Year 2004, February 19th ~ 0250hour
I stirred in my sleep; felt a mild cramp in the tummy. That could be just a false labour sign since I was only 8 days away from my EDD, so I thought and went back to sleep.
Ring…… *alarm went off *
*yawn…* and *stretch*. Reluctantly I got out of bed and washed up to get ready for work. The slight contraction came again, I glanced at my watch to mentally note the time so that when the next contraction comes, I can tell how far it is apart and if it is real labour. From the pregnancy sites I’ve read it seemed common to have false labour signs especially one is nearing the due date.
At the work place, I did experience mild contractions but it was irregular, sometimes up to 2 hours apart. Anyhow I rang my ob-gyn to tell her of my symptoms; she asked me to go in for her to check me up. I thought it was a good idea too to let her check, and see if she’d order me to stay home and rest. Heheheh… I have one more day (today not inclusive) to start my maternity leave so if she would ask me to rest at home, that means I would get additional days off! I prayed hard she’d order me to rest at home hahaha…
I told my supervisor that I wasn’t feeling well with the contractions and would be seeing my doctor during lunch time. He told me to rest at home after seeing the doctor, but I said I would still call in from home for the conference meeting (as I have an agenda to present something).
Gee… I have forgotten if I had taken lunch before I see the doctor. I guess most probably not because I remember I had to arrive at the hospital before she goes off for lunch. But then again… I couldn’t recall if I had lunch that day!
At the clinic,
Ob-gyn : *check…check…check* You are only 1.5cm dilated… I will need to send you up to the ward for CTG before I can tell you if it’s actual labour. It’ll take approximately half and hour. Nurse, yadda yadda yadda …*gave instructions on what to get etc.*
Nurse : Please come with me…
The nurse brought me up to the ward and hooked my up to the CTG. So I was lying there, staring up on the ceiling and around while the CTG was recording the contractions and all. The CTG plotted the graph of the contractions, something like the seismic graph. When there is a contraction, there will be a spike. I was quite amused with my uterus activity LOL!
While waiting for the monitoring to be done, I prayed… that if this labour is for real, I would really, really hope for a successful normal delivery. Never mind if people say normal birth is painful. It sounds silly,but I thought I just have to experience giving birth naturally, to prove to myself that my body is able to function as it is supposed since that is nature’s intended way.
I still remember, on my first antenatal check of this pregnancy, I’d relayed to my ob-gyn about my simple birth plan.
DG : I wish to try for VBAC this time.
Ob-gyn : *looks startled at first and then smiled * Are you medically trained or something?
DG : Oh no no no… just that I’ve read up a lot on internet to know the terms… *heeheehee*
Ob-gyn : Okay. Can’t promise you anything; we’ll see how the pregnancy goes, and try when the time comes.
At last the monitoring was completed and I was sent back to the clinic. My ob-gyn wasn’t too happy with the results; apparently the nurses didn’t monitor long enough! So she asked me to be monitored again. But I told her I have a meeting at 3pm, and that I’d be back for the monitoring immediately after the meeting is over since home is only 10 minutes away. She agreed so I went back home.
It was a teleconference meeting with counterparts from different geographical sites. I clearly recalled that during the meeting I experienced quite a strong but still bearable contraction. Phew! Luckily it wasn’t at the time I was presenting. The meeting dragged, and only ended at almost half past four. I hurriedly got my bag and keys and headed to the hospital because the clinic closes at five.
As I was driving to the hospital, yet another contraction came while the car was going over a speed bump. Now that was really uncomfortable. I then figured that I don’t want to take risk to drive there by myself so I rang hubby and asked him to fetch me to the hospital.
Thank goodness my ob-gyn hasn’t gone back yet. We went straight to her clinic and the nurse brought me up to the ward immediately to get the CTG again. While walking to the elevator, another strong one came and I had to pause until it subsides. In the elevator, I squeezed hubby’s hand when another one came. By now, the contractions were pretty regular and stronger than in the morning.
... To be continued.
I stirred in my sleep; felt a mild cramp in the tummy. That could be just a false labour sign since I was only 8 days away from my EDD, so I thought and went back to sleep.
Ring…… *alarm went off *
*yawn…* and *stretch*. Reluctantly I got out of bed and washed up to get ready for work. The slight contraction came again, I glanced at my watch to mentally note the time so that when the next contraction comes, I can tell how far it is apart and if it is real labour. From the pregnancy sites I’ve read it seemed common to have false labour signs especially one is nearing the due date.
At the work place, I did experience mild contractions but it was irregular, sometimes up to 2 hours apart. Anyhow I rang my ob-gyn to tell her of my symptoms; she asked me to go in for her to check me up. I thought it was a good idea too to let her check, and see if she’d order me to stay home and rest. Heheheh… I have one more day (today not inclusive) to start my maternity leave so if she would ask me to rest at home, that means I would get additional days off! I prayed hard she’d order me to rest at home hahaha…
I told my supervisor that I wasn’t feeling well with the contractions and would be seeing my doctor during lunch time. He told me to rest at home after seeing the doctor, but I said I would still call in from home for the conference meeting (as I have an agenda to present something).
Gee… I have forgotten if I had taken lunch before I see the doctor. I guess most probably not because I remember I had to arrive at the hospital before she goes off for lunch. But then again… I couldn’t recall if I had lunch that day!
At the clinic,
Ob-gyn : *check…check…check* You are only 1.5cm dilated… I will need to send you up to the ward for CTG before I can tell you if it’s actual labour. It’ll take approximately half and hour. Nurse, yadda yadda yadda …*gave instructions on what to get etc.*
Nurse : Please come with me…
The nurse brought me up to the ward and hooked my up to the CTG. So I was lying there, staring up on the ceiling and around while the CTG was recording the contractions and all. The CTG plotted the graph of the contractions, something like the seismic graph. When there is a contraction, there will be a spike. I was quite amused with my uterus activity LOL!
While waiting for the monitoring to be done, I prayed… that if this labour is for real, I would really, really hope for a successful normal delivery. Never mind if people say normal birth is painful. It sounds silly,
I still remember, on my first antenatal check of this pregnancy, I’d relayed to my ob-gyn about my simple birth plan.
DG : I wish to try for VBAC this time.
Ob-gyn : *looks startled at first and then smiled * Are you medically trained or something?
DG : Oh no no no… just that I’ve read up a lot on internet to know the terms… *heeheehee*
Ob-gyn : Okay. Can’t promise you anything; we’ll see how the pregnancy goes, and try when the time comes.
At last the monitoring was completed and I was sent back to the clinic. My ob-gyn wasn’t too happy with the results; apparently the nurses didn’t monitor long enough! So she asked me to be monitored again. But I told her I have a meeting at 3pm, and that I’d be back for the monitoring immediately after the meeting is over since home is only 10 minutes away. She agreed so I went back home.
It was a teleconference meeting with counterparts from different geographical sites. I clearly recalled that during the meeting I experienced quite a strong but still bearable contraction. Phew! Luckily it wasn’t at the time I was presenting. The meeting dragged, and only ended at almost half past four. I hurriedly got my bag and keys and headed to the hospital because the clinic closes at five.
As I was driving to the hospital, yet another contraction came while the car was going over a speed bump. Now that was really uncomfortable. I then figured that I don’t want to take risk to drive there by myself so I rang hubby and asked him to fetch me to the hospital.
Thank goodness my ob-gyn hasn’t gone back yet. We went straight to her clinic and the nurse brought me up to the ward immediately to get the CTG again. While walking to the elevator, another strong one came and I had to pause until it subsides. In the elevator, I squeezed hubby’s hand when another one came. By now, the contractions were pretty regular and stronger than in the morning.
... To be continued.
posted by domesticgoddess at 8/01/2005 06:16:00 pm
Wow..!! keep us in suspense .. at the most crucial moment.. DG..!!