It Would Have Been Enough

As Robin’s pregnancy wore on and on and on, we began to call this the “Pain Pregnancy”. Since the baby is now about to come, we are now finally getting around to telling the tale of the journey through it. This is obviously largely Robin’s journey. I just got called in to captain her ship from time to time when she had to head to the infirmary. She's taken a few trips there.

At first all the things that were happening to Robin were new and different. With Andrew, Robin was a delightfully happy pregnant woman. I even remember her saying things like, “I am going to miss being pregnant” and “I feel great today!” With Noah, there were a few more aches, but overall, Robin was still a happy pregnant woman.

Not this time around. It all started with the early (6.5 weeks) concerns about a blood clot behind the placenta and the chance that it could cause the placenta to pull away from the uterus and the pregnancy to spontaneously abort. Finally at 11.5 weeks, the clot disappeared, but that took a toll on Robin’s psyche. At about 10 weeks, the usual early pregnancy malaise morphed into strange upper abdominal pains. We were never able to obtain certain diagnosis on these pains (as true diagnosis requires exposure to radioactive materials that is not appropriate during pregnancy), but most think the pains are gall bladder related or possibly pancreatitis. Robin is not one to complain about pain, but this was different. IT REALLY REALLY HURT. The pains would come on almost daily and put her pretty much out of commission in the evenings. Fortunately, that is when I would be home to take over the helm.

At about 20 weeks, a new pain arrived. This one we had fully diagnosed - pubic symphysis pain. The cause is an early separation or loosening of the joints preparing for labor due to Robin’s body producing too much of the hormone relaxin. Relaxin’ was exactly what Robin was not doing once this pain hit. It was a ringer. Fortunately for Robin, it only hurt her when she would move (roll over in bed, pull on a pair of pants, walk, run, etc). She saw a chiropractor for many weeks and the sessions helped, but the pain persisted.

Next, at nearly 27 weeks, Robin felt a new very sharp pain. We went to Robin’s OB who sent us to the hospital to have it fully checked out. It turned out that Robin had a kidney stone which she passed five days after diagnosis. Unfortunately, her left side kidney pain continued and several weeks later, we think Robin passed a second stone. Since then, thankfully, no kidney pain. Phew! I think that was the most painful part of the pregnancy.

At the time of kidney stone diagnosis, they ran an abdominal ultrasound and determined that baby was in a breech position. Since both boys were vaginal births, Robin really, really wanted to avoid a C-section if at all possible. While the baby’s breech position provided some relief for Robin’s pubic symphysis pain, there was now the immense concern over whether he would flip to a head down position to avoid the possible need for a C-section. Baby stayed in a breech position for 8 weeks. Thankfully the little guy flipped at about 34 weeks and has stayed head down since.

The night the first kidney stone passed, Robin started running a fever. The next day, she started coughing horribly and coughing up blood and was having a difficult time breathing (she would say it felt like an elephant was sitting on her chest). Robin went to the doctor for this as well and they indicated it was tonsillitis, bronchitis or possibly walking pneumonia. They couldn’t do a chest X-ray to verify the pneumonia. We think she acquired this malady from being in the hospital for the kidney stone. They gave her some antibiotics and an inhaler and prescribed rest. After a week more, this finally cleared up.

Oh, and then of course, at 29 weeks Robin was once again diagnosed with gestational diabetes (she had this with Noah too).

The toll this all has taken on her psyche has been immense, but she is a trooper and has hung in there.

At one point, in early September, Robin sat down on the floor to build Lincoln Logs with Noah. Here is what she said about that experience:

“So, I sat down on the floor tonight to do Lincoln Logs with Noah. We made our fort, had a nice time doing it and Evan took a picture of us. I was hurting a little and uncomfortable while sitting but managed through. Then I tried to get up. Oh my! Talk about seeing stars....”

Brave Faced Robin, Noah and Lincoln Logs

As all the maladies came together, Robin wrote a riff to the Passover song Dayenu. Roughly translated, it means, “it would have been enough or sufficient.”

“If it was just a normal pregnancy, it would have been sufficient.

If it was just a pregnancy with a blood clot behind the placenta, it would have been sufficient.

If it was just a pregnancy with a blood clot and gallbladder pain, it would have been sufficient.

If it was just a pregnancy with a blood clot, gallbladder pain and pubic symphysis pain, it would have been sufficient.

If it was just a pregnancy with a blood clot, gallbladder pain, pubic symphysis pain and a kidney stone, it would have been sufficient.

If it was just a pregnancy with a blood clot, gallbladder pain, pubic symphysis pain, a kidney stone, tonsillitis, bronchitis and maybe walking pneumonia, it would have been sufficient.

If it was just a pregnancy with a blood clot, gallbladder pain, pubic symphysis pain, a kidney stone, tonsillitis, bronchitis, maybe walking pneumonia and gestational diabetes, it would have been sufficient.”

But that could not be everything. At 32 weeks, Robin found a lump on her left side rib cage. She saw three doctors concerning it and while none of them think it is malignant, none are absolutely certain. After the baby is born, Robin will have it removed and biopsy it to be sure. Just to add another thing…

Amusingly, I asked Robin at what point we give up on having a fourth kid and I get a vasectomy. That might be a good question... We’re not sure a fourth kid is in our future.

But thankfully this pregnancy is now almost over; the reward almost here. We’re hopeful for healthy. We’ll let you know when we do!