When I heard about women being sent home for mistaking their Braxton Hicks contractions for real contractions, I told myself: ”That is not going to be me.” With all the reading, e-mails and childbirth classes that we have been attending, I thought I am already fully prepared. Not to mention that I get tips here and there from friends who are mothers.
At 3am today, I woke up my husband begging him to bring me to the hospital. Since Saturday, I have been having the “bloody show” and some contractions. Based on literature, there are 3 telltale signs of pre-labor: 1. rupture of membranes (breaking of the water), 2.”bloody show”, and 3. regular contractions that are less than 10mins apart. If 2 out of three are fullfilled, off you go to hospitalville. Since I’ve had 2, I thought this might be it. Nevermind that I can still talk through my contractions.
When we got to the hospital, I was wheeled by an attendant through a wheelchair, with my husband in tow. The signing in process was a breeze and my husband took care of the paperwork while I was asked to get a urine sample, get into a hospital gown and proceed to examination room three. When I have settled down on the hospital bed, the nurse hooked me up into a couple of monitors: one for my blood pressure, one to monitor the baby’s heartbeat, and another one to monitor the strength and frequency of my contractions. The attending nurse named Olga, asked me a couple of questions. After a few minutes, Dr. Mann, the OB on duty,came in to do an internal exam. Afterwhich, she gave me the unfortunate news: I am still not in labor. I am only 1cm dilated, 50% effaced and Jakub is -2 engaged. She told me to wait for a few minutes while they collect data from the baby which will eventually determine whether to send me home or keep me in the hospital. She went on to see another patient. After a few minutes, Dr. Callegari, her boss walked in and told me that they may have to send me home since it is still too early. Dr. Mann came back and did the ultrasound to make sure that Jakub is doing fine and it was safe to send me home. After everything checked in, they sent me home.
When they said that childbirth is painful, they were not kidding. Those preliminary contractions that I’ve been feeling already hurts a lot. How much more do real contractions? I have just gained a new appreciation for all the mothers who have gone through this amazing journey. As my husband and I were laughing about it on our way home, we came to appreciate our own mothers who had to go through this without the help of epidurals, ultrasounds or contraction monitors. They knew and they made it. There is no reason why I can’t.
Filed under: Childbirth
I will pray for your safe delivery. Stay strong Grace, you are doing great! Can’t wait to capture your first moments as a MOM!