When I was pregnant with my second son, I began to notice that from time to time, the area around my belly button was tender. When I asked my doctor about it, he told me that it looked like the beginning of an umbilical hernia. There was nothing to worry about. I rarely even noticed it being sore and forgot about it.
Almost four years later, I was 9 weeks pregnant with my third baby and awoke one morning to a pain in the front of my stomach. The front of my belly was sore to the touch and I experienced discomfort anytime that I moved. I knew that something was wrong but I was faced with a problem, our family was scheduled to leave that day for a trip.
As I finished packing for the trip, I moved slowly and tried to ignore the pain. My husband reminded me that I was the only one that knew how bad the pain was and would have to decide if we should cancel the trip. It was December and we were taking our boys out of town to the Polar Express. The train tickets and hotel reservations were made nearly a year in advance, already paid for and non-refundable. It was a Sunday. My only option to see anyone about my pain would be to go to Urgent Care and probably spend the entire day exposing myself to sickness as I waited to be seen. I took a deep breath and decided that I would wait to call my doctor until we returned in a few days.
As we drove out of town, the pain grew worse. Anything that caused me to use my stomach muscles, was painful. Sitting up. Trying to look in the back seat. Getting out of the car. When I looked at my stomach, I noticed a bulge just above my belly button. It looked like my belly button did when I was just weeks away from giving birth. Only this bulge was above my belly button. I began to worry, what if something was wrong with my baby? After several hours of driving, we arrived at our hotel and I decided to call my doctor’s office to leave a message for the doctor on call.
It was not my doctor that called back and she couldn’t give me much information without seeing me. She was able to reassure me that the pain most likely was not something wrong with my baby. She explained that at 9 weeks, the baby is too small and too low to be near my belly button. She did, however, advise me that I should seek medical attention if the pain grew worse. So as my husband and children explored the new surroundings, I sat in our hotel room, trying to take my mind off the pain and trying not to move.
It was a wonderful memory to take the boys on the train ride that evening and I was able to smile long enough to take pictures. That night, as my family slept peacefully, I cried as I attempted to sleep. It hurt terribly to sleep on either side or on my back. Sleeping on my stomach wasn’t an option either. I slept very little that night. I even tried bringing ice wrapped in a washcloth to bed, hoping that it might help to hold it onto my stomach.
When my husband awoke the next morning, I told him that we had to drive home and leave our trip early. I had to see my doctor. I just couldn’t take it.