Out of Commission....Now Making a Comeback - Slowly!

Ok...so I realize that it has been a while since my last post....but just a few days after Hurricane Ike - things went wrong and it hasn't been til now that I can sit here for a short time and not be in pain. This is what has been going on...

For several months now, I have been in on again/off again pain with my lower back. It starts in my lower back and runs down my right leg. It was tolerable....but then it got worse and didn't let up. It had been the day (9/24) I had gone in to see my midwife and we weren't able to find the baby's heartbeat. We scheduled a sonogram for that Saturday. Well, that night, I was at work and nearly passed out from the amount of pain I was feeling in my back. Saturday came, and thankfully, we were able to see/hear the baby's heartbeat, but the sonographer also found a 4cm cyst on my ovary - right next to the baby. She advised me to go see a doctor as she knew that a cyst this size could cause problems for the pregnancy AND possibly be the reason for my terrible back pain (Which still had not let up at all). The pain intesified and Monday came. I was able to see a doctor referred by my midwife and my options were hard to swallow. Live with the pain, Narcotics or surgery. Living with the pain was not an option....so far, the pain had literally crippled me - leaving me in bed, not able to do anything for myself, let alone the 4 kids. Narcotics was the greater "evil" as we didn't feel that exposing the baby (now 7 weeks in utero) to narcotics for any long length of time was a good option. Surgery it was.

I had a laparoscopy (through the belly button) and then they made another incision in my lower abdomen to drain the cyst. I won't go into too much detail about this other than the experience was terrifying for me as I had never had an IV or been in the hospital a day in my life. Plus, I had the fear of what the anasthesia may do to the baby. Surgery went well, but recovery was a nightmare. I was bed-ridden for over 2 weeks post-op. Then, I began to spot for 2 weeks after that. Thankfully, we have seen on sonogram and have heard the baby's heartbeat and we are trusting God that our baby is safe in His hands.

The hardest part has been that the back pain STILL has not let up. Since I am pregnant, no one will do an MRI or CAT scan. It is dangerous to the baby. I have 3 kids home full time, homeschooling - a very active 14 month old - and basically the responsibilities that come with being a wife/mom. I have been referred to a wonderful pre-natal chiropracter who has started therapy with me and this has aleviated some pain.....it is a work in progress.

I am going to fight to win this battle with pain. I refuse to live like this forever and certainly appreciate your prayers. We've started to get busy again and get out doing things - so I will certainly be posting again and will update you with pictures of our family!