Ah! I can't believe that I'm 34 weeks and 4 days today!
We had a preterm labour scare last Wednesday (a day before Christmas eve) when I awoke from my afternoon nap to painful period-like pains and a lower backache that shot down my right leg. My thighs also started to shiver and my teeth was chattering...I thought I could wait it out to see if it would go away but the pain started intensifying!
I immediately opened my room door to see if anyone was at home with me and luckily...my father-in-law was. He had heard my door opening and thought I wanted something from downstairs (I've been upstairs-bound since 2 weeks ago, just to minimise the walking) so he walked upstairs...and at the sight of him..I started crying! It was a mixture of discomfort and fear as I worried about the babies coming too soon...
Somehow the pain went away and I was able to tell him that I needed to go to the hospital...he helped me to the room and I made a call to my hubs...who immediately said that he would rush back. I also called my sister to see if this was what they called contractions. At first, she sounded worried but later she asked if the shivering was because I was scared! No way Jose!
I rested in bed while I waited for my hubs and the pain came back in about 15 mins! I was rolling around on bed when my husband rushed in and he was all frantic and tried calling the clinic we went to, to ask if we were to head to the hospital right away. Things were a little complicated because just a day before, we had switched to a new doctor who is attached to another hospital -- we had never been to the hospital to register before.
After getting the greenlight from the nurse (we were contemplating on going to a hospital that was nearer), my hubs whisked my hospital documents, our cord blood banking sets and me and we were off.
We ended up staying at the hospital for 2 nights...and it was indeed preterm contractions I had! The doc put me on Ventolin, a medicine commonly used for asthma, which is known to stop contractions. I guess I was feeling all better once I had the medical team around me...the contractions didn't come back after I was admitted for about an hour...
All in all it was a reassuring stay at the hospital as the nurses would come every 3 hours to check on the babies' heartbeats. The twin on my left, Twin 2 as they call him, seems to be the naughtier one as the nurses could never track his heartbeat for longer than a few seconds on the non-stress test machine. He was probably squirming about and doing little somersaults in there!
I'm really glad we checked into the hospital and that it was to be a two-day holiday after that...my hubs stayed with my all through out and slept on the pull-out seat next to my bed.
And I'm so glad we switched to this new doc! He came to see us all three days eventhough it was Christmas...with our previous doctor...I never really felt like I was treated as a high-risk pregnancy case. But this doctor, he was all nice and understanding and hinted that we'd try to stretch the pregnancy out for as long as possible but that he suspects that I may not last that long....
Ok my hubs just walked in and he said the main message is: it's never too late to change your gynae! :)
Oh just to backtrack a little, we did our IVF with a different doctor who no longer accepted deliveries, so we had to find a gynae on our own. We arrived at the second gynae through a friend's recommendation, because she did her IVF and had twins with him. We were fine with him for the first few visits...and it did help that the hospital was quite near to where we stayed and there was zero-waiting time with him.
My distrust with him began when I asked if he could write me an MC for when I was about 30 weeks pregnant so that I could bedrest at home. He wasn't keen on that at all and seemed to dismiss my need for resting. He said, perhaps he could let me rest from 32 weeks onwards..which was fair enough. But he said so very reluctantly...and kept saying that he didn't see the need for me to rest at home at all that early...which made me think he didn't really treat me as high risk at all.
Well we stuck with him for a bit more. Later we asked about having skin-to-skin contact to encourage breastfeeding and again he didn't seem keen on the idea and somehow his replies always made us feel like we had asked a stupid question!
Luckily I had a chat with my hubs a couple of weeks back and told him that I actually didn't cared much for this gynae and would not go back to him after our delivery...little did I know that my hubs didn't say anything only because he thought I was fine with the gynae!
So we asked around on forums for recommendations for new gynaes and if it was ok to change one so late...we ended up going for a gynae whom our IVF doctor had recommended in the first place :)
Oh and we had one last appointment with our second gynae since it was already scheduled..and that sealed the deal that he wasn't the one for us...we again reminded him to write me the MC since I was already 33 weeks (I mentioned that we'll be picking up the MC in our next appointment when we saw him at 30 weeks)...and he just gave us a horrified look...and he said that he can't ever BACKDATE an MC.....
So I reminded him gently and said at the last appointment you said we could pick it up today...and he said yeah I could write you an MC from today onwards but not from last week...So I started turning a little red and angry and said: then you should've given us the MC at our last appointment...and you know what he said? "Oh, but how can I give you an MC that is in the future?"
I mean...he really does not understand what giving out MCs for third trimester pregnancies are for. He seems to think that I'd have to be hospitalised and in pain before he can issue an MC!
So I turned a little redder and he reluctantly gave in and said ok fine...I will write the date as when you started your 32nd week..no one will have to know about it...(see how easily it can be done?)
Then after that he had to add: "But if your boss tears the MC up..I can't help you with it..."
I mean...who was he to decide for me? He was supposed to be on my side anyway!
This episode really showed what kind of person/gynae/doctor he was -- it really wasn't about getting the MC that I was pissed about...but it really speaks of how he treated women and pregnancy and safety! Oh and after reluctantly issuing us the MC, he went on to warn us about going into preterm labour...he said: Anytime you have any pain just come right into emergency...
By saying that...doesn't he mean that I'm at risk of going into preterm labour anytime soon and he still does not want to let me rest and prevent all that? Geeze.
He also prescribed us with two Dexa jabs to mature the babies lungs, and told us to get it that weekend. From what I know....a lot of twin mummies get that jab at 28 weeks....and here I was at 33 weeks and no jabs yet...
Luckily, we saw our new gynae about 3 days later and asked him about it...he immediately told us to take the jab, which we did! Imagined if we hadn't and had gone into preterm labour the next day and delivered!
Hmph.
I'm so glad that we no longer have to see our second gynae...I didn't know I was dreading his visits so much. We have our appointment coming up tomorrow with our new gynae and I'm actually excited! Which should be the way when it comes to pregnancy check-ups!
I originally wanted to write this post to list down what I've been eating daily but I guess I'll do that in the next post!
Adios!
Mei
