(I posted this in my livejournal, too, so sorry for anyone reading it twice.)

Ok, It's kind of a long story, but here goes.

I went into my 37 week dr appointment yesterday at 10:30. Didn't get into see the doc until 11:00, at which point I asked him to check my cervix to see if I had dilated at all, due to the rather painful contractions I'd been having off and on for about a week. Well, I am at a 2, but not effaced at all. Doc said "You probably won't have this kid this week, but you never know, it could be tomorrow." Heh, thanks for the specifics, doc. :-)

On the drive home from the dr's office I started getting really painful contractions about every 10 minutes. I figured it was just from the exam, since that can happen sometimes, so I wasn't really worried about it. I decided to take a bath and just relax. About 20 minutes into my long hot bath, the contractions decided to go to every 2 minutes apart. They were the, "oh my heck, these are starting to really hurt" take your breath away kind of contractions, so I called Don in to help me out of the bath and went to lie down on my left side and drink lots of water, just in case dehydration was the problem.

Well, they didn't go away, they were still every 2-4 minutes apart, and still painful, so we decided to pack our bag(Of course we hadn't packed yet!!!) and call the doc. The nurse said to go get checked out at the hospital, so as soon as Don's parents got here to watch Rose, we were off. Luckily, it's only a 10 minute drive to the hospital. (This is 4 hours after the doctor appointment.)

So, we got all signed in, settled in, and they hooked me up to the monitors to see what was going on. And of course the contractions went to every 12 minutes, or so. Arg. They watched me for an hour, checked my cervix again and said it was still at a 2. (Of course! Just my luck) and still not effaced. So we walked around the hospital for 20 minutes or so, during which time the contractions became really painful again. Of course, as soon as I lay down to be monitored, they went back to being mild.

Anyway, long story short (TOO LATE!) they sent me home, since I didn't want an pain meds, and told me to come back in if anything changed, if the contractions got even worse, or if my water broke. On the way home, the contractions pretty much had gone away, and Don and I were starving. We picked Rose up from the In Laws and went out to dinner. Came home, took a shower, and went to bed. So... no baby yet, but I'm not in a hurry. I was hoping either that that would be the real thing, or the contractions would settle down and chill out for another 3 weeks. Looks like I've got some more time. :-)

Sorry this is so long. But it was a LOOOOONG day. 4 hours at home contracting, and then 3 hours in the hospital. *sigh*