November 11, 2009 – The contraction day
Contraction – When a woman who is about to give birth has contractions, she experiences a very strong, painful thightening of the muscles of her womb.
Before today, I did not know how scary this word could be to a woman, until I saw Abbie’s facial expression.
It was sunny late in the afternoon, I couldn’t wait to go out for some sweating basketball games with the buddies. Abbie was okay at the time, I asked her if she felt any discomfort, she answered ‘no’. I told her that I would be back as soon as possible. Usually an hour or two is normal for me.
After the games, I went to the car for my cellphone, and I was shocked to see 12 missed calls from Abbie on the phone panel. I called Abbie, she was groaning with pain. When I reached home, she said the pain is on and off or contractions, and some brown spotting were found on the pad. Those were some of the symptoms of going into labour. Therefore, she may need to admit to hospital if she was getting more frequent pain. She added that her colleagues and friends who have had this kinda experience before suggested her to self-monitor before going to hospital. It could have been a temporary situation, according to them.
As usual, I went to ‘tapau’ supper for her. While having the nice curry wild boar and mixed vegetables, again she started to groan. We were kinda worried and I decided to take her to the hospital without more waiting. Eumora bar (soap), sun block lotion, facial lotion, hand lotion, stretch mark lotion, and any kind of lotions, all the lotions into the bag and left for Tropicana Medical Centre after that.
We arrived at the hospital at 12:30am. Abbie was taken to Labour and Delivery Suite, her contractions and Hayden’s heartbeat were being monitored there. The senior midwife called and consulted Dr. Yong V.P., Abbie’s gynaecologist. Dr. Yong advised Ventolin Obstetrics injection to be given at the rate of 4 mL/hr to Abbie, together with a single dose of dexamethasone.
Abbie’s contractions continued until around 4am, where the medications had worked effectively on her. I was still conscious but extremely tired and sleepy. She had the pain and I could feel her pain. Things were getting better after that, and finally I slept on the sofa until the morning.