27th March: Face to Face with Reality

7.30pm on a Friday evening and I am admitted onto Nettleham Ward. I had organized an evening in with two friends to watch Mama Mia but instead found myself in hospital with high blood pressure.

Went for my regular check up with my midwife and my blood pressure was raised, and there was an irregularity in my urine. She then asked a lot of questions; looked at my swollen hands and ankles and concluded I ‘looked different’ from the last time she had seen me (4 weeks ago). She thought my face had also swollen – which I agreed with but I thought that was normal weight gain. My midwife rang the assessment centre and we went straight up. This time we were taken straight into a room to be wired up as before. The midwife at the hospital asked a lot of the same questions and then I was seen by a Registrar who also asked questions about the swelling, any pain, floaters in my eyes, headaches and how I have been feeling generally. He also checked my eyes and my reflexes.
I had to admit that the last few days I had felt exhausted but I put that down to not sleeping because of my size and junior moving about so much. I had also had what I thought was indigestion after having a busy Thursday morning shopping and then going out for dinner (which I did enjoy).

My blood pressure was taken at regular intervals (fluctuating) and baby was monitored for over an hour. Baby was fine but my uterus was contracting which could be an indication of early labour!! I also had my bloods taken. Although I was told I would be seen by a Consultant to have an internal it appeared that this was not possible and so I ended up being admitted. It was felt that although nothing was significant on its own; altogether the symptoms meant I needed to be monitored for a longer period. I was given two paracetamols and Codeine for the pain in my uterus. However, I was very confused as to what was ‘pain’, what is baby moving about, what are contractions, what are Braxton Hicks and what is ‘normal’.

While waiting to be admitted I asked if I could go outside to ring my mum. However, what I thought was the buzzer for another patient was in fact the fire alarm and we were told to stay where we were and had to shut all the windows and doors. This made me even more anxious than before and probably didn’t do my blood pressure any good at all!!

Just gone 8pm on the ward and although I have my own room I am surrounded by mothers and their newborn babies and their visitors. After they said they wanted to admit me I got all emotional and this is how I ended up in my own room. The only drawback – other than hearing everything that is said in the next room - is that I don’t have my own toilet and have to get dressed(ish) whenever I want to use the loo. I was anxious about being on a ward but am not really sure why. I was certainly worried about being left on my own when The Bull went home to get some bits and pieces for me. I was so tired and emotional that one of the midwives said he could stay in my room if I wanted him too, but it was certainly better for both of us that he was able to go home and sleep in his own bed rather than on a chair!

It was actually 10to12 when The Bull left for the night. I was assessed again at just before 11pm. My blood pressure was down, but due to the (faint) contractions they felt it was better I stayed in in case labour started. The midwife who assessed me said if I started labour now they wouldn’t stop it, but I would probably need to stay in hospital afterwards for a while as the baby wouldn’t have developed its sucking reflex and so would have to have help feeding. The midwife checked my belly – it was the first time anyone had – and she said that the baby was head down. She noted that his spine was on my right hand side. She said that midwifes did not usually do this until mothers were 36 weeks pregnant as babies were prone to move.

It was constant noise (babies, buzzers, mothers) while I was on the ward. I woke up about 2.30am with a need to wee, baby moving about and faint period pains…. I think I had a total of 3 hours sleep. Saturday morning and I was put on the Monitor again for 30 mins but no tightenings were indicated. They also took a sample of my urine and said there were white blood cells detected / creatinine which could be an indication of a urine infection. I was asked how I felt and it was suggested that I was suffering from carpel tunnel in my hands and arms and that perhaps baby was lying on a nerve which was the pain I was experiencing in my right hand side. After being seen by the midwife, I then had to wait to be seen by the Dr. However, the only Dr was the on call Dr as it was the weekend. ‘Alex’ came to see me about 2pm and I was given antibiotics for the urine infection. There was talk of bed rest, being given steroids – which delays labour - and daily visits from the community midwife….. However, I was later let out at tea time without any of these things.