Real or false contractions?

I want to share my story of when I delivered my baby boy 10 months ago. On the morning of Jan 31, 2011, when I was around 39 weeks pregnant, I went to work as usual, and felt waves of slight discomfort.

The thought of it being contractions did cross my mind but I soon brushed it off. Nonetheless, I started timing these waves and they were quite frequent - from 15 minutes to 10 minutes to five minutes.

The whole morning I was trying to decide if it was contractions or Braxton Hicks contractions. I consulted my colleagues and they said that if I was having contractions I would not be enjoying my breakfast and standing there chatting with them. So, I decided it must be false contractions.

I went for lunch with my colleagues, and they were all curious and slightly concerned that I was writing down the timings of my fake contractions every three to five minutes. But suddenly during lunch the pain stopped; it went away totally. I was more than convinced then that it was Braxton Hicks, although my colleagues still did not really believe me and urged me to call my doctor.

After lunch, I called my doctor, not thinking much of it because just a few days before, I had seen him and he said I was not due until at least 10 days later! The doctor asked me to describe the pain. I said, “Every time it came I would go 'ouch …'.”

The doctor advised me to admit myself into the hospital if the pain persisted. Back at work, all my colleagues were already urging me to go home or go to the hospital because none of them wanted to bear the responsibility of sending me through peak office hour traffic to downtown KL where my hospital was. Finally, I relented and left half an hour earlier to go home.

It was two days before Chinese New Year, and spring cleaning was going on at home. Everyone was busy cleaning stuff and preparing for CNY. So, I took my daughter for a walk before dinner, but the pain was getting a bit more intense then.

The pain stopped during dinner time and it returned again after dinner. I really did not know what to think, whether I was having real contractions or fake ones.

Just then we decided we needed to go to the hypermarket to stock up on some groceries. At the hypermarket, the pain became more frequent and unbearable. Suddenly, I felt something wet flowing out, and I thought that my water broke. I touched and to my horror I saw fresh blood, and a lot of it! I informed hubby and we left immediately for the hospital.

At the hospital, the nurse checked me and I was shocked to learn that I was already 8cm dilated! I didn't even know if the doctor would be there in time! Luckily, the doctor arrived in half an hour, and around one hour later my baby boy was safely delivered. The delivery process was not as bad as I thought it would be, and frankly I was thankful that I did not have to choose the option of whether I wanted an epidural. I had no choice, it was too late ...!

My baby boy is now a healthy and a chubby bundle of joy. And till now whenever I relate this story to other people, they have never failed to be amused about a pregnant mother having contractions and still going shopping till the very last minute.

Susan Tan