40.5 Weeks

I tried really hard not to have one of the stereotypical pregnant scenes where you go to the hospital only to be turned back home, but alas, I failed on Saturday. Friday night we had our friends over who had their baby three weeks ago. The wife has been home alone for some time and desperately needed to get out and about, so they brought over pizza and we sat and talked for a few hours. My contractions were coming on pretty good, especially while baby E was crying. The next day we met up with them again, this time so the girls could go shop for a Christmas tree and the boys for guns. A big storm rolled into town in the late afternoon causing the pressure to change. All these things combined starting my contractions going every 7 minutes and pretty strong. T and I went to dinner, our last one alone before we become parents, and the contractions started coming every 5 minutes. We went home, watched a movie, and they continued every 4-5 minutes. I changed positions, walked around, and they still kept coming. At this point they had been coming for about 3 hours, so we decided to call the doctor to see what he said, and he told us to head for the hospital.

I got very excited that maybe the baby would be coming out of own free will, like I had hoped. We called the parents to tell them that we were on our way and we would call if and when we got admitted. The triage nurse was very friendly and got me hooked up to all the monitors so we could see (and hear) the heartbeat and track the contractions. I got to wear the lovely gown that they make you wear at the hospital, which is made to fit people much bigger than me. The baby's heartbeat was still going strong and she was kicking the monitor occasionally just for good measure. When the nurse checked my cervix I had made no progress from my last appointment, which was not a good sign that things were progressing. Then the contractions just started to slow down again back to 6-7 minutes. They monitored us for about two hours total, and then sent us home cause it wasn't time. I was deeply disappointed and super tired at that point. They said I did all the right things by tracking and calling after lots of time, but now I am determined not to go back in unless I am screaming in pain or my water has broken.

My parents arrived last night, so they got to see me pregnant, which was something my mother had really wished for. Our appointment is Tuesday morning to be induced, and despite still having contractions every 7 minutes (for over a day) I am positive she isn't coming out anytime before then. My belly is sure sore already, and I can only imagine how sore it will be after all is said and done. I feel like I have done a million sit ups, which in essence is what I am doing, I just don't get the nice six-pack for all my efforts.