That False Labour that Caught Us by Surprise

With just a couple more days to go before B2’s EDD, figured I should pen this down lest my deteriorating memory fails in the years down the road.

Just a couple of Sundays ago, we had a labour scare that got the hubs and I trooping to the hospital close to midnight.

Well, I was just a day shy of turning 38 weeks then, so technically, baby bump is all ready to meet the world. Except that, we were caught unawares.

Earlier that day, I had some discomfort around the abdomen (where on earth is my abdomen now??) and periodically had the urge to poop. Didn’t give it much thought since constipation during pregnancy is oh-so-common, and the feeling of wanting to poop means good news, right?

So we happily got ourselves dressed up to attend a solemnization and a wedding dinner that evening, and the hubs cleverly pre-arranged for my parents to help with Vera that night, because…. “just in case we needed to go to the hospital.”

And boy, it turned out to be some sort of prophesy! Sheesh.

Before the wedding dinner started and throughout the dinner, I was heading to the loo almost every other hour. And it wasn’t fun at all, trust me. Imagine trying to enjoy the food and catching up with your friends at the table, yet having to excuse yourself ever so often.

Truth be told, it felt like a tummyache coming and my body was going through some kind of dilemma – to detox or not?

Till I started breaking out in sweat and paranoia sank in – I quickly dashed back to the ballroom and told the hubs “We have to go! I’m not feeling too good.” I had unintentionally invaded his conversation with a buddy, but he stood up and we announced that we had to go, apologised to the wedding couple (Yes, we said that we had to pick Vera since it was late, and the other reason was because of this – now you know, WJ and C!) and hubs sprinted to drive the car over.

En route to my parent’s place, hubs suggested we should probably head to to the hospital since I was still in discomfort. The urge was coming intermittently and at some points, I was worried that I might poop in the car :( Then, I remembered that we missed packing a towel into the hospital bag. Gah! Fortunately, the hospital bag was already loaded up in the boot the day before. Talk about timing!

We rang up my dad and told him that Vera would have to stay the night with them as we were heading to the hospital instead. I think both the late night call + the possibility of deliverying + having Vera stayover kinda shocked him, as all he responded with was “Huh?? Oh okay.” LOL.

I thought to myself, “Oh dear, is this it??”

Here’s a recount on what happened that night:

11pm: Arrived at Mount Alvernia (Mt. A), ditched the car (the security guard eventually told hubs to park at the doctor’s lot) and made our way to the delivery suite at level 3. Nurses asked for the lowdown, and after reporting, was led to have my weight taken, and then to the delivery suite to get changed. Put on CTG belt to monitor, and another nurse came in to ask several questions including if there were contractions, bleeding etc. Did a dilation check and was declared that it was at zero effacement i.e. no dilation. That check was such a killer!

11.30pm~12midnight: Felt the urge to poop again, and asked to remove the CTG belt and made my way to the loo. Cleared a little and my legs were starting to feel wobbly. Sigh. Came out of toilet and my gynae, Dr Eunice Chua, had arrived. Felt embarrassed to disturb her in the night, and apologised for the trouble. She asked for the preceding status and how I was feeling. Returned to bed and was belted again to monitor, and she advised that there has been some signs of contractions  – but I didn’t really feel much pain though, just baby actively moving.

12mn ~ 12.30mn: Dr Chua did another dilation check, and guess what? The laughing gas was offered to me, without telling me how to use it! And, I was asked to push during the dilation check! How was I to inhale and push at the same time?? Certainly wasn’t expecting this pain relief and was super embarrassed to be offered laughing gas because that’s what other mums use during delivery! Needless to say, it didn’t help me at all :(

Dr Chua explained that dilation was now at 2cm – OMG! And, they’ll be offering laxative to help clear those bowels just in case I’m ready to go into labour. I was so not excited and feeling rather sleepy and hungry by then since I hadn’t had much during the wedding dinner. Was asked to stay for the night to monitor, and she’d returned in the morning to see how things were going.

1am ~ 2am: Hubs had to settle the admission stuff, and drove home to get my clinic card, chicken essence, daddy’s survival kit (because he has yet to put it in the car!) and grab some bread for me. Please let me eat before clearing my bowels!

2am ~ 3am: Hubs returned and I hungrily wolfed down my bread and chicken essence. By then, I was too sleepy and there wasn’t much discomfort anymore. No more urge to poop either. Had the laxative in by 2.40am, and was told to hold it for at least 5 mins so I wouldn’t have to run to the toilet multiple times. Held it for exactly 5mins and I couldn’t tahan any longer – dashed to the toilet to clear – and returned to bed feeling flat and ready to catch some sleep in the cold room.

3.15am: Heard some voices and seemed like another mum was next door or a couple of rooms away. Then, she started screaming and it probably scared hubs who was trying to sleep too. I hope she took epidural…. it’s happy-dural! Minutes later, we heard a baby crying. Phew!

So we tried to sleep, and hubs was stuck on a single couch and in an awkward position – poor him! Tossed quite a fair bit with some winks in between. Hubs periodically woke to ask if I was feeling okay. I think he was more tired than I was….. :(

7am: Nurses came in to check on baby’s condition, and the contractions were simply further and further apart with low intensity. CTG belt was removed and we waited for Dr Chua to arrive.

7.30am~7.45am: Dr Chua came, explained that the contractions have lessened and if I would like to be induced. That would mean being put on an IV drip and waterbag burst. Estimated to take 4-6hours or so, but it also depends on the baby and my body. Hubs and I had thought about this over the night, and we weren’t really keen on the idea, so we said that baby’s not ready :) Thus, we decided to get discharged and continue with our waiting game – OTOT!

And, that’s it! We had to see to the admission bills and discharge procedures, get changed, ring my parents to say we would be heading over to pick Vera and to send her to school after hubs and I had our breakfast. What came out of this experience? A rare breakfast time with the hubs :)

All in a day’s work; or rather overnight. By the time I returned home, I was bushed and all I wanted was my bed….. well, I simply KO-ed!

And so the waiting game continues….. till you’re ready, B2! :)

Read about our birth story with baby Vera back in 2013! It’s amazing how fast time flies!

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