When Should I Go To The Hospital?

"Signs of Labour: * Persistent lower back or abdominal pain, often accompanied by a crampy premenstrual feeling. * Painful contractions that occur at regular and increasingly shorter intervals and become longer and stronger in intensity. * A blood-stained mucus discharge from the vagina * A sudden gush of clear fluid from the vagina, which indicates that your 'waterbag' has ruptured. Should you encounter any bleeding from the vagina which is not 'show' or your baby is moving less than usual, please call your doctor immediately. You should pack your bag or suitcase a few weeks ahead and be ready for delivery and admission. The items to bring include: For Mother- Your birth plan, comfortable clothes or pyjamas with front fastening, cardigan, nursing bras, breast pads, slippers, toiletries, magazines or ipod, hair tie/band (if you’ve got long hair), a camera and/or video camera (check with the hospital whether they are allowed), all documents given during pre-registration. For the baby- Hat, mittens & booties, vest, blanket or shawl for use on the day of discharge, a laundry bag , comfy clothes and flat shoes to go home in, ID card and house registration (some hospitals may provide service of issuing the birth certificate)."

"You should go to the hospital when you experience the following: 1) After water bag burst within 24hrs 2) Vaginal bleeding 3) Contractions 5-10 minutes apart 4) Contraction together with water bag burst 5) Inability to cope with labour pain. In some cases, like my hubby's colleague, her water bag did not burst but had regular contractions and went to the hospital for labour. While some may be like me experienced nothing of the above as gynae arranged to induce my baby as one werk plus prior to my EDD, my cervix had already dilated 2cm and gynae said will give my daughter one week for her to arrive on her own otherwise will review next week then next day admit to hospital and will induce for me. Went for review the following Sat and dilation was 3cm hence Gynae asked me to admit myself the next day. Gynae ruptured my water bag and I was put on drip, after an hour then I felt the contractions and 3hrs later I delivered. Most importantly you must bring Doctor's letter and blood results and husband & wife's identity cards/passports. For Mt Alvernia, I brought 3-4 pajamas with buttons in front, nursing bras, disposable panties, 1 packet of maternity pads and for toiletries, if you have your own preference you can bring otherwise its provided. For baby, bring 2 pairs of mittens & booties, 1 set of baby clothes and 1 baby blanket or hooded towel. Do include your mobile charger too."

"You should come to the labour ward when you have painful contractions that are about 1 every 5 minutes or earlier (if the pain is excessive or you have a history of very quick labours), leaking liquor, or reduced fetal movement. Check with the respective hospitals about what you need to bring in your hospital bag."

"U will feel the contraction pain, it comes and goes like every 10-15mins. Its like stomach cramp and u will feel like po*-ing becos ur baby is like trying to come out. U have to bring sanitary pads (not sure of hospital will provide), 2sets of pyjamas (button type is better Co's u can unbutton the top few buttons to breast feed), a pack of disposable panties, 1-2sets of baby clothes, socks, cap and mittens. I can't rem all but u can get a checklist from kiddy palace or from bhg or other department stores. I think they have a checklist of what to prepare. :)"

"It varies from one to another. For me, my waterbag broke and my contractions only started after I was put on drip at the hospital. Some people will start bleeding and others will feel contractions first. So it all depends. For hospital bag, make sure you check with the hospital or you can check hospital website for information. For example, Thomson medical caters to all of babies needs. Your baby will get clothes, mittens and booties, swaddle wrap, diapers, wet wipes, etc. For KK, I was told that they cater for all of mummies needs and the baby gets nothing. So it is best to check with the hospital as to what they will provide. They will also give you a checklist so that you will know what to prepare."

"Likewise with Winnie, my waterbag burst first then contractions came on when I was on drip. As for hospital bag, good to prepare in advance so that you can just grab and go when the time is right. I stayed in Thomson, so they prepared everything for baby. I only used disposable panties, pyjamas, toiletries, post natal pads (Thomson did provide, but I brought my own as well as its chargeable if you request for more), clothes for discharge."

"Just sharing my experience: I had spotting around noon on Sun before I delivered on Mon. The day before (Sat), I had my gynae check-up - Gynae said my bb's head not engaged yet. I called my gynae after the spotting & he advised me to check in to hospital delivery suite to see if I'm in labour. However, because I didnt experience any regular contractions, hubby & I decided to wait & monitor. My contractions were still irregular by 9pm+. By now, it was about 9hours since the spotting. Hence, I called up my nurse friend, who is a mother of 3 herself. She advised me to check-in to the hospital since it's night time & if goes into labour in the middle of the night, can be quite inconvenient & difficult to get a cab. When I reached the hospital around 10pm+, the nurse checked for dilation. By then, I had dilated about 3cm. My water bag burst around 11pm+. I delivered around 6am+ the following morning. If your contractions happen during weekdays while your gynae clinic is open, u can call the clinic & see if your gynae can help u check whether u are going into labour/ whether you need to admit yourself into hospital. Mine happened over the weekend so had to go to hospital to check. If you are going for epidural, best to go in early for the procedure else might be too late to have it done before bb comes out. My mum had spotting prior to my brother's birth. She went in & out of hospital about 3 times over 2 days before she delivered. In my case, I delivered my bb 18 hours after my spotting."

"Things to pack for yourself: - Your own PJ (long sleeves with front row buttons for ease of breastfeeding) if you don't want to wear hospital ones - Change of clothes for day of hospital discharge - Sanitary pads - Disposable underwear - toothbrush & toothpaste if you don't like to use those provided by hospital - face towel & comb - mobile phone & charger - Sweater - Slippers For baby: - Booties & mittens, 1 pair each - Hooded Blanket for hospital discharge - Romper or Top & Bottom Mount A will give u a baby bag which has some brochures/ flyers with J&J baby wipes & Huggies diapers for NB plus a big bath tub."

"Hi, when ur baby is ready to born ur getting slowly slowly pain , it's continuously take less time, then the labour is so high that u get I idea that now time to go hospital. Ur u can get more information frm Internet or doctor."

"when you feel contractions every 5 to 10 minutes, water bag burst, bleeding occurs at your vaginal, extreme pain at your abdominal as if menses pain. hospital bag should include some snacks, maternity pads, 1 sleep wear, 1 discharge apparel, baby clothes/mittens/booties for discharge, blanket/ baby wrap for discharge, hair scrunch to tie up your hair, toiletries set, slippers, camera, tablet/magazines to pass your time, registration forms. you may want to have a full meal before delivery so that you have the strength to push later. chicken essence may help. =)"