Carson Update - Change in ETA!

So...this Saturday, I had round two of gall bladder attacks! Luckily, Ryan and I had a game plan in place with both my OBGYN and my surgeon, and it worked perfectly! I ended up driving myself to the hospital, as my parents were at Cousin Tim's wedding, and Ryan was at MBA class. As I was approaching the exit for the hospital, the attack stopped as quickly as it started, lasting a total of 30 minutes. This was much shorter than my first round of attacks that lasted approximately 6 hours!

I still made my way to the hospital, and they admitted me as they wanted to monitor the baby. Luckily, Carson was doing just peachy! I never had any serious contractions and his heart rate was perfect. Fearful that I may have another attack, they decided to keep me overnight for observation. Sure enough...around 8 PM that evening, after eating two pieces of toast, I had a second attack. This one lasted 45 minutes, but again resolved itself on its own.

After processing some blood work, my surgeon determined that my white blood cell count was pretty close to normal, meaning that the infection that was present during my first round of attacks was still being kept at bay by antibiotics. Therefore, he diagnosed me with "Biliary Colic". Biliary Colic occurs when a gall stone gets stuck in the bile duct of my gall bladder. The gall bladder then begins contracting attempting to dislodge the stone from the duct, creating the sensation of a gall bladder attack. Eventually, the stone pops out of the duct back into the gall bladder, which immediate stops the attack, hence the reason these two attacks were significantly shorter in duration, and stopped on their own.

So in the end...I am grateful that my gall bladder is not infected again, and that these attacks appear to resolve themselves on their own. My doc sent me home with some strong pain meds to pop at the first sign of another attack, to potentially avoid having to go back to the hospital, and/or decreasing the chance of me going into labor. My doctor and I agreed that the prospect of 4 more weeks of potential gall bladder attacks was too stressful on both me and the baby, so she plans to induce me the evening of October 25th, meaning that Carson's birthday will most likely be October 26th! That is, if he decides to stay put until then :) I will then have my gall bladder removed sometime in mid November. (Hopefully in time to eat Thanksgiving Dinner!) :)

So all in all, I only had to spend one night in the hospital this time, and came home with some light at the end of the tunnel!! Carson's ETA is only two weeks away!