Pop Quiz

What do you do when you're having contractions every 2 minutes?

Go to the hospital?

Right.

They hook you up, give you fluids, oh, and a shot to stop contractions. If it's real labor, after all, the contractions will calm down right after the shot, but pick up again.

I got the shot. My contractions stopped. I had my second exam in an hour, still dilated to 3 cm. They give me the green card to go home, unhook me from the monitors, and my contractions start again. So here I am at home having contractions every few minutes.

When should I go back to the hospital?

Who knows?

I'd like to think it's when my water breaks. When the contractions become more intense? They were more intense tonight. Even the doctor and nurse were at a loss. I am atypical.

"Do you have any questions?" they ask.

Nope, I'm pretty much an expert on preterm labor. I cried tonight. I try not to in front of medical professionals. It seems to complicate things. They automatically start referring to the pain scale.

"On a scale of 0-10, what would you say your pain is?" I never know how to answer this question. I think it's terrible. What are we comparing this to? Someone else's pain? Right now I would call the contractions I'm having a 6, compared to the "4 or 5" of earlier. Everyone experiences pain differently.

But I did cry. In front of Cynthia, my nurse. I asked her if she had children. "Yes, two."

"Did you ever have to go into a hospital and leave without having a baby?"

"No."

She was sweet and gentle, and I'm thankful for that. Now it's 12:30 AM, and I'm awake. And blogging. I don't even care that I'm not having a baby right now. These false alarms are getting so frustrating...especially since almost everything about them is textbook real thing. Tonight I understood why women just have their babies at home. (I've understood before, but tonight I thought I might like to join their ranks.) Even if I still wouldn't know when my baby was coming. Maybe Jake should become an OB, so he can deliver our babies, and then I would never have to worry about whether this is it.

Tracey got here today. She was sucked into this craziness on her first night. I'm glad someone is here to be with Cora. When I came back down to the lobby of the hospital, she [Cora] ran up to me with open arms. It made my heart happy. I love her so. I can't wait to meet her baby sister.

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