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I am now 32 wks pregnant and have been battling kidney stone issues since 21 wks. I ended up in the ER with severe pain and vomiting. After 2 days, the urologist put a stent in. I passed a stone 3 wks later and things went downhill from there. The stent started causing lots of pain and the urologist was a jerk! He basically said there was nothing that could be done until the baby was born and told me to talk to my OB about the pain. OB sent me back to him because he didn't feel that the stent should be causing so much trouble. The urologist sent me for an ultrasound but never gave me results and then sent a letter to my OB saying he didn't want to deal with me until after the baby. After feeling like a ping-pong ball, I sought out another urologist. He said the ultrasound showed several stones (largest 1.5 cm) in my kidney so he didn't feel removing the stent was an option but that it needed changed. He said during pregnancy stents should be changed every 6 weeks because of buildup(I had had mine for 10). I had the surgery on Thursday and the stent was heavily encrusted (he had trouble removing it.) He also told me that had it been left in until I deliver (what the original urologist planned to do) it would have been stuck for sure! My advice to anyway with this problem is to ask lots of questions and, if you arent' getting any answers, seek out someone who will help. Pregnancy limits what can be done about stones but its not an excuse for poor care.

when i was 7 month pregnant i had a kidney stone that i could not pass after like a week of pain meds and in and out of the ER my urologist removed it and i had a stent in for a week that was also very painful and my son came out perfect.. i was a scared about the fact i had to be put to sleep while they removed the stone so i dont know who told you surgery was not an option if you were pregnant and you had another stone.

I just had a terrible attack at 11pm two nights ago. Mine started feeling like a bladder infection and then my kidnet started to hurt. After morphine (that didn't work...and seemed to make my baby super hyper) and a sleepless night I guess I passed it because I'm not in pain anymore. I'm not too sure how these things work though. It still burns when I pee a bit and I'm still getting a few sharp pains in my kidney. Another thing that helps is taking phenazo to help the burning...I always have some extra around to help relieve the pain of bladder infections. I hate taking drugs when I'm pregnant too but this was way too much. If it's just the pain in the kidney then a heating pad on the back REALLY helps. That got me through my night I think.

i am 24 weeks pregnant with my third child and i have had kidney stones with all three children the first wasnt bad at all but the second was horrible but luckly i didnt start passing them until the end of my pregnancy. then three weeks after my second child i went in to finally have the stents put in and the stones had diappeard. i passed one more after my surgery and then had not one problem until i was pregnant for my third. this pregnancy has been horrable. with me as well surgery is not an option while i am pregnant and like i said i am 24 weeks and already at the piont to were the pain is horrable and i am already passing a stone every week. and my obgyn just gave me my last set of pain killers she can give to me during this pregnancy to make sure me and my child do not get addicted to the medication. so i have to go the next 16 weeks either dealling with the horrable pain or being put in the hospital for the rest of my pregnancy. hope that information is helpful to your decission.

On Thursday ( Sept. 15) I had to go to the ER for severe pain in my back. It turned out to be two kidney stones. I am five months pregnant and they still gave me Dillaudid ( spelling?) which they claim will not hurt the baby because I am far enough along. This is my first experience with stones and I must say I feel for everyone that will or has even been through this experience. IT HURTS !!!!!

Well guys I am back and have news it wasn't a kidney stone issue I had... it was my gaulbldder!!! I had gaulbladder surgery on september 12 and I am hurting still aching, but i will be all right soon!

Hi Ladies, my heart goes out to you all. I am 27 weeks pregnant and have been diagnosed with kidney stones a couple of weeks ago. They are very painful. I found out last week from the urologist that there was really nothing they could do until after I deliver. I was told that I only had a 10% chance of passing one of the stones since it was 9mm in size. My OB has me on Percocett for the pain but I'm not sure that I should con't the med til i deliver. After my delivery the Urologist wants to perform Lithotripsy. Does anyone know if this is painful?? He mentioned a stent but stated he would only put that in if the stone causes an obstruction. He did admit that this would be very painful, esp for a pregnant woman. So he wants to spare me that pain if at all possible. What a nice man!!

It seems like stents are the most popular treatment for kidney stones during pregnancy. When I was 22 weeks pregnant with my daughter 17 mos, I had a stone completely blocking my kidney and they opted to insert a nephrostomy tube. For those not familiar, that is a tube that is inserted through the skin in your back directly into your kidney. Your kidney then drains through the tube into a collection bag. It is very unpleasant to endure the procedure, and I had to have the tube replaced b/c it became completely encrusted with calcium deposits. I also had to flush the tube daily with a saline syringe to prevent blockages. The initial insertion of the tube was excruciating, and I was very immoblie for about 2 weeks. However, I was a teacher at the time and was able to return to work and worked through the remainder of my pregnancy with very little discomfort. I am 14 weeks pregnant with my 2nd now, and if given the choice, I would opt for another nephrostomy in a hearbeat over a stent. When my daughter was 8 months old, I was hospitalized to remove a stone and had a stent in for a week. It was miserable!! I could barely walk, sit, or do anything. At least with the nephrostomy, the discomfort didn't last. Hope this helps anyone who is contemplating a choice between the two. Also, to those worried about painkillers and x-rays, I was concerned, too, but I took Vicodin, Percoset, Phenergen and was on antibiotics for 6 months plus had x-rays twice. My daughter is perfectly healthy. Good luck to everyone and wish me luck this time around!

Shannon- To answer your question about lithotripsy, my urologist said that they prefer not to use that procedure on women of childbearing age because they don't know enough about the effects it may have on the reproductive organs. In my previous post, I described the procedure done on me to remove my stone. I'm not sure what it is called, perhaps utereroscopy. Something to think about.

Shannon - Do not be afraid of lithotripsy. In my personal experience with lots of stones and lots of surgeries, litho is the way to go. It is totally painless with the exception of tenderness from bruising. I've never heard that it could hurt your reproductive organs, but I know it hasn't hurt mine. I have had litho a few times, and I recently concieved my first baby exactly 2 weeks after going off The Pill. And so far, my baby is 100% healthy. So I don't think it hurt my fertility or organs. I am however suffering from stones in pregnancy (just had a sono to confirm the stones today), and I'm dreading having to have a stent put in. I pray that is not what I have to do, because stents are tortuous. I am a little worried about taking hydrocodone while pregnant. Can anyone out there ease my mind?

Kelly and Shannon: 1st shannon I had surgury a couple of weeks ago and am 23 weeks pregnant. The doctors CAN remove the stones while you are pregnant, however if you can put it off until the baby comes of course that is better. I had the lithotripsy last year and agree completly with Kelly. I was up the very next day feeling great. Kelly I wish that I could ease your mind about the stent, if you do have to have one put in make sure that you are given a new one every 6 weeks(the stents tend to calcify over time) I have been told by many ob/gyn's that the major concern for giving pregnant women narcotics is addiction. This is mt 3rd pregnancy with kidney stones and I have been on pain killers each time. I have 2 VERY healthy children and 1 more on the way that seems to be flourishing despite the meds I have to take. I hope this helps you. If you have other questions you can email me directly at brendaboo@inreach.com

I am sooooo glad i found this site. I didn't realize that kidney stones were more common in pregnancy. I had pain for years and was told i had kidney infections. then 5 years ago was diagnosed with stones. I know for sure i have passed two with help of pain meds. Urologist says i have at least seven more...didn't go in this year for check up because i was pregnant. Ended up in hospital monday night with a kidney stone that is 13 mm...did a maneuver to get it back in kidney...don't know if it worked and am pain free right now. Doc said if i got pain back i would get stent. He also made it seem like the stent was no big deal, only making you feel like you might have to pee alot....agghhhh now i am scared of what to do.

I have just got out of hospital after a 4 day stay and have been told i have kidney stones - i am 13 weeks pregnant! They have told me that because my pain seems to have subsided (for now), i had a choice - either insert a stent or play the waiting game. I have decided to wait because the aneathatist said that a general anasthetic at this early stage of pregnancy carries a risk of miscarriage! The stones still havent passed naturally so i am worried that the pain will return and they will have to insert the stent. How do some of you know how many stones you have and how large they are because i thought the only way to diagnose this accurately was by x-ray - which i was told was not possible for me due to the pregnancy? I feel in total limbo - not knowing the right thing to do. To top it all off, i feel so weak and still have a constant urge to pee which although not painful, is extremely uncomfortable (but nothing to the stent by the sounds). So glad i found this site - there just doesn't seem to be any definative medical advice out there - so it is good to talk with people in similar situations.

I don't blame you for being a little scard this early in your pregnancy.....I was misdiagnosed my whole pregnancy...they can determine how many stones you have by an ultrasound (which is safe) sizing them up I'm not sure about in an ultrasound.....I was told I had kidney stones at 23 weeks and i never passed anything...I was hospitalized 3 times for the same thing during my pregnancy 23,27,35 weeks....it's not fun....I had my son 2 and a half months ago and on september 10th I was rushed to the emergency room again for the same pain....they did another ultrasound and discovered it was my Gaulbladder NOT my kidney's.
I had to have emergency surgery...and had complications from the surgery and had to stay in the hospital for 2 weeks.......so I urge you to ask the doctor to check your gaulbladder as well...I did pass sand in my urine but I had huge gaulstones!
I am still recovering from my surgery but I won't have the same problem with my next pregnancy.
I wish you health and a well pregnancy....try not to stress yourself out too much it will only aggrivate the condition more.
Take Care

Hello all!!!
I was so happy my brother found this web-site for me to read. I though I should not only read all your experiences but also share my experience with all of you.
I had kidney stones (both kidneys) three years ago but I wasn’t pregnant so they did a lithotripsy to break them up. Two years ago I had another kidney stone but this time I was 5 months pregnant. However, I just suffer for 2 days. The stone was small enough to pass by itself. However, this time I wasn’t so lucky. I’m 4 months pregnant now and just 4 weeks ago I was on the ER with this terrible lower back pain on my right side. As soon as I told them my symptoms they knew I had kidney stones since I had a history of kidney stones. I was so scared for the baby since I was only 3 months pregnant but the OB and the urologist at the hospital assure me that the baby will be OK and none of the medications I was getting will affect the baby. The only concerned was that if the pain was so strong it could produce contractions. I was in the hospital for 6 days with IV meds and injections of morphine every 4 hrs for the pain, they told me to ask for as much morphine as I need it since they knew how strong this pain could be. With a sonogram they saw the size of the stone is about 8mm (TOO BIG to pass by itself). So they gave me my options…basically, the only options were to live with the pain for the rest of the pregnancy or have the stent in place. Obviously, I opted for the stent since they assure me that it would not hurt after I have it in place and that I will only have a small discomfort. They did this procedure with a local anesthesia (I was numb from my waist down) since this is of no risk to the baby. The first week that I had the stent in place was horrible. I had as much pain as before they put it in, so I stayed at home with Tylenol with codeine to tolerate the pain. I also have lots of nausea and vomiting up to these days. I went to another urologist for a second opinion. With a sonogram he saw that I had the kidney full of water and that was probably what was causing the pain. He told me that if the pain continues and I still had so much water in the kidney he might have to redo the procedure. Thanks God the pain has lessen and another sonogram showed that there is less water in the kidney. For now I just have some pain that I can actually tolerate without pain relievers. I really hate to take medicine because I’m afraid it could affect the baby. My OB assures me that it would not have any effect on the baby…
I was told by the first urologist that they have to redo the procedure (because of build-up) at least once again during the rest of the pregnancy but my second urologist wants to avoid doing it if possible. So for now, he will just monitor me with a sonogram every month and of course if I happen to have any pain.
At this point I just hope for the time to go by as quickly as possible and for the baby to be OK. Good luck to all of you!

I am trying to get pregnant IVF after having my last baby 25 years ago where I had kidney stones at 6 months. I did not pass it and the Dr. did surgery and put a tube in my kidney.(so I had a pouch) and then the stone was removed after I gave birth. This was before computers even. My daugher was born full term and has had now health problems. And there was over 6 x-ray's done, pain meds and antibiotics. But I don't want to go through that again. So far all I have read is drink lots of water. Can that be all that has been learned after 25 years.