Stomas during Pregnancy

I have finally gotten to that point. That point in pregnancy when my stoma goes off and changes.  As if there aren't enough other changes to deal with already.  I am proud that I made it all the way in to my seventh month of pregnancy using my same "cadillac" bag---Coloplast Sensura but the time has come to move on, at least temporarily to a much larger wafer.

I have ordered the new Sensura Pro system from Coloplast and have had mixed results so far.  My stoma is rather large and oval shaped under normal circumstances requiring a large wafer to account for the ovalness (is that a word?).  As my belly has expanded with the baby, the largeness and ovalness has only increased.

The Sensura XPro wafer that I am using is the largest they make and it is MASSIVE.  So large that right edge hits my scar and will not adhere.  This is forcing me to tape up my wafer with waterproof tape every time I shower--which I forget to do about half the time, forcing bag changes sooner than necessary.  It appears they skip from large to XXL on the wafers without a middle ground.  I am convinced this reduces the effectiveness of the convexity of the wafer as well because the convexity is not centralized on the stoma like in the smaller sized wafer, it is instead displaced over a larger area.

I went to change my ostomy last week and realized that my supplier, who shall remain nameless, sent me umpteen boxes of wafers with the new adhesive to attach to the bag rather than the click n' lock that I prefer. Of course all of my bags were the click n' lock type.  So far I have to say that I am not loving the Flex adhesive attached bags.  The adhesive part of the bag that attaches to the wafer is so large that it reduces the amount of space for output, forcing the user to empty more often.  I'm also not comfortable with the large ring that is part of the wafer that the bag attaches to.  It is almost larger that the perimeter of the wafer itself.  I'm curious how the massive ring will adapt when I lay on my side, especially with my belly getting so big.  I'm curious enough that I have done it because I am scared there will be a leak.

Life on Bed Rest has gotten crazy

I've been missing in action the past couple of weeks because "Pregnancy with Crohn's Disease" has turned in the "Pregnancy with an Incompetent Cervix" and I could not really find anything relevant to Crohn's to add.

On top of that, we're headed in to what will be our fourth move in nine months, requiring me to shop online for a refrigerator and new bed.  After a meltdown over bed shopping online my husband agreed to sleep with the mattresses on the floor until I am either off of bed rest or the baby comes.  How on earth am I supposed to buy a bed sight unseen?  I'm not sure if I have mentioned this on here before, but we live in North Alabama where the terrible tornadoes of 27 April passed through and the rental house we had just moved in to was hit.  That house is now known as the "Tree House" and the house we are in now is the "Summer House".  The house we will move in to next month is called "The House".

I have noticed over the past week or so, after entering the third trimester, that the baby seems to be growing at a much faster rate.  As he has grown he has made himself at home behind my ostomy (and hernia), making things interesting.  I know his head is over there and from the best I can figure he is punching near my hernia/ostomy.  It is the weirdest feeling I can think of to have a person in there "jiggling" my intestines.  Maybe he is reacting to bowel sounds?

Add to that the changes I have noticed at the top of my abdomen, and I have become hyper-aware of my intestines.  As he has grown up in to my abdomen I have started noticing sharp pains after I eat.  The best I can figure they are strictures that are being further confined by the growing baby, making them more sensitive. I have been dealing with strictures for years simply because this many years of disease has left my intestines looking like a war zone.  But I have haven't had this many incidences back-to-back that I can remember.

I knew this tipped uterus would come in handy one day...

Who would have ever thought I could say that I knew this tipped uterus would come in handy one day?

I am one of I'm sure many women that have had a total colectomy that resulted in a tipped uterus.  I learned long after the fact that I should have asked the surgeon to tack (I'm not sure this is the correct term, but work with me), my uterus in to place so that it would not shift after things settled in my lower abdomen following surgery.

During my doctors appointment last Tuesday to check the cerclage as well as the status of my cervix, the doctor said he could feel the baby.  This is my first pregnancy but I am fairly certain that the doctor should not be able to feel the baby when checking my cervix at this point (6.5 months pregnant).  The doctors visit went on as usual and I returned home to my strict bed rest, worried a little about the fact that the baby is SO low that the doc could feel him, but excited that the visit went so well.

On Saturday I was expressing my worry to my husband about the baby being so low and he said "its a good thing your uterus is tipped".  My first thought was, wow, Matt is really becoming medically knowledgeable--a big deal considering he had not been to a doctor for about 10 years before he met me.  Then I learned that while I was still in shock from the cervical exam, and my ears apparently not receiving data, the doctor told us that the tipped uterus is helping with the cervical issue because the baby is horizontal rather than vertical, lessening the pressure on my cervix.  So while he can feel the baby, it isn't nearly as big of a deal as I originally thought.

I could go all in to cervical exams following a total colectomy but I will leave that for another day.  Here's hoping all goes well with my doctor appointments tomorrow.

The Status of my Crohn's Disease

I guess I have been so worried about my incompetent cervix that I haven't taken much time to take stock of my Crohn's Disease at this point in the pregnancy.  My Crohn's disease still appears to be in remission but I have started noticing more and more that foods that should bother me (but haven't in years) now bother me:  greasy foods, high residue foods, etc.  I don't know that this is necessarily a side effect of Crohn's Disease or merely the fact that my system is bombarded with so many hormones.

The most obvious "symptom" (I'm not sure this is the right word so imagine me doing heavy air quotes on symptom) I have noticed in this last week or so is that my hernias are not letting food pass through as easily as before.  While I was in the hospital the doctors gave me two big shots of steroids to mature the lungs of the baby just in case I go in to labor.  He told us that the baby will now act, breath,  and look like a baby that is two weeks longer in gestation than he actually is at this point.  I am convinced that the doctor was right on the money.  They baby's kicks have become noticeably stronger this week and he has grown quite a bit.  I think the baby is taking up so much more room in my tummy that my hernias are pressed for room to do their thing.

Between my hernias working overtime and the baby kicking the daylights out of me, I feel like there is a wrestling match going on in my belly.

Day 7 and things have gotten desperate

I'm on Day 7 of strict bed rest and things have gotten desperate.  I actually just watched Drop Dead Diva off of the "watch it now" from Netflix.  And I've never been so prompt with my thank you notes as I am now.  Bring by dinner?  You have a card on the way by the next day.

On the pregnancy front, the baby is doing well even if he is being a pain in my butt.  Literally.  He is sitting extraordinarily low.  I would almost guess that the pressure I feel is similar, if not exactly like, the pressure a normally configured woman would feel.  I tried sitting on a wedge pillow, laying up on my knees like a newborn baby, side sleeping, etc.  The only thing I haven't tried is standing on my hands.

It might be time to practice my gymnastics skills.

Things are looking up

Apparently my cervix is an over-achiever.  In only four days it thickened back to 2.6 cm from the 1.6 cm it was the day they put me in the hospital.  My big excitement these days is a visit to the doctor, the only time I am allowed out of the house.  It is funny what a week or so of laying and doing next to nothing can do to a body.  By the time I went to the doctor and got back home I was completely drained.

I have the good fortune of being able to do my job remotely.  My boss has been really great with all of this, letting me continue to work, basically having faith in me that I can get things done even while on bed rest.  This is my new set-up.  It involves a 42-inch TV, a laptop, wireless keyboard, a reclining chair from Cabela, and good tunes from Pandora.com.  It has been really nice to have work to do part of the day rather than just watching another TV show.

So here I am, with my over-achieving cervix, my new work set-up, and nothing but time on my hands.  Things are looking up.

Bed Rest

I'm not sure bed rest is all it is cracked up to be.  It probably sounds good in theory--lay around, have everyone wait on you hand and foot, no household chores, no cooking, etc., but in reality it kind of stinks.  I've been trying to figure out what God is trying to teach me through this but I haven't come to any conclusions just yet.  Of course, I often find that it takes some distance to finally see what it is I am supposed to learn.

For example, back in March our house sold and we moved in to a rental home near where our new house is being built.  We had literally unpacked the last of our stuff just a day or two before the terrible tornadoes of 27 April tore through North Alabama, blowing a huge tree down on the rental.   The damage was bad enough that we decided to move out of the rental (we weren't able to live in it anyway) and were offered to house sit for a couple my husband works with, all for free.  Wouldn't you know the "Summer House", (we've lived in three house so far this year and will move in to our final home in August so we have to keep them straight somehow), is about 3 minutes from my OB and the hospital.  Two months out from that terrible day of 27 April and I can see that this is exactly where we are supposed to be.

I have figured out so far that a routine is critical to bed rest.  Even if all my routine involves is moving from the recliner to the bed at a certain time.  Or looking forward to 3:00 for my one shower of the day.  I'm trying hard to not nap during the day because I don't want to become a total bum that sleeps all day and sits up all night watching television. Overnight television is way too bad for that.