They have arrived!

It all started on 20th May when I started to discover pinkish discharge during the night. Early next day morning, I went to see my gynae and she put me on a CTG monitoring (CTG is to check for the frequency of contractions for pregnant woman). After 1 hour of monitoring, my contractions came on and off every 10mins. It showed a sign of premature labour.

I was admitted to hospital on the same day for medication and further monitoring. 1 day later, 21st May, I was discharged because the contractions improve which means it only came 1 or 2 times within an hour. I was back home and on hospitalisation leave for 2 weeks. Medication was given to be taken daily to control the contractions as my gynae wanted to keep the babies in me till at least 2-3 weeks later so that they can be of an acceptable weight before delivered.

I was back home (at my mum's place) resting well and keep myself away from all work. Why am I at Clementi instead of Hougang?? Well, just so sway that Hui's brother had chickenpox and to play safe that I do not catch it, I moved back to mum's place until his brother is well.

Things did not go smoothly during the 2 weeks. After 4days (26/05), I discovered orangey discharge. I thought it was due to the anti-contractions pills because the pill is in orange color. But 1 day later, the color seems to turn red at night again. I got panic and asked Hui to sent me to TMC outpatient clinic. We arrived there and I was back to the observation ward again for monitoring under the CTG. I just lied there the whole night under drip and medication until my gynae came to see me the next early morning.

My contractions was back and this time with more red discharge, just like I am having my menses. I was quickly admitted again with drip. Having this drip can cause side effect. It makes your heart pump faster and makes you shiver until you cannot even hold a pen properly. I was under a tremendous stress and suffering but all this was worth if I could endure and hold on to prevent myself from labour.

Things went quite well for the first few days in hospital as contractions seems to be under control and the red discharge gone. My gynae would be out of town for few days to Korea to attend a seminar. She asked me to stay in hospital for 1 week and she would be back on Sunday to check on me again. She even asked me to wait for her and not to deliver yet. She had appointed another gynae to take over my case during the days she was absent.

The real "exciting" part started on Thursday, 29th May! I started to have brownish discharge in the afternoon which started abit first. After dinner, it just flow out non-stop and the nurse suspect it might be the water bag burst. Why do I have soooo many discharge colors!!!

I was transferred from the normal ward back to the observation ward as things seems to get pretty serious now. The flow just kept going on until midnight. Gynae was called to come down at 2+am to check on me because the flow doesnt seems to stop and had been increasing. Dr Paul Tseng arrived and I was told it might be the bag behind the actual water bag which had burst. Thats why the discharge was brown instead. He checked on my cervix and said it was still closed. There was no signs of the actual water bag burst.

I was then under close monitoring of the contractions and discharge at the observation ward for 1 whole day. The contractions came on and off and I was on packets and packets of drip. My whole body felt so numb and heart beating so fast. Dr Paul came to check on me every few hours just to make sure the babies were still doing well. The kind of experience was something one could imagine unless you had it yourself! I told myself I must pass through this stage and all would be fine. I must wait until at least week 34 before I can delivered (twins always tend to be delivered earlier. As told by gynae, week 34 is an acceptable week for delivery). I am now only week 32. 2 more weeks to go! ENDURE, ENDURE, ENDURE!!

Sad to say, the elder sister wanted to see mummy & daddy so much that she could not wait anymore! At around 4pm on 30th May, the brown became red and profusely flowing out non-stop. Again Dr Paul was called from his clinic from 3rd floor and came down to check on me at the ward. He said whenever I had contractions, 1 of the twin heartbeat would drop. And after seeing the heavy red discharge, he said it's high chance that the placenta had started to separate from the baby and this causes the baby to be lack of oxygen, hence heart rate drop. The other twin was doing fine because the heart rate doesnt seems to get affected by the contractions.

A decision was made quickly for emergency C-Sect before it's too late. Once the placenta fully separated from the baby in the tummy before the baby was delivered, the chances of survival would be very low!...........................

And so....Elsie and Chloe arrived to see the world few weeks earlier on 30th May 2008. The most lucky and relief thing was the elder sister did survived. I was on epidural and was conscious during the operation. Hui was beside me in the operation ward. Although the lower half of my body was numb, but I could feel the knife cutting open my flesh. OMG, this was the first time I was being operated on in an operation room. I cross my finger that I could hear both babies crying when they were out of my tummy. Indeed, both crying sound were heard.

After the babies were taken out, Dr Paul showed Hui the umbilical cord between Jie jie and Mei Mei. One was with blood clot and purplish while the other was clear white. Dr Paul said Jie Jie might not make it if we still hold on for the delivery because the umbilical cord was already ruptured that it might not be able to pass nutrients and oxygen to the baby soon.

Due to premature and weight issue, both were sent to NICU for monitoring. I was discharge 3 days later, but babies had to be in hospital until they had reach a certain weight before they can be home.

I know the babies hospital bill is going to be super heavy on us because staying in NICU is really really expensive! And this budget was not something we had set aside for. I am getting really worried of the bills especially when I had TWO in NICU!
But ofcourse, now my priority is hoping both are doing well and quickly get discharge to be back in my arms at home. The money issue, well..let nature take it's own course.