going/went well, Mary. Will be watching for a text....

How did your appointment go, Mary? Was thinking about you all day yesterday... prayers

I copied and pasted this from an email from earlier. I'm super emotional and really upset.

My doc is concerned about me having the surgery now, because she's concerned about my risk for pre-term labor. (I went into labor at 25 weeks with Jack, was on Terbutaline four times a day through week 36). She wants me to wait until 22 weeks, when they can give me steroid shots, just in case. Can you imagine giving birth at 22 weeks? One of my girlfriends gave birth to her son at 25 weeks, and he was 2 pounds.

The other option, is to wait it out and try to manage pain as long as we can, but with gall bladders in pregnancy, it can get to the point of me or the baby. OR"026it can get to the point where they take the baby AND the gall bladder. If it ruptures, it can kill both of us. Truth be told, I COULD have this until 40 weeks, and me and the baby could be fine, but I'm not sure that it's worth the risk. How would I know when it's to that point? With the attacks, I'd rather give birth to triplets with no drugs.

I don't know what to do. She wants me to try to manage pain with Vicodin for the next four weeks. I'm 18 weeks today, so that puts me at 22 weeks. If I can't handle the pain, she wants me to come in so that we can meet with another OB and a surgeon to discuss my options.

She explained that not everyone who has gall bladder issues has gall stones. I am one of those people. In pregnancy, you have so much more estrogen that your body forgets how to digest the bile, so it begins to form a "slush" in your gall bladder. Sometimes, that can be far more painful than the stones themselves, because it can create multiple blockages.

I just don't know what to do. And, to be honest, I was so upset with Josh last night. He wasn't feeling well and never even asked me about my appointment. He laid in our room all night long and then got pissed at me when I came in to go to bed and didn't say good night. I'm just a mess, all around.

Oh mary I am sorry to hear this issue with you. When I had my daughter I too had gallbladder issues. Luckily it didnt effect me until much later in the pregnancy. The symptoms went away right after her birth, but randomly 2 years later I had to have emergancy surgury when it ruptured while I was at work. I totally feel your pain, I know how horrible it feels. My galbladder pain was the worst I have ever experienced in my life, so I can only imangine what you are going through. I wish you the best and hope you feel comfortable with whatever decision you make. Sending good thoughts your way.

Great BIG ((HUGS)) Mary. I'm sorry you are having to go through all of this. I can't even imagine dealing with the possibility of surgery while pg. I do, though, understand how it is when the one who is supposed to be your support person seems to be working against you (my DH has been really stressed out with work lately and has been picking fights this week, too). Try to not let Josh's attitude bring you any farther down, and he will come around once he starts feeling better. You are an amazing, strong woman, and I am sending lots of prayers your way

(((hugs))) gallbladder pain is the worst!!!! When I was pregnant with DS I had an attack on (of all days) my b-day for no reason. It was horrible and i spent the night in the hospital. they did an u/s and it really wasn't irritated or anothing but some sludge. That was @ mid pregnancy. I did not get anything further until almost a full year after delivery when I started having attacks again. I was able to control them by watching my fat intake ( limited to 5g at most in any sitting) but ended up getting surgery since they happened a few times and there were alot of stones there at that point.

I'm so sorry you have to deal with it during pregnancy. I would try to limit your fat intake at meals to as little as possible. It's when you have a lot of fat in your stomach that the gallbladder contracts and causes the pain usually. unless a stone gets in the tube and gets stuck.

I trully hope you don't need surgery, but I think when i had my attack they said the safest time is to do it during the 2nd tri if need be.

Best of luck and keep us updated!