Close but no cigar....

As we're getting closer and closer to our due date (the 21st) the more nervous I get.  Not for the actual having the baby/baby coming part, but more the recognizing the signs of when to go to the hospital.  With Jake we induced and even then, I never really felt the contractions.  They told me I was having them, but I never really felt them.  I mean, my back was killing me the WHOLE time but I never felt when my stomach tightened etc.  so I feel like a first time mom in that regard.

Well, over the past few weeks I've had what I thought were gas pains.  I'd wake up in the night and have to change my position etc and then I'd be able to go back to sleep after a lil while.  Well Sunday morning around 4 am I woke up with these sharp pains in my left side and I assumed it was gas since I heard that so many women mistake labor for gas pains.  These lasted a lil longer than normal even after I tried to go a bunch of times.  I managed to fall asleep again around 6 and woke up again at 7:30 with sharp pains in my other side.  After awhile I could feel my stomach tightening along with the pains and after consistently dealing with these contractions and an increasing amount of discomfort for a few hours, we decided to go to the hospital.

Megan and Liz came over to hang out/watch Jake and we were off.  Let's just say the drive over was VERY uncomfortable, I had NO idea how bad the roads are around here.  Every lil bump was agony.  Very different from our surreal drive to the hospital the night we checked in to be induced with Jake.  We were so calm and talking about how weird it felt etc.  This time we screeched to the labor and delivery entrance leaving the car and hobbled inside.  There was what looked like a dad and his other kids in the lobby coming to meet a new sibling who instantly pointed out the wheel chairs and said good luck.  We got up to the 5th floor and it felt like forever before someone showed up at the desk but maybe that was just the pain talking.  Anywho, we got back to a room and got hooked up etc.  I was having contractions every 4 minutes or so though I pretty much felt lil jabs of pain constantly-so much for having a rest between contractions.  I was at a 3.5 so they said we'd wait an hour and see if I progressed at all etc.  It was good practice tho and by the end with Code's help (I basically needed him to ramble the whole time about anything to distract me/give me something to focus on- that required 0 feedback/comments from me) I was able to relax pretty well through some of them.

They came back later and I hadn't progressed.  They said we could either walk around to see if that would help get things going or take some meds to stop the contractions/control the pain and see if it comes back-then it'd be true labor.  The dr. decided on the latter since we're only barely full term.  So I got a shot in the ol' backside and got sent home.  I was still in a lot of pain and was pretty annoyed that I had to go home and leave the place with all the pretty pain-controlling meds.  Once we were there I kinda just wanted to get on with it- I hate all the back and forth of it.  While I was waiting with the nurse in the wheelchair for Code to pull around the car, the nurse pointed out Elder Holland who was leaving just then.   I admit at the time I wasn't really interested, still gasping in pain etc but I guess that's cool.

The drive home was also awful but once I got up into bed and after a lil while the meds kicked in and I zonked out.  Morphine is great.  Eventually I ate a delicious dinner (I love having a hubby who cooks) but pretty much stayed in bed the rest of the evening and we both went to bed early that night.  Code was pretty strained/tired after the crazy day.

Here we are, Tuesday evening, and all is quiet still.  I guess it really was false labor but I guess it's good to see my body is gearing up for it and at least now I know what to feel for when it comes to contractions- I DEF felt these.  I have to admit tho, I was fine waiting til' the due date etc but now after our lil dress rehearsal I want it to happen already!  All in good time I guess :)

Today I tried to distract myself and actually made some effort with Jake-we made cookies and he helped!  We went for a lil walk (we're the perfect walking buddies now, our speed is the same ;)  I'm trying to soak up these last few days/weeks of just me and Jake.  He'll always be my first guinea pig!