False Alarm

Well...Ryan and I took our first trip to Baptist Hospital last night at around 10pm. I had been having contractions all weekend but they started getting more intense and consistent around 7pm last night and at about 10pm it seriously felt like the baby was COMING OUT! I was afraid to stand up from the couch because it felt like she was going to reach out – crazy, I know!! My contractions were like 7-8 minutes apart and I knew I wasn’t supposed to go to the hospital until they were 3-5 minutes apart but none of our preparation (books, classes, etc.) mentioned anything about it feeling like the baby was coming out so we decided it would be better to be safe than sorry!

We finished packing our bag, grabbed the pillows and got in the car around 10:30pm. We were excited but in a very tempered way - we knew there was a very big chance that they would just send us home. When we got there to check in, the admitting lady (who I loved) said "You look a little too happy to be in labor" because I was smiling and being nice to her. Ryan and I laughed and said she just didn't know me well enough! Ryan could definitely tell it was intense because he knows my normal disposition and how talkative I usually am! We had to wait about 15 minutes for a bed in the triage area to open up and I continued to have contractions during that time.

They took us back to the room, hooked me up to monitor my contractions & the baby and checked me for progress. I had made some progress from Thursday – I’m now at around 3cm dilated – but my contractions weren’t close enough together for it to continue to progress last night. It was fun to be able to watch my contractions build on the monitor. I will say that I didn't particularly care for our nurse. When I was explaining what I was feeling I told her that I really didn't want to be the high maintenance mom who came in thinking she was in labor when she wasn't even close but that I had felt pressure before but not like the baby was coming out so got nervous. Her response = "All first time moms are high maintenance". Who says that? She did grow on me a little bit, but let's pray for a great nurse when I actually do go in for labor!!

After about an hour and a half or so she checked me again and I was still at around 3cm so she said I could either stay for another hour, walk around, and get checked again or go home and come back when the contractions got to 3-5 minutes apart. It was 2am and we were both really tired so we decided to go home.

This morning I've only been having about 4 an hour or so and they haven't felt quite as intense so I don’t think I’ll be going back today. I have had some other symptoms of early labor that are too gross to comment on here so things are definitely moving. Hopefully we'll meet the sweet little one soon!

Love,
Lauren & Ryan