The sun started to set as I began pacing the living room. It was at this point that I questioned whether I was in true labor or not. I was timing the contractions and they were consistently 7-8 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute each time. Here's the thing though. My uterus never "contracted". There was never a noticeable tightening or anything. I was able to talk through the pain and once it was gone I was fine. Because of this, I figured there was no way I was in labor. I don't know why I questioned it so much, but I did. Obviously I'd never experienced labor before, but I thought it would be much more painful than it was. I'm not saying I have a high tolernace for pain, because I don't think I do, I just thought it would be different.
Although I was in doubt, I decided to call Dave anyway. He and Adam had just entered a gaming tournament and were out of the house. I still didn't think I was in labor, but I was tired and needed him to come home. Dave later told me that he could tell I was in labor by the sound of my voice on the phone. He insisted that I call the hospital and talk to the doctor on staff and rushed home. When he got home I was on the phone with the hospital explaining my pain. They believed I was in labor, but because I could still talk through the contractions figured I wasn't very far along. They told me I could come in if I wanted or I could stay home and wait for the contractions to get stronger and closer together. Meanwhile, Dave is grabbing our packed suitcase and last minute items and hauling them out to the car. I remember thinking "What are you doing?! We REALLY don't need to head to the hospital this soon." After I got off the phone Dave was literally ushering me out the door and into the car.
I'm so glad that he was insistent on getting me to the hospital. He knew I was in labor even if I didn't think I was. That car ride was awful. Just awful. When I was at home, I was able to walk around which eased the pain significantly. Sitting in the car felt like I was trapped with nowhere to go. We continued to time the contractions and they were now coming every 5 minutes. It seriously felt like as soon as we headed to the hospital they came stronger and closer together. Again...SO glad Dave made me get into the car. If it had been up to me, we would have waited another hour or so and probably would have had the baby in the car. :) The whole way to the hospital I remember repeatdely saying "We're going to get there and they are going to send us home. I know it." I was REALLY afraid of that happening. Everyone seemed to think it was because I didn't want to be embarrased by being "that woman". You know, going to the hospital thinking you are in labor and then having them monitor you only to find out that you're not in labor at all and probably just had gas and you haven't progressed at all...yeah. That woman. In actuality, I was afraid that they would send me home, but it had nothing to do with being embarrassed and everything to do with the fact that I was exhausted at this point and if this WASN'T true labor, then I'm the biggest wuss in the universe and real labor would probably kill me. :)
We got to the hospital at about 9:30 pm. I was still having contractions about every 5 minutes but was able to walk up to labor and delivery. I felt SO much better once we got out of the car. Seriously. Sitting during contractions was awful for me. We checked in and they had me get all hooked up to monitor me. A nurse came in to check me and announced that I was seven centimeters. SEVEN. And then it hit me.
"Holy crap, we're having a baby."
"Holy crap, we're having a baby."
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