Pregnancy Info HOME

Hey tdegen. I'm a paramedic and my wife is going on week 4 of her stent after having hydronephrosis without stones, hematuria or signs of infection. She is 26 weeks pregnant and on Easter Sunday had 2 out of 10 right upper quadrant pain. We went in to have it checked out and prior to any treatment the pain shot up to a 8 out of 10 and had associated nausea and vomiting. We had an ultrasound that showed hydronephrosis. Due to the lack of stones and blood inthe urine the Urologist fell back on it being a "kinked ureter." So for whatever reason he waited 4 days before putting the stent in. We spent a total of 7 days in the hospital but my wife (Jen) is taking Norco for the pain caused by what we assume is the stent and it is seeming to get worse. I am wondering if your UPJ obstruction isn't what Jen has but our Urologist is not very forthright with information. Does this sound like your symptoms? The Urologist has said nothing to the effect of swapping out stents but Jen's current one sounds a lot like your second one you mentioned.

I am 10 weeks along and had my 1st drs appt on a couple of days ago. She said with my history of stone It will probably be an issue. I had at one time 13 stones one had to be removed surgically, and then the dr put a stent for the other to pass. I didn’t feel the stent the whole time it was in. It was terrible experience when they did remove the stone a month later. It worked all but one stone passed without me feeling in. It seems like everyone who has had a stent put in has been painful. Do you think that has to do with the pregnancy or did I just get lucky when I had mine. I am really scared of having stone with this pregnancy. I am a former (so the dr says) so it seems inevitable.

Has anyone here had stones diagnosed prior to pregnancy? I have 6 stones in m right kidney now and just went off the pill. I won't see the urologist until probably Sept. but i want to go ahead with my baby plans. Perhaps because my stones are not calcium related the pregnancy won't change them??? All of what I have read is frightening, but comforting in that the babies don't seem to be affected.

I am just coming home from a two week stay in the hospital for kidney stones. I can only tell you that if I had known ahead of time that I had kidney stones prior to getting pregnant, i would not have gotten pregnant again. I have been living on morphine and antibiotics for over two weeks now. I can have an attack and be good for several weeks or several hours. I am basically going day by day and not knowing the next day will bring. I currently have five stones on one side and three on the other. Basically the doctors are trying to keep me pain free for the remainder of my pregnancy and then they can help me more after I deliver. I have the baby monitored each and every day and everything seems to be fine with the baby for now.

Hi All,
Firstly thank to everyone for their posts. It has been fantastic to find that I'm not alone.
I was diagnosed in our local hospital ER with kidney stones about 2 weeks ago after suffering with horrendous pain on my right side.
However, unlike many who have posted before me, I have found the stent that was put in an absolute saviour for me. The pain has gone from an 8 or 9 to a 1 - 2 (if that). Not sure if I'm really lucky or not, however I'm really grateful. The pain I am getting I'm managing with panadol/tylanol (eg over the counter pain relief medication).
My understanding is the difficulty in pregnancy is that many of the "normal" solutions (eg surgery under general anesthetic and/or breaking the stones with laser etc) can be higher risk for damage to the baby or increased risk of going into premature labour (at 25 weeks not an option I wanted) so that stent is design to take away the pressure from the kidney as an interim measure.
From all the research I have done and talking with my obgyn and urologist the main solution seems to be water, water and more water - very sick of drinking it however at least it is a straight forward management plan.
Main thing I'm not looking forward to is the replacement of the stent - because of the additional calcium in our systems during pregnancy the stent gets blocked over time and needs to be replaced. Hoping that my good situation doesn't change at that point!!
Good luck all.

Yes, I had my first attack while not pregnant. My stone attack was in May 2006. It was first diagnosed with a suspected uti. My doctor did a culture and lo and behold - lots of blood, but no bacteria. I was told to see a urologist. Before I could see the specilaist, I ended up in the ER. The pain was incredible. The scan detected 2 stones - 3mm and 4 mm. I was given pain killers and sent home with more pain meds and a strainer. Within 4 days I developed a fever. I ended up with stents in each ureter. My urologist said they can only be in for 8 weeks and then need to be removed. The entire time was like having a tampon in crooked. I knew that the bottom 1/3 of my body always existed. When the stents were removed, I was put on potassium citrate. I was told to take the medication for a year and postpone any pregnancy plans. I am shocked by the number of women who have carried babies to term. I was told that if I had been pregnant, the antibiotics and pain killers needed to help me would have killed a baby.

I drink a gallon of water a day. I use lemon constantly. I haven't had another attack, but I am passing gravel. I discovered this yesterday as I was collecting for a 24-hour test. My ob says to keep drinking the water and let them know if anything else happens. I am at 26 weeks and I am a little concerned by what I have read on here.

Well, it's good to know I am not alone in my kidney stone horrors! I begun having stones at 18 weeks in my first pregnancy and in effect I ended up on bedrest in the hospital on narcotics and labor-stopping drugs. I had one stone every week and kidney infections and preterm labor to boot! I delivered my (healthy but preemie) baby at 32 weeks. We decided to have a second go at it and at exactly 20 weeks I got my first stone. This time was 5 X worse than the first! To sum it up I had to have 5 stent placement surgeries during the pregnancy, I was in preterm labor for most of the pregnancy because of it, and I had this baby at 33 weeks. 1 week after delivery I had a stone removal surgery where my urologist pulled a HANDFUL of stones from my body. I had never had stones before pregnancy and only had one stone within weeks of the last pregnancy. I have had none since. The only advice my doc could give me was "don't get pregnant anymore". Well, that sucks since i'm only 23 and we want more babies!! Anyways, to answer your questions, there are many drugs that can be safely given during pregnancy for stones. I was on Demerol for most of my first and fentanyl for my second. there were no side-effects to either baby. I would have to say it was worth the pain and suffering to have two awesome little boys, would I do it again? THAT is a tough one!!! Good luck!!! If you decide to go through with getting pregnant, make sure you have good insurance and that you are emotionally prepared for anything that could happen!

I actually knew a woman who had 14 kids and had at least one stone with every pregnancy! it wasn't too bad for her, she just passed them and moved on, but for the rest of us, not so lucky!!

I am so sad you all have to deal with stents during pregnancy also, but it makes me feel like I am not alone! My last pregnancy at 6 months I had severe pain on my right side and because they couldn't do an x-ray they didn't know what it was or how big it was so I decided to have the stent put in. I will avoid having that done again as long asit is possible. I am 13 weeks pregnant and I am just praying that it wont come back. I remember not being able sit, always having a UTI and when I delivered it was awesome! But then I went to have the stent removed and because it was encrusted on so bad they had to put me under and use a laser to remove the calcium, but there was so much that they couldn't get it all off with out the laser getting to hot. So 1 week later I went back in and they finished getting the stent out but because of the calcium they broke off I had to have a temporary stent for 1 week and then they removed it in the office and I don't know if I will ever feel the same again. I can't believe how awful the pain of that stent was in my back and all the urine blood and burning. You are all troopers and it is true what they say about women not being able to remember the pain of childbirth and pregnancy because I am sure I would never do it again. But you will all make it and we all just have to drink so much water!!!!!! Good luck to you all and thank you for sharing.

i have a problem with my right kidney, it is not functioning right,but i don't feel pain, i have visited two doctors, one of them said that it is not anything serious and that the kidney will hold on one more month, the other said that it could stop functioning and treat it because of the baby , i have one more month before i give birth, should i go for third opinion.

i have a kidney stone right now that my doc said probably wont come out til i deliver and thats march 23, 2009. i have a stent in right now and have to get it changed every 3-4 weeks and was in the hospital for 3 and 1/2 days. i have been in constant pain for over 4 days now and it wont go away. i have had 2 kidney stones before this but this is the worst one and has lasted the longest.

Whoa! kroegge, I think you need a second opinion on that stent change. Our first doctor told us the same thing, but we went for a second opinion and the second doctor said - "absolutely not, we don't change that stent until after the baby is delivered" That is the advice we took, and it worked out find for us. Every situation is different, but you might want a second opinion.

I am 24 weeks pregnant with my third child. I have passed kidney stones with all pregnancies. During my second pregnancy I had a stent placed for several months. My doctor removed it after I had the baby. At that time he also did lithotripsy. I just passed a kidney stone this morning in only 40 minutes with tolerable pain. The stone has not be analyzed, however it looks large enough to have caused me much more pain. Does anyone know how/why I could have had such an easy time with this? I have never passed one without a trip to the hospital so this is quite surprising. I am so happy, but just not sure why I had such an easy time passing this one.

I am 8 weeks pregnant and I stardted hainvg pain in my flank area about 5 months ago. I had an Ultrasound which revelaed nothing, apart from slight enlargement of my urether. Blood trest shows my kidney function is normal.
They said to me that they can't really do anything without an x ray, as apparently ultrasound doesn't detect stones. So I only suspect I have it, the pain is still there on every day basis
pretty desperate if I have to wait 7 months for diagnosis- does anyone know if there are other means?

Hi Elizabeth,
this forum is really old, but hopefully you will get my message. I am 10 weeks pregnant and was told that I could have laser lithotripsy to break up the stone if I wait until 14 weeks. Is this what you had? I haven't found anyone else who has had this while pregnant. Is it safe?? Any info would be greatly appreciated!!!

I developed kidney stones and had to have a stent put in. I asked the Urologist for something to relieve the UTI-like side effects that were driving me crazy and to tears (but not nearly as bad as the kidney stones had been). He prescribed Pyridium (aka Phenazopyridine). I'm wondering why no one else on this thread seems to be taking/took Pyridium for the stent's side effects? It's a Class B drug, which my OB says is safe to use during pregnancy. For me, it works most of the time, which has been a god-send.