Kidney stones

[MummyEls]

I'm currently 24 weeks and am extremely fed up, I had reoccurring urine infections from October up til Christmas then had a really bad one and was in extreme pain between Christmas & New Year so was admitted to hospital & put on IV antibiotics & painkillers for 24 hours which seemed to do the trick. Unfortunately it came back the 2nd week of January & I was admitted again, this time things were a lot worse and the kidney infection turned to sepsis and on further investigation they found stones in both my kidneys with a blockage in the right. They had to operate to put stents in both my kidneys to unblock one & ensure the same thing didn't happen the other side.

Luckily baby doesn't appear to have been affected by any of this & is doing well and kicking away but the stents are causing me severe discomfort along with the constant need to wee which I've been told will only get worse as baby gets bigger.

I hate that I'm moaning all the time about it but I'm so miserable especially when I know I've still got 16 weeks to go. I can't plan anything as I don't want to be far from a loo as when I need to go I need to go straight away.

Has anyone had this happen to them & can offer any hope of improvement? This is my 2nd baby, I sailed through the first pregnancy and loved every minute but I feel like I'm wishing the weeks away with one and not enjoying it at all.

 

[MrsT2011]

Aww Hun I really feel for you - I've had kidney stones twice the second time was renal colic and the worst pain in the world.
Luckily for me mine were pre pregnancy and I passed them rather than needing an op.

I can't offer any advice I'm afraid but I really do sympathise x

 

[Phoenix85]

I had Kidney stones at 21 weeks with both my pregnancies. The first time they put a stent in, only on one side, my left I think) but it constantly made me bleed (I used to walk from the bus stop to work, go straight to the toilet and pee blood!) I ended up going on sick leave at around 27 weeks (I think) and then started my maternity leave at 29 weeks as I couldn't cope with the commute to and from work and the pain it was causing (or the blood, it was scary peeing red).
Then after I had the baby they tried to take it out but it'd calcified and I had to have a full blown GA to have it removed.

2nd time I got the exact same thing again at the same gestation, but that time they just let me stay in hospital a couple of days until they'd passed and I wasn't needing painkillers any more. (Didn't put a stent in - I wouldn't have agreed to it if they'd tried!)
Never had a repeat problem during that pregnancy.

This time I'm nervously approaching the same gestation & hoping I avoid it this time.

I never had a UTI in my other two pregnancies, just the kidney stones.
This time my 13 week sample showed an infection, but didn't really have any symptoms, so just upped my fluids and took apple cider vinegar and then started taking cranberry tablets. My next sample at 16+6 was clear, no infection.
I have another midwife appointment on Tuesday so will see what happens there.

Not sure what to say about the stent.

My advice would be to drink as much water as you can and pee often, limit sugar as it feeds infections. Consider taking Cranberry tablets or D mannose, (to improve kidney health & prevent repeat infections) and if the stents are causing problems, don't ignore it, speak to your consultant about it.
Like I said, mine calcified and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I don't know if there's anything they can do, scanning the kidneys for instance to make sure the stents are not causing more problems than they're solving.