SINGAPORE — At 8am on Monday (March 4), Ms Natalie Wong, 29, felt the dull ache of a contraction in her womb.
It was a healthy sign that her unborn baby was on her way, but also a cause for concern. After all, she had waited 15 years to see her idol Taylor Swift live at her concert in Singapore later that same day.
Ever since Swift-mania descended on Singapore in recent months, there have been plenty of headlines of Swifties going to extremes to snag tickets to her Eras Tour concert at the National Stadium. Some even made marriage proposals during the concert.
For Ms Wong, her experience as a heavily pregnant woman enduring labour contractions during the three-hour concert, and then emerging from a delivery ward some 13 hours later as a first-time mother, might just take the cake.
Speaking to TODAY, she and her 29-year-old husband Justyn Goh recounted how they decided not to cancel their plans on Monday evening after the gynaecologist allowed her to attend the concert.
“I was having contractions once every 15 to 30 minutes in the morning. We checked with the doctor and the doctor gave us the green light to go (to the concert) as she said it wasn’t very urgent to head to the hospital yet,” she said.
The onset of contractions is considered as the first stage in the process of labour, and it can take several hours to days before reaching the point of childbirth.
A financial consultant who has been a Swift fan since 2008, Ms Wong said in an interview with TODAY on Thursday: “I was so excited for her concert, I have been waiting to see her perform live for the longest time.”
She recounted how she had 10 devices open when Swift’s concert tickets first went on sale, describing the ticket booking process as a “great war”. In the end, she and her husband managed to snag two VIP2 Category tickets for the third of Swift’s six shows here.
Swift is midway through the Singapore leg of her Eras Tour, with her final three shows here scheduled from Thursday to Saturday.
“It’s so surreal. My body is still aching from the stitches, but I’m really happy,” Ms Wong said of her experience.
Last year, a woman in the United States went into labour 20 minutes after Swift left the stage at an Eras Tour concert in Cincinnati, Ohio. The woman gave birth after calling for emergency services.
PERSEVERING THROUGH THE PAIN
When TODAY asked Ms Wong how she put up with the pain during the concert, she said that her contractions came and went throughout the three-hour concert, which meant that she had to alternate between sitting and standing up.
“My energy was at about 60 per cent throughout the show, but thankfully I could sit down when I had a contraction.”
“Otherwise, I was my usual Swiftie self, standing and singing along when I felt fine.”
During Swift’s final set, in which the singer belted out songs from her 10th album Midnights, Ms Wong said that she felt the frequency of her contractions increase to once every five minutes. This was when she started to question herself whether she should start heading for the hospital.
“I was really trying to ‘tahan’ and persevere through the pain. I thought to myself, ‘Am I really going to make it through this?’, she recalled.
“But I knew in my gut that (it wasn’t time yet) and I trusted my baby to hold out.”
Her husband was far less composed. He recalled being anxious about his wife and repeatedly asking if they should leave the concert for the hospital.
“In the end, I trusted my wife. She gave me her assurance, so I was trying to be as supportive as possible,” Mr Goh said.
As it turned out, Ms Wong had time to spare. The couple made a brief stop for food after the concert, before heading to Thomson Medical Centre, where she gave birth to baby Emma the next day at about 4pm.
WHEN EMMA FALLS IN LOVE
While the couple had already decided on the name ahead of time, it was pure coincidence that the name matched one of Swift’s songs, When Emma Falls in Love.
“We chose the name Emma because my husband and I loved the name,” Ms Wong said, adding that they realised the lucky connection with Taylor’s song later.
“I was really happy about that too,” she said, laughing.
To top it off, she added that it was a coincidence the estimated date of birth given by their gynaecologist last year was also March 4, which turned out to be accurate.
“We didn’t even know I was pregnant when we bought the tickets last year. It was such a coincidence,” she said.
Insisting that everything was unplanned for, Ms Wong said that she now wonders if her idol might hear about her ordeal when her story goes public. “I hope she reaches out to pay a visit to us and baby Emma.”
When asked if she would go through the ordeal again, Ms Wong replied with a laugh: “Why not? Everything was such a coincidence. It’s so crazy, but why not?”
