First real pictures of our baby girl

After numerous trips to the doctor and waiting for 1 1/2 weeks to get an answer, I finally got the stent removed on Thursday. What a relief it's been not to have that constant pain! I am so thankful that it's out. It's hard to explain how much you hurt to someone else or how wonderful it feels to not be in pain unless you've been there. I finally got an appointment with Dr. Schafer last Tuesday. He checked the kidney with ultrasound and unfortunately it was very enlarged. I had been having some pain in that kidney, so I left there absolutely defeated thinking there is no way he would take it out. Being in pain for so long wears one down and I was pretty discouraged with the prospect of having to keep the stent in for the remainer of the pregnancy.

Thursday morning, Mom and I were on the webcam. I was very discouraged and in pain so Dad came over to the webcam and they prayed with me. Not 15 minutes later the phone rang and it was Sam telling me that Dr. Schafer had called back and said he would remove the stent that afternoon. Isn't God good?? I was in shock because I was so convinced that there was no way it would happen. I was so thankful to hear that they were going remove it. It felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

Dr. Schafer warned me that the stent may have to be replaced if the kidney gets blocked again. As far as I'm concerned though, that will be the last resort. I'll do everything I can to keep from having that put back in. Besides, I'm just trusting God that He created this body and is more than capable of keeping that kidney working properly.

As it turns out, it's a good thing we pushed to have it removed. When Dr. Schafer removed the stent he discovered that there was a blockage in the stent from some sort of build-up, which was keeping it from draining properly. That probably contributed to the pain I'd been having in that kidney. I was still in quite a bit of pain Friday and Saturday, but it was different knowing that thing wasn't in my body anymore. Yesterday was the first day I was feeling really good again. It's such a relief. I'm trying to lay on my left side as much as I can to keep pressure off the kidney. I'm still having some pain, but am just trusting that it'll get better with time or just not get worse.

Thursday I also had another appointment with Dr. Van de Castel. They put me on the fetal monitor for awhile and when I saw the doctor later she asked if I had felt the contractions. I hadn't felt a thing, but you could see from the monitor readout that there had been about 12 - 15 contractions in the 30 minutes they monitored the baby. Thankfully, they were just Braxton Hicks, but she was still concerned with me having that many so close together. She had me come back the next morning to be monitored again, which was much better. I've noticed my belly getting really hard at times, but didn't realize they were Braxton Hicks. I think I've been having them for awhile, but was in so much pain from the stent that I couldn't really feel them.

I just have to share the ultrasound photos we got on Thursday. Our baby girl was cooperating so the doctor was able to get a couple of good shots of her. I could just watch the ultrasound for hours. It's amazing to have the technology and opportunity to look inside the belly and see what our little baby is doing.

On the upper right corner of the 3D picture you can make out the left side of her face. (eye, nose and mouth)

Looking at her from the left side, you can see the side of her face and her left arm

Another view from her left side, but now she's trying to get that thumb in her mouth.

Saturday we were gone all day. We drove up to Heidelberg, Mannheim, Ramstein and Kaiserslautern to check out the furniture stores on those bases. I called a couple of them last week and was told they had some nursery furniture. Unfortunately, they didn't have much, so I'm back to trying to figure out how to get some furniture shipped here. We were going to meet up with my friend, Carmen, in Heidelberg but I was having lots of Braxton Hicks and my back was killing me from being in the truck all day. We decided we'd have to meet up with her another day.

These are not the greatest pictures, but since I want to track the pregnancy I'll put them on here. This one was taken last Monday. I was 30 weeks/2 days.

And here is a picture from yesterday at 31 weeks.

This morning I had a follow up appointment with Dr. Schafer. The kidney is still enlarged, but no worse than it was, so he just wants to continue checking it on a weekly basis. I still have some pain in the kidney, but am continuing to drink lots of water and trying to keep pressure off that side.

I'm so glad to be feeling better. I think I can actually get some things done this week (around all my different appointments). Well, I better get this posted so I can start checking off things on my "to do" list. It just keeps growing. Until next time...