False Alarm

On Wednesday around 1 pm the kids and I were just finishing up some errands and I started having some contractions, the first one was fairly painful. I have been having contractions on and off for 4 weeks now so it wasn't too surprising but since I am now 38 weeks I was really paying attention just in case this was it. The contractions continued the rest of the afternoon although most weren't very painful and they didn't seem very consistent. By 10:00 that night they started to become more painful and consistent. They were about 5 minutes apart and I ended up having a 5 minute contraction. This isn't unusual for me and long contractions were what caused Sam to go into distress during labor causing me to have to have a c-section so we were worried the same thing would happen to Luke. I called my doctor and she sent us to labor and delivery. We hadn't packed our bag yet so had to do that and get everything organized and once Bill's parents arrived we left for the hospital. We arrived around 11 pm and I was hooked up to all the monitors. My contractions were about a minute or two apart, some more painful than others. I was only a centimeter dilated so my doctor advised the nurse to watch me for 2 hours to see if I progressed at all. After 2 hours, 1:30 am, the nurse checked me again and I was still only a centimeter dilated. Since my contractions were consistent my doctor decided to keep me overnight and re-evaluate in the morning. It was a difficult night of sleep for Bill and I, especially whenever I had to pee b/c with the IV and fetal monitors I was hooked up too I had to call the nurse to come help me. We got about 4 hours of sleep and then my doctor arrived around 7:30 to check me out. My contractions had become sporadic during the night so I wasn't optimistic that she was going to let me have the c-section but was hoping that maybe I had dilated a little more and she'd go ahead and do it. I was still only a centimeter dilated so she concluded that I wasn't in actual labor and decided to send me home. We were disappointed but knew that was a possibility. She doesn't think I'll make it to my scheduled c-section on Wednesday but we're only 5 days away now so you never know. We arrived home before the kids had to leave for school. Bill and his dad were able to take the kids to school while I got ready for a much needed manicure and pedicure that I had scheduled for 9:30. At this point unless my water breaks or I am having really long contractions I'm just going to sit tight until Wednesday although I have instructed Luke that he is free to come anytime now!