Our Night in L&D

Chest pains are nothing to joke around with.

That being said, I've had chest pains for a number of reasons throughout my life: asthma attacks, anxiety attacks, deep colds, allergies, inflamed lung wall lining, etc.

The last couple of weeks, I was experiencing chest pains off and on.  I figured it was because J is all up in my ribs and creating less room for all of my organs.  Then, on Saturday, the chest pain didn't go away.  It was persistent on Sunday and Monday as well.  It was a pain different from an anxiety attack or an asthma attack and I didn't quite know what to make of it.  So I called an advice nurse (at my D's recommendation) - I told her my whole pregnancy situation (and she couldn't believe it all) and she told me to go in to Labor and Delivery.  She transferred me to an L&D nurse so that they would know that I was coming and what was going on.  After looking at my chart, the L&D nurse told me to get my bum into triage right away.

Once in L&D, my Dr. ran a number of tests to try and determine what was causing the chest pain. The Dr. also called the high-risk OB/GYN to consult with him.  Because I've been on bed rest and have a PICC line, the high-risk doc was super worried about blood clots.  The they ran an EKG, lots of blood tests (thank goodness for the PICC line!), X-rays to check the PICC line placement, and an ultra-sound on my legs for blood clots.  No blood clots were found in my legs.  My magnesium levels were low.  And my EKG came back super funky.  The Dr.'s consulted and decided to keep me for 24 hours to monitor my heart and run more tests.  Because of the abnormal EKG, the Dr.'s were especially concerned about a heart attack and blood clots in my lungs.  They moved me to a bigger room for the night and our adventure.

Throughout the night, I was hooked up to an IV and got fluids and magnesium via the PICC line.  They also started me on blood thinners, operating under the assumption that I had blood clots.  My nurse started a second IV (which HURT!) in my left arm and lots of blood was drawn for tests throughout the night.  They took me for an ultra-sound to check J's size and position to put together an early delivery plan, if needed.  They also did a CT on my lungs to check for blood clots that had migrated.  I was also hooked up to a heart monitor and had my own personal heart monitor nurse babysit me throughout the night (which was actually really annoying).  J was on a heart monitor as well, and they were monitoring me for contractions.  I have restless leg syndrome and it was awful last night, so that didn't help at all.  J also kept moving away from the monitor so my nurse was coming in every half hour to adjust the monitor and find him again.  With all the beeping and buzzing and twitching and in and out of the room, I couldn't sleep at all. 

In the morning, another EKG was run and all of my tests came back.  The second EKG was normal.  All of my tests came back normal.  So, no heart attack, no blood clots.  However, my pregnancy is still high-risk.  They have me categorized as diabetic (even though I never completed the 3-hour glucose test) and are treating me as such.  I am to continue with my infusions.  The chest pain is most likely caused by my heart being irritated with the PICC line, even though the catheter is placed correctly.  And exhaustion.

I'm still experiencing chest pain off and on.  I've got a couple hours of sleep and some more fluids today and I'm feeling some better.  We have more blood tests scheduled for beginning of next week to continue to monitor all my levels.  What is amazing to me is that J is so active, healthy and strong!  All of the nurses were impressed with how active he was/is.  I feel like this pregnancy is just destroying me, but J continues to thrive (which is a good thing because I plan on giving him an eviction notice very soon!)!

Thank you all for your good thoughts and prayers throughout this pregnancy!