False starts

Friday night we met with my parents at a local children's entertainment center. There we were having fun when I started to get regular contractions. After continuing to walk around, the contractions continued to get longer, stronger & closer together (the sign of real labor) during dinner. After over an hour of being less than five minutes apart, my parents took our son for the night while we drove to the hospital. When we arrived at the hospital, the contractions were two minutes apart regularly. They got us settled into a hospital room & didn't find out until 4:30 am that it was only pre-labor. I managed to get some sleep while contractions stayed about 20 min apart & stayed only 2-3 cm dilated. At 6:45 am, the contractions started again. Finally it was apparent that the contractions stopped whenever I lay down & started immediately again whenever I stood or walked around. Around 11 am, we realized there was nothing we could do & the pattern would continue without any progress. I was a week too early for them to induce & pain medication (which should have either progressed or relaxed) was keeping things status quot.


We checked out of the hospital, grabbed some lunch & decided to see the movie Rush Hour 3. You see, it's tradition for us to see a movie while I have pregnancy contractions & we hadn't done that yet. So off we went to see the afternoon matinee showing. During the movie (which was absolutely awful), I started to have intense contractions two minutes apart regularly over half an hour. We left the movie early & as I walked the intense contractions continued 20-30 seconds apart. We went home where I lay down right away after taking some Tylenol with Codeine to take the edge off the pain. After I lay down, the contractions eased up again. Whenever I walk (even to the bathroom), I start getting close intense contractions. So... the same pattern started all over again!


The pattern is that when I stand up or walk I get intense & regular contractions. Then when I lay down, they stop (except for the occasional mild ones). So in order to get through the next week I have to rest until at such a time when they can induce me or real labor begins regardless of whether I'm laying down or not. This is a far from ideal situation especially with a toddler but it's what need to be done for the baby's safety & well-being. Soon enough we'll be holding our newborn in our arms & everything will be worth it.