It was about 1am Tuesday morning that I sensed something was going on. I had already been up to use the loo once and 10 minutes later I needed to go again. From then, I was having to get up to use the loo about every 10 minutes for the next hour or so. After what seemed like countless trips I decided to investigate further. I turned the light on and looked into the pan. It wasn't the usual clear colour of urine. This was more cloudy and didn't smell. I thought perhaps it was my waters that had gone.
I went back to bed and told my husband that I thought my waters had gone. I hadn't had the show but I was expecting the contractions to start at some point in the early hours of the morning. All I could think about was thank goodness my waters hadn't gushed out and ruined the bed and luckily no more came out whilst I was resting. I hoped to get some more sleep in before anything happened.
I waited for another couple of hours and decided at about 5.30am to phone the hospital to let them know that my waters had gone and asked for advice. Following further questioning I duly informed them that I wasn't experiencing any contractions but they advised that I should go to the maternity unit to get things checked out. There was no need to rush in, just in my own time at some point this morning and to bring the overnight bag just in case.
So after breakfast my husband drove me to hospital where the midwife checked me over, asked more questions and monitered the baby's heartbeat. He was meant to be helping with the stocktaking at his workplace and was glad that he didn't have to go in; it's not his favourite part of the year!
After a while the midwife relocated me to a ward where all the other expectant mums were in early stages of labour. They were waddling around exercising to ease the discomfort and pain, impatiently awaiting the arrival of their little ones. They all looked tired, as if they had had enough already. I on the other hand felt like a fraud, as although I felt enormous, all the other mums were twice the size of me. My bump on the other hand was only a tiny little thing. It seemed very surreal; was I really pregnant or is it all a dream?
All the while I was hooked up the monitor measuring the baby's heartbeat, I became increasingly bored for the next few hours waiting for my contractions to start. In all that time I had not felt a single thing. At lunch time I requested to be allowed home as I didn't want to take up a bed that somebody may need. I wanted my own comforts and to relax in front of the telly, not to watch all the other mums going about their business, looking red faced and annoyed.
They finally let me out under instructions to return should anything happen.
I got home at lunchtime and my husband went into work to help with the stocktaking. I ran a shower and went to use the loo. To my astonishment the waters were bright red and there was rather a lot of it. I phoned the hospital to tell them what had happened and they advised that I should go back in again. I then telephoned my husband, who had just started to help out with the stocktaking at work, requesting him to return home again.
Since I still had time on my hands, and I was still not having any contractions, I decided to have a shower and wash my hair as intended. As soon as I had finished drying my hair, my husband turned up ready to go back to the hospital. We coolly put the hospital bag back into the boot of the car and trundled off.
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