Yesterday, I had lunch with my good friend Rachel and we met up at Luby's. I said to her, "I think today would be a good day to go into labor, because I really wouldn't mind Luby's being my last pregnant meal." So I ate my fried okra and mac n cheese and went about my day.
Fast forward to 11pm. Tom was asleep, I was just trying to go to sleep when I was having some serious pains in my stomach. I've had lots of random cramps and stuff in my belly throughout the pregnancy, but these were lasting over a minute and had a detectable frequency. I immediately realized how unprepared we were to go to the hospital. We did have a bag packed, but there was nothing we actually needed - like toiletries and underwear. I got all worked up and started packing like a crazy person... Just in case. After an hour of significant contractions that were only a few minutes apart, I woke Thomas up and told him that he should maybe get some stuff ready in case we needed to go to the hospital. That happened about three times before he actually got out of bed.
He asked me what clothes he should bring, and in the midst of my extreme pain, I just yelled "FIGURE IT OUT!" I was not in a state of mind to debate which color polo to pack, or if jeans or shorts would be more appropriate. He ended up settling on jeans, a polo, and loafers. We then did some official timing with his iphone contraction app, and we definitely fell well beyond the "go to the hospital phase." On top of that, I was feeling so sick which is another good sign that things are happening.
We packed the car, and left around 1am. For those of you that have never delivered before, false alarms are so common that most hospitals will have an OB OBSERVATION area where they just kind of monitor you to figure out if you're really in labor before officially admitting you. So an hour and two mind-numbing cervical checks later, the contractions fizzled out and I was holding steady at 3cm.
So here I am, back home, with one practice run under my belt. I honestly never thought that I would make this mistake. Because the plan is to stay home as long as possible before going to the hospital (to the point of unbearable pain), I never thought I could be in that much pain without it being real labor. For the record, I couldn't talk through the contractions and I was mostly groaning and wincing during them. They were 1+ minutes long, 2-4 minutes apart, and ongoing for two hours.
While I am slightly embarrassed that this happened, the nurses at the hospital were really nice and made me feel like this was no big deal whatsoever. And on the bright side, we're officially packed and ready to go when Henry decides it's time for the real deal. At least I didn't mistake peeing all over myself for my water breaking.
Fast forward to 11pm. Tom was asleep, I was just trying to go to sleep when I was having some serious pains in my stomach. I've had lots of random cramps and stuff in my belly throughout the pregnancy, but these were lasting over a minute and had a detectable frequency. I immediately realized how unprepared we were to go to the hospital. We did have a bag packed, but there was nothing we actually needed - like toiletries and underwear. I got all worked up and started packing like a crazy person... Just in case. After an hour of significant contractions that were only a few minutes apart, I woke Thomas up and told him that he should maybe get some stuff ready in case we needed to go to the hospital. That happened about three times before he actually got out of bed.
We packed the car, and left around 1am. For those of you that have never delivered before, false alarms are so common that most hospitals will have an OB OBSERVATION area where they just kind of monitor you to figure out if you're really in labor before officially admitting you. So an hour and two mind-numbing cervical checks later, the contractions fizzled out and I was holding steady at 3cm.
My fake hospital band...
Tom was sure to point out that I looked like Homer Simpson when he wears the mumu...
While I am slightly embarrassed that this happened, the nurses at the hospital were really nice and made me feel like this was no big deal whatsoever. And on the bright side, we're officially packed and ready to go when Henry decides it's time for the real deal. At least I didn't mistake peeing all over myself for my water breaking.
Love,
Lauren
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