Not long after I past 31 weeks, I was having this awful tummy cramp the whole day. It was like period cramps (without stomach tightening), but got progressively worst as the day progressed. By the evening, I was bending over in pain and Panadol didn’t help. I was breaking out in cold sweat and starting to feel worried, although I didn’t exactly think they were contractions. I was trying to lie down and sleep after dinner, but couldn’t fall asleep as the pain was making me break out in cold sweat. By then, I was feeling somewhat worried and everyone was advising me to check myself into A&E to do a CTG scan, just to make sure that I wasn’t experiencing pre-term contractions.
It was my first time checking myself into hospital, at around 10pm. Once you walk into A&E, they charge you immediately at the entrance. It was quite quick, they took my blood pressure shortly and asked me what was wrong. The first blood pressure reading I had was ridiculously high at 180, she retook it and it was 165. I was also asked to provide a urine sample and to wait for my turn to see a doctor.
It took probably another 15 – 20 minutes, till they managed to contact the delivery ward and sent me directly up, since normal A&E doctors wouldn’t be helpful. I was refunded the A&E charge (since doctor did not even see me) and asked to only pay for the urine test ($15). They then insisted that I was wheel-chaired to the delivery ward although I could still walk. That was my first time on a wheel-chair and it’s very strange being pushed around like that. The husband was pretty amused that I have never been wheelchaired before, and took a picture of a very unglam me. I seriously just came out without preparing anything.
I was sent to the delivery ward where I changed into a hospital gown without any underwear. I lay on a ‘pee pad’ and they strapped the CTG machine on me to monitor contractions and baby’s heartbeat, and also my blood pressure. Thankfully, I wasn’t experiencing contractions and baby’s heartbeat was strong. Baby was also active and we could hear a whoosh sound whenever Jaime moved. My blood pressure was pretty high but went from 160s and stayed around 140s. They checked my cervix and did a swab for me, thankfully, cervix wasn’t open yet. They then got me to provide a urine sample and also tried to draw blood from me. It was one of the worst drawing-blood experience I ever had, and I have never felt this vulnerable.
Initially, one nurse came in and poked the needle into the sides of my right wrist. As usual, I did not look and let her do whatever she needed. She was at it for few minutes, moving the needle abit and there was the bearable sting. She then put a plaster on me and told me that she’ll be back later. After 5-10 minutes later, another 3 nurses came in and told me that they need to draw blood from me. I was horrified, exclaiming loudly that the nurse just drew some blood from me! They then told me that no blood was drawn, she wasn’t able to draw any previously. Imagine my shock!
Then my nightmare began. They poked me 5 times before they managed to get the blood they needed. At one time, there were 7 nurses on both sides of my bed, squeezing my arms and trying to find a vein. Some were young, some were obviously older and more experienced. They were discussing which vein to try and one even said to try the bigger vein, but another exclaimed that they’ve never tried that before. When they finally poked, one of them held the needle, the other squeezed my veins and one more tightened the rubber strap around my arm. The plastic tube for the drip was so painful when the inserted, but they couldn’t get any blood from it. I was so thankful that it was finally over, and they said that they would come back in 30 minutes or so after the blood test results were out. By the time they were done with extracting blood, my blood pressure went from 140s back to 160s.
They did come back after 30 minutes or so, and told us that they had ‘bad news’ for us. Both of us looked at the nurse worriedly, expecting the worst, perhaps pre-eclampsia? Then she said that she need to draw more blood from me. Gosh! At this point, the husband burst out laughing on his comfy couch. Seriously! She said that some blood clotted, perhaps because my blood flow was very slow and it was exposed to air. So, this nurse came in alone and poked twice more before she got the blood she needed.
By then, I was already longing to go home, since no contractions were detected and my stomach cramps seemed to have subsided. They insisted that I had to be warded for observation and put me in C-class in case of pre-term labor. My blood pressure went down to 120s and stabilized by then, and I was sent to the ward at 5am. It was a 6-bedded ward with a KDK fan above each bed, my bed was near the corridor. I was knackered by the time I got on the bed (it was so much more comfortable than the delivery ward’s bed). The husband went home with my bag and I only had my phone with me, which was almost flat. I had nothing with me and nobody had a charger that I could borrow! Despite a symphony of snores and baby cries, I eventually fell asleep till the doctors came around at 8am. It was really noisy since the ‘walls’ of the wards had huge gaps at the top and bottom and you could hear everyone walking past and talking outside. It doesn’t help that the beds were in close proximity and the one beside me had her whole kampong with maid and husband and children coming to visit her by 10am although visiting hours starts at 12noon. The husband speaks so loudly, the kid was watching cartoons on ipad with sound, and they were just chit-chatting right beside my bed. Gosh, I’ve no idea how people rest in such an environment. It was dreadful, dreadful to not feel well and yet can’t afford better wards to rest! [The importance of good insurance coverage because you really need it when you don’t feel well!] Sadly, pregnancy is not covered by hospitalization insurance, and even the pregnancy insurance available in the market now is grossly inadequate (and expensive). Most of them covers around $100 a day for NICU charges with a cap of $3,000 or so which is really negligible since A class and private hospitals charge easily in excess of $1,000 a day.
Thankfully, the nurses and doctors I met at NUH were all really nice. Although the food pretty much sucked (it was cold), I actually finished most of it because I was famished. The husband swing by around noon and spent a few hours with me before I was finally discharged in the evening. I was put on iron pills and antibiotics as they found bacterial in my urine and suspected that UTI was causing my stomach cramps. I’m somewhat surprised because I’ve never had UTI and I drink and pee so much! Upon reading about it, I realized that peeing often does not mean that you empty your bladder. During pregnancy, your uterus might be pressing on your bladder and you end up not emptying it despite going to the toilet often. My iron was also surprisingly low despite all the beef and greens and multivitamins I’m eating – then I realized that you need 750g of beef to meet the iron needs of pregnancy.
They were supposed to call me the week after to let me know my urine culture test results and gave me a week’s Hospitalization Leave to rest. The discharge procedure was quite funny, the nurse gave me my medication and documentation and discharged me. You had to go to patient service to pay after being discharged, not before! I have never been so happy to go home. The drip thing was finally removed from my hand and it ached for days with bruises emerging on my arms from all the poking of needles.
I spent the week resting and sleeping a lot at home, because I don’t sleep well at night and the anti-biotics made me feel really drowsy. I woke up around noon and had lunch, log on to work abit and started preparing for delivery. I finally started packing my hospital bag and going through all the documents for admission and confinement. It suddenly hit me that I don’t have much time left. I was feeling alright till the cramps started coming back again on Thursday, and I worriedly rescheduled my Saturday’s gynae appointment to Friday. Dr Chan checked thoroughly and said that the hospital has already done all the tests possible, baby was doing well and my cervix was still closed (although it’s slightly thinner than normal). He said that stomach cramps can be due to baby kicking me at the same spot constantly, resulting in bruised insides and cramps. He gave me the option to come back on Saturday to extend my hospitalization leave to rest at home or come back in 2 weeks. I wasn’t keen to continue laying home though, so he gave me some painkillers and sent me home. Thankfully, the cramps went away and all’s well. By this time, my lower back has started aching, perhaps from all the household chores that I can’t help doing. It got really bad after I scrubbed the toilet and shower screen one weekend. Pregnancy has gave me serious OCD and there’s this sense of urgency to pack the house and get it ready for Jaime’s arrival.
What a scare that was, it’s really no fun not feeling well and staying in a 6-bedder!
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