4-5 cm

Wow... okay a lot happened yesterday, but no baby just yet. I think it'll be MUCH sooner than I thought though! I woke up at a regular time and since it was Saturday I felt fine with being a lazy bum for a couple hours, so I stayed in bed. At around 8:30 I started getting this sharp pain in my lower back and could feel my stomach tighten up. At first I just thought it was weird, probably false labor, or I must have slept on my back in a crazy way for it to hurt like this. I waited about 45 mins and noticed that it wasn't changing at all and kinda coming in waves, WAVES?! It must be REAL contractions!! I started getting a bit freaked out, (especially because I'm still only 35 weeks along!) and just decided to watch it, see if it progressed. I ended up taking a bath, which helped calm me down some. Then tried to eat something, but COULDN'T! See, and to me that was another sign, because I'm ALWAYS hungry! While all this is going on, I was very careful not to say anything too scary to Tanner, I didn't want him to freak out yet. But, but 11:15 I was SO ready to call Labor and Deliver, at least to get some answers. The lady said that I needed to come in right away, and that it sounds like I REALLY could be going into labor!!! SO....I told Tanner (he looked positively stunned for a min or two) and he sprung up, changed his pants for some reason (NO, he didn't wet them!) and then we were off!

It was one of the strangest feelings I've ever felt in my life, having sharp pains creep up on me and then spread quickly to the front of my tummy. OH, and I remember having a lot of pressure on my bum (kept thinking I needed to go... but never did). Sorry, too much info. Anywho... they got me into an exam room right away and hooked me up to the monitors (one for baby's heart beat, and one to measure contractions). At this point I still really wanted to know if what I was feeling was real. My biggest fear was that the nurses would take one look at my results, call me a big baby, and send us home, while laughing at us. BUT to my surprise (and Tanner's... I could see his face when she told us) I was indeed having REAL contractions that happened to be about 3 mins apart! Then, the biggest shocker... she checked my cervix... 4 centimeters dilated!! Nuts huh?! Who knew. So the next hurdle was to check with my doc. and see what he wanted to do about it. He ended up telling us that he wants the baby to stay in a while longer (at least up to a week) and to try and STOP labor. Gotta be honest, I was a bit bummed. Thought I might see my little baby that day!! But I knew that I needed to do what's best for her, so I had no objections to getting a stingy shot in my arm and taking pills every4-6 hours.

So.... you think it may have ended there, but NO! They decided to admit me, so they could keep a close eye on my contractions after the medication. They wanted to see if they would slow down and stop, or get stronger and continue to open my cervix. I stayed at that dang hospital for over 10 hours and my contractions DID slow down a bit, but NEVER went away! SO frustrating, because I just stayed in the middle! They checked me twice during the stay and said that I hadn't dilated anymore and just plainly wasn't progressing. (my back still hurt quite a bit throughout this whole process, but no pain meds for me!... at least for now) The doc finally came in after a long day, around 9. He checked me and to our surprise said I was at a 5! But right then, the grumpy nurse barged in and said, "NO, she's still a 4. Hasn't changed." What a meany! But then explained that because it was the first time that the Doctor actually checked me, his five was probably the same as her four. So of course, she checked me then too! The more the merrier!! (hint LOADS of sarcasm here). She quickly proclaimed that I was still at a four and hadn't changed at all. Sad. But kinda good in a way (at least I am giving my baby some extra time to hang out and build those lungs!!). So, yes, we were sent home and I was told not to do anything strenuous for 2 weeks, if I'd last that long. They also gave me a sleeping pill, because I was still having contractions at that point and they wanted me to sleep right away at home. Well, with the mixture of sleep and the medicine prior, I was out in no time flat (I feel really bad for Tanner, because he had to deal with groggy, half asleep Jessica while helping her brush her teeth, change, etc...) But now... I'm awake, it's morning, I feel quite nauseous, but NO contractions! They're gone! And I'm beginning to wonder if it was all just a dream.