False Alarm

Well, we thought for sure we were having a baby today. Yesterday, we had some, ahem, signs (that I won't go into detail about) that labor was on it's way. Then, a few hours later the contractions started about every 5-6 minutes apart. Not intense, but definitely there and regular. So, we had Uncle Eric and Aunt Sarah come over to hang out for the evening and spend the night so if we needed to make a night run to the hospital we would be ready. Well, Gabe went to bed early so he would have a few hours of sleep in case we needed to head to the hospital. I went to bed around 10:30 and slept off and on for a few hours until about 2:30 when I couldn't sleep through the contractions any more and was timing them at about every 3-5 minutes. About 5:00am I woke up Gabe and said maybe we should head to the hospital and get things checked out (since Hadley's labor was only 5 hours long from start to finish, I didn't want to take a chance of delivering a baby at home!). So he got up and got ready and we headed to the hospital around 5:30, got sent up to Labor and Delivery, got in the hospital garb and hooked up to the monitors. I was disappointed to only be 1 cm dilated but I was relieved to see a steady heartbeat as the contractions measured every 4 minutes consistently for about 30 minutes. Then, the nurse said I could get up and walk if I wanted to. YES, let me move! So, Gabe and I walked the halls of the 7th floor for a solid hour and then went back to the room to get hooked up to the monitors again, this time sitting on the birth ball while they monitored contractions and baby. The contractions were then every 2-3 1/2 minutes apart and quite a bit stronger on the curve of the monitor but when she checked me again at 8am, no dilating progress- ugh! So, home we went. We took the walk of shame back through the emergency room (where we had to enter when we got there at 5:30am) and out to the van. We headed back home, helped get the kids ready for church with Uncle Eric and Aunt Sarah and after they took off for Lincoln, Gabe headed off to church as well and made it there in time for the end of 2nd, and all of 3rd and 4th services. The contractions continued throughout the day, but did taper off in terms of intensity and length. Gabe and I walked at the church for an hour this evening before my mom came back to our house with the kids. She is spending the night tonight...just in case....