FALSE ALARM! :(

Well yesterday was an eventful day. I woke up and was pretty out of it. I think it is just all getting to me. This waiting game was taking toll on me and my patience. I felt cooped up and told Jeff I need to really get out of the house. So we decided to go to the mall and do some walking. It was a perfect idea seeing there were some things I wanted to pick up with some store credit that I had coming to us. So, first we used a gift card and went to lunch at Chili's. It was pretty yummy. However, as soon as I stood up after eating I had a sharp pain right above my pelvic bone which made it very difficult for walking. We decided to call the nurse and see if this was normal...it really hurt. The nurse said it was normal but advised us to see if we could actually time the pain. So that's what we decided to do...we headed off to Woodfield and Stratford and walked, walked, walked. While walking the pain continued in about 5 minute intervals. I was having strong lower back pain and my stomach was tightening. Walking was still difficult. We were really thinking "This could be it!" So as soon as we got in the car we called the nurse back (this was about 2 hours since the 1st call) and explained what I had been feeling. She said, "Go on in!" So that was it...the words we wanted to hear so badly..."GO ON IN!" So we stopped home, grabbed our stuff and headed to the hospital. Sure enough on the way there, while sitting in the car, the contractions stopped. I started feeling foolish for even heading to the hospital now so decided to call the nurse once again. I explained to her that now that I was sitting I wasn't feeling any pains...she reassured me that I was still doing the right thing by going in the to hospital. She said, "You are post date. Don't worry about it. Still go in and see what they have to say. You never know." So that's what we did.

We got to the hospital and I changed into the "fancy" robe they give you and sat on the bed. The nurse had to put a heart rate monitor and a contraction monitor on my belly. The baby's heart rate was excellent! She was actually very impressed with it. She said that the baby looks GREAT! That was such a relief to hear. Unfortunately, I did not have 1 contraction while sitting there!!!! Nothing...nada...zilch! WHATEVER!!!! She did an internal exam to see if I dilated more and I was still only at 2 cm, however, now I am 90% effaced. So that's good! Basically, it's just a matter of time. The more of these contractions I get the more effaced I will get and the more I will dilate. So I guess I just need to keep active and keep moving around to keep getting these contractions...no matter how uncomfortable they might be. Anyway, then nurse called the doctor who was "on call" and she was told to send us home. That was fine...we expected it. Now we know that the next time I get these contractions from walking around we will sit and rest for at least a half an hour and see if they progress or diminish. Then we'll call the nurse/doctor instead of jumping the gun like we did yesterday. We learned! However, we do not regret the experience we had yesterday. At least we know our little baby is doing well and is not under any stress...even though his/her mommy and daddy are going nuts waiting for him/her to arrive!!!!!!!! :)