I was rushed straight into a delivery suite, and they gave me the same drugs as last time to stop contractions. I was admitted to the hospital, and they kept me under observation for a few hours.
They also immediately put in a request for me to be transferred to a hospital that could handle a baby younger than 32 weeks gestation. I was told that this could take hours to resolve, and that I might end up going to Newcastle Hospital. I put that to one side for a moment, because I had to process the possibility that I could deliver that night.
I felt that I was having the beginnings of contractions, but the nurses seemed to be in disagreement about it. Some nurses were sceptical, and others were certain. The nurse assigned to me was extremely grumpy and rude, which made me more anxious. I couldn’t get any information out of her without extreme sucking up, and I wasn’t sure I had the emotional energy to keep that up for the whole night.
They put a belt on my tummy that could measure contractions. It appeared to show some contractions, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy anybody that I was actually in labour.
A new shift started, and a wonderful new nurse came to look after me. She was absolutely lovely and I felt instantly more at ease. She was very reassuring and gave me a running commentary on everything that was happening. She checked on me regularly instead of leaving me for an hour at a time as the previous nurse did.
The contractions were still coming, but they were intermittent, and were getting weaker.
Two obstraticians came in to check on my cervix. I was one centimetre dilated. Combined with the apparent contractions, that was enough for them to step up the campaign for me to be transferred. They were having some difficulty finding a bed in Sydney so they kept saying that I might have to be sent by helicopter to Newcastle.
Close to midnight, they managed to find me a hospital bed in Sydney which was a great relief. The lovely nurse came with me in the ambulance and stayed with me until I was settled. My husband drove separately to the hospital and met me there.
When we got there, the attending obstetrician was very grumpy. She was annoyed about having to admit me, because they already had a full delivery ward. She took a quick history from the nurse, and then glared at her and said “Well, is there anything else? If not, you can leave now.”
She then took a quick history from me and although she was obviously furious, she started to soften once she heard my story. My contractions abated, and by morning, they were fairly certain I wasn’t going to deliver any time soon. They transferred me to a bed in the ward for pregnant women who need special care.
Tags: bed rest, Hypertension in pregnancy, PPROM
