A Man Gives Birth

Yesterday was the most interesting day I think I have had in my life in quite some time.  While it started off as any other day in my life does, it then turned to into what had to be the most painful experience that I have ever had in my 44 years of life.

While performing my daily activities and chores that I do on a daily basis, my body then began to experience what by far was the most intense pain I have ever had overtake my body.  I was busy trying to work on redesigning a new website for a friend and the organization that represent and work for when I was nearly rendered lifeless in intense pain.  Needless to say I was a bit overwhelmed and felt as though I was ready to roll over and throw my paws up in the air and hoped that someone would just come along and shoot me.  I had no clue what was going on but knew that I needed some serious medical care and quick.  I had the sudden urge that I needed to urinate but was not able to and felt like I was ready to literally blow up if I did not go to the restroom.  I once again had tried to urinate and still nothing.  What was wrong with me?  Then it hit.....pain like I had never experienced before started to radiate from my right side of my abdomen down into my groin area.

The image you see on the left shows you two items that everyone should be able to identify.  The one located between the penny and the safety pin is a kidney stone and this is what had invaded my body.  Needless to say I was fixing to give birth and hadn't even had the opportunity of taking a birthing class.

I was almost rendered lifeless and walking was not going to be easy since I was curled up in my bed experiencing some of the worse pain of any physical ailment that I had ever endured.  I had contacted my room mate that was at work to let her know I felt like I was dying and that I could no longer withstand it.  I had become sick to my stomach and everything I had tried to eat that morning or drink was coming back up quicker than I could get it down my throat.  Eventually, the EMS was called and they assisted me out the door to a cot and placed into an ambulance for transportation to our local Emergency Room.  Upon arrival I only knew that I was in pain and that I needed to be provided some relief from it.  They immediately provided me with some pain medication and immediately prepped me for a CT Scan.  After coming back into the Emergency Room the physician had advised me that I was experiencing a kidney stone.  Ok, so I know some people who have experienced this before and have heard them exclaim about how it felt like giving birth.  I had always wondered if this was over exaggerated until I was facing it now myself.  The doctor had advised me that it was too far down into the urinary tract for them to be able to do anything with and that I would have to pass this on my own.  Needless to say that entered my brain and automatically translated into the fact that the pain I was experiencing was only going to intensify.

They sent me home under some heavy narcotics along with an Rx for additional pain medication.  I decided not to have the Rx filled and to just endure what was going to be one of the most hideous medical situations in my life.  I returned home to lay on the couch and sleep this whole experience off when it hit......you guessed it....the time had now come to give birth to my stone and it hurt just like everyone had said that it would.  Talk about bringing tears to the eyes and making a grown man feel like he was ready to hit his knees.....this certainly done it for me.

Did I forget to mention that while in the ER they had to catheterize me since I was not able to void my urine.  That in itself was a painful experience since they are now trying to insert what felt like 5 miles of tubing into a region that was already blocked by a foreign object.

So at approximately 12:40 A.M. it finally hit me.....the pressure was building and I knew that I was fixing to have what seemed almost like an out of body experience.  I finally give birth to my kidney stone.  While some may see this as a bit humorous and I choose to describe this, there was a reason for doing so and that is to warn men that if you ever have to endure this same encounter the pain you are going to experience is equivalent to what women will endure during the birthing process.  So after having given birth to a shard type object I was doing some research to exactly what causes a kidney stone.  Below is what they have to say about what causes them.

What Causes Kidney Stones


Doctors do not always know what causes a stone to form. While certain foods may promote stone formation in people who are susceptible, scientists do not believe that eating any specific food causes stones to form in people who are not susceptible.

A person with a family history of kidney stones may be more likely to develop stones. Urinary tract infections, kidney disorders such as cystic kidney diseases, and certain metabolic disorders such as hyperparathyroidism are also linked to stone formation.

In addition, more than 70 percent of people with a rare hereditary disease called renal tubular acidosis develop kidney stones.

You can read more about the causes of kidney stones and other urilogical diseases here.