Well That Was Scary

The last week has been a tough one for me. Last Thursday, I felt a lot of tightness in my left groin. Since that is the side my hip surgery was on, I assumed it was related to my hip. So I went to see my post-op PT to see if she could figure anything out. She could tell things were tight and tried doing some soft tissue massage but it didn’t give me much relief.

By the weekend, it was really painful to walk. I still went to my massage day with my girlfriends but I was hobbling around and in quite a bit of pain. And the pain just got worse as the week started. I assumed the pain was due to some pregnancy-related adjustment in the ligaments or my pelvis so I called my OB’s office and asked for a referral to a PT that specializes in pregnancy. I didn’t go into work as I decided to work from home as there was no way I could get into the office and move around in my state. 

On Tuesday I was able to see the PT my OB referred me to. She did an examination and said she thought my groin muscle was over compensating for my weak glutes. She said it looked way over developed compared to my right groin. At the time I thought that was odd as the left side has always been weak and I had a lot of atrophy after my surgery. But I figured things had adjusted during pregnancy or something. She did some massage of the groin area and sent me home with some stretches and a glute exercise.

I had my regular OB appt on Thursday. I hobbled into the practice and told the nurse I was in a lot of pain. I had pain no matter what I was doing - sitting, standing, laying down. It was the worst whem standing/walking. The only time I had relief from the pain was when I was laying down with an ice pack on my groin. I saw a NP in the practice at this appt and told her about how bad my pain was. She did an examination as she thought it was very odd to have an acute onset of pain without any increase in activity. When she examined the groin area she could see it was very swollen so she sent me down to an imaging lab for an ultrasound to rule out a blood clot.

I texted Phil to tell him I was getting an ultrasound to rule out a blood clot and that really freaked him out. Blood clots are scary. They can move to your lungs and result in a pulmonary embolism, which is often fatal. Luckily the imaging lab was able to squeeze me in and they detected that I had an extensive blood clot in my groin - hence the reason for the intense pain I had been having. The lab tech sent me back up to my OB and then after the NP consulted with the on-call OB (my OB was off that day), they decided to admit me to the hospital given the size of the clot and how high up my leg it was (the closer the clot is to your heart, the more dangerous it is).

I definitely was freaking out when I found out about the clot and that I would be hospitalized. I called Phil to tell him to meet me at the hospital and was crying so hard, it was tough for him to understand me. :( But once I got admitted and knew what the treatment plan was, I felt much better. They monitored the baby when I got admitted into the labor and delivery area and he/she was doing great and has been doing great every time they monitored the baby during my stay. I was relieved that the baby appears to be oblivious to the pain his/her momma is experiencing!

I’ve been in the hospital since Thursday afternoon and will get discharged today. I was on an IV of blood thinners since being admitted but last night they unhooked the IV and I transitioned to injectable blood thinners. When I go home, I will be giving myself injections of the thinners twice a day from now until 6 weeks post partum.

So how am I feeling?

I feel relieved that the NP was concerned and thorough with her examination and decided to order the ultrasound. I’m thankful the blood clot was caught and that it’s being treated. But I am also feeling pretty upset that I am going through something that very few pregnant women experience. Being pregnant puts you at a higher risk for blood clots, but it’s still very, very rare to get a blood clot. And mine is apparently huge - it’s present  in the vein in nearly my entire inner left thigh. I just feel like I can’t catch a break with this pregnancy. I know we are so lucky to have a healthy baby in there but it feels like I have experienced one challenge after another. I know it will all be worth it in the end when we are holding our sweet baby in our arms, but dang this pregnancy has been tough.

That said, I am relieved that the pain will eventually go away. I haven’t had any pain relief yet as my body will absorb the  clot over the coming days and weeks. Then the swelling will go down and my pain will lessen. Before we knew the pain was from a clot, I was pretty terrified about going into labor at my current pain level as walking around was already so painful so I couldn’t imagine adding in the pain of labor... so I am relieved the pain will eventually go away.

I will likely be induced at 39 weeks now as I need to change blood thinners closer to delivery and my OB/internal medicine doctor went to be able to manage it. I was hoping to avoid an induction as induced labors are longer and harder. But I trust my OB and I know she is making the best decision for baby and me. And all along, Phil and I knew that labor and delivery was very out of our control and we would have to roll with the punches. So that’s what we will do. And in a way, it’s nice to know that there is a finite amount of time left of this pregnancy. Between all the glucose monitoring and RA flares, I am ready to be done with this process. I can’t wait to get on some good RA drugs after baby is born so that my RA will be better managed.

So that’s the story of the past week or so... it’s been a pretty terrible week, but when you are going through something tough, it reminds you how many people you have in your corner.  I’ve received so many calls, messages, and texts from family and friends. Phil, Baby S, and I are feeling very, very loved.