dress rehearsal

so, who knew that once you've already gone through labor and given birth before, there is still a chance that you can mistake false labor for real labor? well, now i do. i have to say, though that i honestly don't think i could have done things differently.

yesterday around noon, i was craving mcdonald's french fries. my dear sweet husband went out to get them for me (he hasn't had much work again lately) and while tristan napped, josh and i ate greasy, delicious fast food while watching a dvd. i began to notice that my contractions were seriously starting to ache at around 12:30, so i got out the old pen and paper and began marking down the time of each contraction. the pain began in my lower back and then radiated towards my belly, which is exactly the kind of pain i remember having when i was in labor with tristan. these contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart and soon it became apparent that i wasn't able to really concentrate on the dvd, so josh helped me get into the shower and i sat in there for about 20 minutes. after the shower, i just lay in bed for a full hour, really concentrating on the type of pain and the timing of the contractions. they went from coming every 5 minutes to every 4 minutes, so at 2:00 we got our bags in the car, had josh's dad come over to stay with tristan and off we went to the hospital.

i really, really thought that we were going to have a baby that day! even though i've had a ton of braxton hicks over the past few weeks, the pain has never been quite as intense or specifically starting in my lower back. while driving the 45 minutes to the hospital, they kept up at 4 minutes apart and there were even times when i had to breathe through them. once at the hospital, we got a prime parking spot, (thanks to my handicapped placard) and josh wheeled me inside. we got a small room in triage, i got all monitored up and sure enough, the nurse saw that the contractions were now coming every 3 1/2 minutes apart and were quite strong. she checked my cervix and found that i was 2cm dilated and 70% effaced. even though those numbers were a little low, she thought that by the looks of my contractions, i'd progress in no time, so she gave us 2 hours to walk around the halls and try and get things going even more. so, josh and i walked (well, he walked and i did my best with my walker) laps around the labor and delivery ward, looking at the adorable pictures of babies on the walls and hearing the sweet sound of newborn cries coming from various rooms. we rested for awhile, reading magazines, and then off we went walking again.

just before the nurse came back to check on me, i had a gut feeling that we'd be sent home. the contractions felt exactly the same, no more painful or intense, and i knew that if i was progressing i should be feeling more pain. sure enough, when she checked me again i was exactly the same, even though the contractions were still strong. at 6:00 she apologetically told us that we'd have to go home, saying that true labor could happen in a few hours, or in a few days.

we were both disappointed, though i felt a little bit of relief as well. it would have been great timing, since i was exactly 37 weeks and also since josh doesn't have any work right now. however, God knows best and obviously my littlest boy isn't quite ready to come out of his warm cocoon quite yet. as we drove home, i called my mom to tell her not to book the flight that she had been looking at. i noticed, while talking to her that i hadn't had a contraction in 8 minutes. eventually, they became further and further apart and then they no longer hurt at all. i'm thankful for that because i was worried that i'd get NO sleep that night, but i got a good night's rest.

so now its obvious that we can't really rely on the timing of the contractions to know whether or not it's true labor. the nurse's only advice was "you'll know to come in if your water breaks, or if they hurt a whole lot more."

in other news, my son is now going around saying "oh, crap" when things don't go his way. it seems mommy needs to clean up her language even more :)