Pre-register

Will's fake scared face as we enter the hospital

Well, you all know how I like to keep my pregnancies interesting so here's another story for you. This past Saturday we celebrated my niece, Faith's, 2nd birthday in Madison at my brother's house. We were almost to their house when I started having contractions. Nothing new for me...I have had several with each pregnancy (Braxton Hicks). But these felt different. They were definitely stronger and some of them I was really having to breathe through. We got to their house and for the next hour or so I just toughed it out. I got a bottle of water to see if that helped but it didn't so I decided maybe I should lay down for a little while. I layed on their bed for a while and finally started timing the contractions. They were as close as 2 1/2 minutes apart!! I didn't really care for that so I thought I would call the doctor's office although I knew what they would say. She said I needed to go to Huntsville Hospital and not take the time to drive home. Well, I didn't really care for that either so we called Danielle who said to take 2 Tylenol, drink lots of water and lay down for an hour and if they weren't gone, go to Huntsville Hospital. So I moved to the couch where I could lay down but still socialize (after having some snacks and cake from the party which I had missed earlier). The contractions would slow down some (never more than 12 minutes apart) and then they would speed back up (2 1/2 minutes apart) so we decided we were going to have to do something. We were supposed to be staying after the party to celebrate and eat with my dad for father's day but it just didn't look like it was going to happen. Will ended up calling Dr. Allen who has been such a huge help to us during both pregnancies. He told us he thought we would be fine to drive home (what we wanted to hear) but if I continued to have them on the way home, we might ought to go on to labor and delivery and just make sure everything was okay. So we hurried home, dropped off Callan, packed a bag just in case and headed to the 4th floor of the hospital. They hooked me up to a monitor where we heard Lizzie's heartbeat (always nice to hear) and they monitored my contractions. Still just as strong and frequent as they had been for the last 5 hours, they finally checked me. No dilation of course which didn't surprise me any but still contractions. Not nearly as bad as my ones with Callan the day of labor but probably half of that (enough to make it uncomfortable). Will went downstairs to pre-register us which we got to do early with Callan when I passed out in childbirth class. She finally decided to call Dr. Woodford and see what he wanted us to do and when she told him who it was he said, "Aw, I know her, send her home". Don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult but he didn't seem to think the contractions were a problem. I think as long as I'm not dilating any, they don't really care. Once I start dilating, they might have to stop them. So I was sent home that night around 8:30 with a take it easy and drink lots of water. I stopped having them around the time I got settled for bed so that was a relief and haven't had any to complain about since so hopefully I can take it easy the next few months. We've still got 2 months left so I would like to keep her in there as long as possible to get everything done and feel a little more prepared. August 20th will be here before we know it. We have our 32 week appt. in the morning so maybe I'll know more then. At least we got to pre-register!!!