Kidney Stones.

Yeah, I got the stones. And they were what I'd presume death feels like? Yeah, pretty much.

It all started Sunday morning. I woke up with a weird feeling in the lower right side of my back, but to be honest, I just thought it was a gas bubble (TMI? Don't worry, it gets worse) so I didn't worry too much about it. But as the day went on, it got progressively worse. I'd get sharp pains and it hurt so bad to lie on my back. Chad kept asking if we should go to the doctor but I didn't think it was think it was necessary. Then around 5:00pm I was in so much pain I couldn't breathe. And because I couldn't breathe, I started having a panic attack. I finally told Chad I thought we should go to the ER, something definitely wasn't right. As I went to put on some jeans (of course I had no make up on, greasy hair and was in old, nasty sweats), I really thought I was going to pass out. I looked at myself in the mirror and looked almost translucent. I immediately thought I was going to throw up from the pain and I fell to the toilet. I was so shaky, had a fever, chills and virtually no strength. I just lied on the ground waiting for Chad to get ready. I was so scared about driving to the hospital because it was a good 15 minutes away and I really didn't think I'd make it. At the time, I thought it was appendicitis and I prayed the whole way my appendix didn't burst! I was curled in a ball holding on to Chad's seat belt/hand the entire time. Oh, and we hit every red light- I'm not even kidding. It was hands down the worst, most painful experience of my life!

When we finally made it to the hospital we had to check in, get my insurance stuff on file, etc. Luckily it was a slow night so I got right in once we got everything figured out.

When I got in to see the doctor I was feeling a bit better so I was able to stay calm as I explained what was going on. He knew right away it was kidney stones but he wanted to take an x-ray to see how big they were and where they were located. He said a lot of the time they don't show up on x-rays but he wanted to check to get a better idea. Well they saw it! I wish I had gotten a picture of the x-ray, but he told me it was 2mm big. Anything over 4 mm isn't big enough to pass and has to be surgically removed. Bummer. Is it bad I would've rather had it surgically removed than pass it? I was so scared because all he said was "it's been said that it's more painful than childbirth", or "the pain you'll experience is more painful than childbirth" "CHILDBIRTH, CHILDBIRTH, CHILDBIRTH!!!". Okay! I get it! When he said he'd give me stuff for nausea I said, "Wait, am I going to throw up?" and his response? "Childbirth, Kate." Well that's comforting. What an exciting experience I had to look forward to! They gave me a shot of pain killers in my hip and two other pills of stuff to widen my urethra (yum) and help with the nausea so at the time, I was feeling great! I couldn't imagine it being as bad as he had described, and luckily it wasn't. He gave me a prescription for three drugs, Dr.'s orders to stay home and rest, and a strainer to pee into. Umm, WINNING! Finally after two hours, we were on our merry way.

It took another hour before we were able to go home because we had to pick up my prescriptions and there was only one pharmacy open at 8:00 on a Sunday night so it was busy and full of unhappy, anxious people.

I had to pee so I took my lovely strainer and did my bidness. And what did I receive? Nothin but pain.A few hours later, I did the same thing and look what I found!

See that little orange dot? Isn't it precious? No, it's not. It's disgusting. But I'm keeping that bad boy. You betcha.

Lessons learned:
When something doesn't feel right, go to the Doctor. Don't wait.

and more importantly, drink more water, Kate!