False Alarm, BUT...

So last night after I put Lucas to sleep, I started to have a few contractions. I have been having them all week, but they haven't been consistent at all. Last night was another story. Matt and I were getting ready for bed and I had a horrible contraction. It was so bad that I couldn't even stand up. Then it faded. Life was good. Until, another one hit. I told Matt he might want to start timing them just in case. So we did this for about 30-40 minutes. The contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart and were pretty strong. At that point, 11:00 pm, we decided we might as well make a trip to the hospital. For goodness sakes, I am 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced and the hospital is 40 minutes away. There was no way I was having a child delivered in my car.

We checked into the hospital at 11:30ish. The contractions were still about 5 minutes apart. They got me into labor triage and strapped me up to monitor Baby J's heart rate and the contractions. I was monitored for about 20 minutes. Then the nurse checked me to see if there was any change from Monday's appointment. Still 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced. So she told us to take an hour long walk in the labor unit. We did this until 1:30 am. At which point the contractions actually started to fade. Bummer! We went back into triage and I was monitored again for 20 minutes and then she checked me. STILL 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced, but the baby has gone from a -2 gestation to a -1. That just means the baby has dropped even more. Unfortunately, we were not going into labor. To stay, I needed to be at least 5 cm dilated. It was a little frustrating.

The nurse did call the Dr. who was on call last night (which wasn't my Dr.) and we heard her say, "I can ask if they want to be induced tonight instead of Friday." At that point, Matt and I looked at each other and said no. It was 2:00 am and we were tired. We had been up since 6 am and we really want my Dr. to be there to deliver. The nurse said we didn't have to and we could wait until Friday. We decided that was the best plan. We could get some rest today and be ready for tomorrow.

So tomorrow we will get to meet Baby J and Lucas will become a Big Brother! We are so excited! We will keep you posted on how everything goes. Keep us in your thoughts tomorrow and wish for a quick and healthy delivery of a little... Baby J!