Christmas is coming early?!

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"You have to be admitted today. First we'll keep you under observation, then induce you in a day or two. One thing's for sure: you'll deliver before this week's over."

I couldn't believe my ears yesterday. Nel and I were at the hospital for our routine prenatal checkup. Baby isn't due until 20th December, so the doctor wasn't making any sense.

"I thought we were expecting a Christmas baby?" I blurted out.

The doctor reminded me of the preeclampsia that reared its ugly head in my last trimester. She explained that the condition has joined forces with IUGR, leaving our little one three weeks behind on average gestational growth.

Now at 36 weeks in utero, it's safer to get the baby out. The longer she stays in my womb, we risk losing her.

I glanced at my husband, wide-eyed. Then I realised:
  1. We don't even have a crib or car seat yet! We just had a baby shower with friends last Friday, and I meant to use the coming weekend for inventory - i.e. checking what we received against what we need, to see what else we need to get ready for the baby.
  2. I wasn't even done with my handover at work! I meant to train our team on crisis comms on Sunday, and had more stuff to brief or train my colleagues on before the scheduled start of my maternity leave on 1st December.
"Can we get a second opinion? Perhaps you'd like to discuss with some other doctors as well?"

Doc answered that she had already discussed my case with another, more senior doctor to confirm that admission and induction were the next best steps to take.

I asked if I could have just a day to take care of some last-minute things first. She was clear that they couldn't stop me if that was what I wanted, but that it would be against doctors' orders and I'd have to fill a waiver saying I was aware of this.

My heart thudding in my chest, I took a breath to steady myself and prayed silently as I signed the document. 

So that's how I got myself out of the hospital and gave Nel a chance to run to the malls for our final must-haves.

All throughout I had kept my colleagues in the loop via WhatsApp, so they were shocked when I showed up to office this morning. They said spend just a couple of hours max to wrap up my handover. But I ended up spending a whole workday typing up manuals with relevant contacts, training colleagues, making important calls, and handing over tasks to tide the team over until my return from maternity leave. Blame the workaholic in me not wanting my absence to cause any inconvenience to anyone.

By evening we drove to Dubai Hospital and had myself admitted. After a few hours in observation, the doctors came in to confirm that I was scheduled for induction early the following morning. This means I'm likely to go into labour tomorrow itself or the day after, so our precious little girl is expected by 24th or 25th November!

How's that for an early Christmas gift?

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