I spent the night of January 1 in the hospital alone since even Aaron is not allowed to stay overnight in the ward. The midwife on-duty that night checked my BP twice: one at 2 AM and the next one at 6 AM. Both readings came out to be at 130/85 which is no longer that bad compared to the readings that they were getting yesterday.

7:00 AM

I wasn’t able to go back to sleep anymore after the midwife took the last reading. It was a good thing that my breakfast was brought in earlier than scheduled.

As I was eating my breakfast, a doctor came in to check on me along wih two trainee doctors. They asked me how I was feeling. I told them I was feeling great because I really do. No below-chest pains, headaches or feeling of dizziness. The doctor explained to me that though my BP readings have already gone down to normal, they still would not discharge as they still wanted to monitor my BP. They just do not want to take the risk of discharging me only to have me back in the hospital again after a few days due to a high BP. Though I was disheartened, I know that I was in good hands. The doctor also told me that seeing the results of my tests yesterday and my BP readings, they concluded that I do have pre-eclampsia which is why they think that it is a good idea to have me induced before my BP could again increase.

I forgot to mention that the midwife and doctor on-duty did a speculum exam of my cervix the previous day and they found out that the head of my baby is still high and not yet engaged hence they told me that it is most likely that I’ll be induced with a gel to start the labour process which will allow them to eventually break my water. Nonetheless, they told me that my mucous plug has already came out.

Anyway, the doctor who just came to see me asked me if I’ve been having contractions since yesterday. I told her I am not sure since I do feel some tightenings or period-like cramps in my mid-area once in a while but they were neither uncomfortable nor painful. She nodded and told me she’ll come back to conduct an internal exam.

Upon doing the internal exam, the doctor told me that my baby’s head is engaged and I was already 1 to 2 cm dilated. This was good news as they can then break my waters if I agree to it. She also assured me that if the dilation progresses very well, which she was so sure it will, I won’t have to be induced with the gel. They recommend the induction to be done the next day. Nonetheless, they were not pushing me into doing anything that I do not want to do and they were respectful of my choices without any sign of irritation which I deeply appreciate especially since Aaron was not yet there when the doctor visited me and I still needed to talk our options out with him.

9:00 AM

When Aaron arrived in the ward, I laid out to him everything the doctor told me. I also relayed to him why I agree with their recommendation. It was a good thing that we share the same sentiment.

9:30 AM Onwards

We spent the rest of the day just watching The Blacklist in Netflix. Aaron also brought us some home-cooked meal for us to share and enjoy. Though I am deeply impressed by the hospital's restaurant-like food offerings, nothing still beats a home-cooked Filipino dish.

I was again left to my own device when it was again time for Aaron to go home.

To be continued...