False Alarm

Yesterday, at around 4:20 in the afternoon, Jojo told me he had a backache (he had spent a good part of the day reviewing for his CCENT exam and studying while hunched over a computer does nothing for his back). I told Jojo to lie down and take a quick catnap (he also didn't get to sleep much the night before). I was contemplating on going to the salon for a quick hair trim. Jojo didn't want me to go by myself and was insisting he would drop me off when he woke up. I told him he was being silly and that I was perfectly capable of making the trip myself. I was on my way to the phone to call the salon to see if they could squeeze me in for a trim. That was when I felt a trickle of water down my legs. I was very calm at that time. It didn't even register that perhaps it was my water breaking. I just wiped it off and went back to the phone. Then, it happened again. This time, I looked and saw a very clear (water-like liquid) down my legs. No color, no smell, but definitely continuous streaming down my legs.

I walked into our room and calmly announced "Ni, I think my water broke". Jojo was just about to drift off into sleep but despite his groggy state and despite his backache, my heroic hubby sprang into action. No words can describe how fast he got up and was raring to go. In less than 5 minutes, he had changed into his "Lucky shirt" (which he had planned to wear to the hospital). He grabbed our hospital bag and my pillows and loaded them into the car. He ran back to take an Aleve for his backache. Stopped by the office to get our phone chargers and Ipod. Ran to answer the phone (it was ringing). And hurriedly got everything else we needed. He was literally working on super speed!

I, on the other hand, was surfing the internet trying to google "How to Know if Your Water has Broken". I was really calm and was reading articles to see if I was truly going into labor. Jojo told me we should just head over to Torrance Memorial (which is what we were taught in our childbirth class). I was hesitating because there didn't seem to be a lot of water that came out (not the gush I was expecting) and by this time, it seemed to have stopped. But Jojo was insistent. So we loaded up and headed to the hospital.

We got to Labor and Deliver at 4:55 and I was in bed by 5:05 - strapped to a machine which monitored my contractions and my baby's heartbeat. It did show I was majorly contracting but honestly it must have been very mild because I felt nothing (just very mild flutters). Jamie's heartbeat was great and she was moving all around (another good sign). I was hooked up till 7 pm then my nurse came in and did a urine test (to see if I had an infection) and a litmus test (to see if my water did break). She also did a pelvic exam to see if I was dilated at all. The pelvic exam showed I was not yet ready to deliver (dilation was still 1-1.5 cm only) and the baby was still "high" and now yet "low enough" for labor. We had to wait an hour and a half for the two lab tests (urine and litmus tests). Had my litmus test come out positive (meaning my water did break, they would keep me for observation and would probably induce me if it didn't happen naturally).

Jojo and I settled in to wait. We watched tv, played Word Mole, and talked. We had some sandwiches and juice from the labor family nourishment center. At about 9 pm, the nurse came in with good and not so good news. Good news is I had no infections. Not so good news, my water had not broken. (I still don't know what that "water" streaming down my legs was!). We had to wait another hour for my doctor to sign off on my release. Before leaving, they did another pelvic test which showed I had not increased dilation. After filling out some forms and getting my release papers, we finally left at 10:30 PM. 5 and a half hours at the hospital only to find out it was a false alarm.

The three things I am glad about though was:
1.) We had a great dry run for what to do on the "Big Day".
2.) The nurses and staff at Torrance Memorial are really great at their jobs (even with minor delays that caused us to have to wait, they were very thorough and I felt well taken care of).
3.) An amazing husband who is extremely level-headed and very efficient when it comes to emergencies. He is truly my hero!!!