Is this labor??

To be in labor, or or not to be in labor? That is the question.

So leave it to God to allow me to sit and fidget through an entire week, be given an induction day yesterday, be at peace for just a few hours knowing we had a plan, and then to allow me to go into labor.

Well, the good news is at the very minimum, we'll have a new baby in just a matter of two days. I'm scheduled to go check into the hospital tomorrow night to have cervidil placed in and then to be induced early Sunday morning.

The weird news is that I think I'm in labor. I have no idea for sure, but I think I might be and it's driving me nuts not knowing for sure!

I was at total peace from about 4PM yesterday until about 7 last night....3 hours....total peace. We had a plan! Nothing was going to get in the way of that plan! Right?? WRONG! Something did get in the way of that plan, and that something is called contractions.

Those of you who have stuck with my endless posts about birthing this baby over the course of the last month know that I've been contracting every 3 minutes on and off for a month now. Last night was no different, or so I thought. About an hour of that and they started to feel a little different...they were wrapping around my back and were a lot more intense and uncomfortable. Notice I didn't say painful...I hesitate to say painful b/c I know that word will bite me in the rear in another two days when the word pain takes on a whole new meaning.

So 10:00PM - I go to bed. Dog tired...didn't even do our nightly reading for the read through the bible in a year. But I couldn't sleep. I saw midnight, 1:00, 2:00, and 2:30...at that point, I remember griping b/c our ceiling fan was making some sort of weird noise that was bothersome. I turned it down, but then I got hot and griped some more. I proceeded to turn the box fan on so it blew directly on me, but it blew the sheet up a few inches and was even more bothersome than the noise. I know...pathetic, right? At some point, I fell asleep for about an hour and a half or two and then was wide awake again by 4:45...contractions worsening and intensifying.

5:30 - Darin and I both get up so he can time not how far apart they were (since they were and have been for a month about 3 minutes apart), but how long I was in "pain". On average, about 30 seconds of painful contracting.

6:30 - call Labor and Delivery to talk to them. Got a snippy nurse who obviously was ready for the 7AM shift change. She ended the conversation with "if they're just 30 seconds, that won't change your cervix. The ones that change the cervix will be at least 45 seconds to 60 seconds." Ok...so now I have something to go off of. Ten minutes later...have consistent 45-55 second contractions. Wonderful!

Now 9:00...completely exhausted over the lack of sleep. Still painful contractions that wrap around the back, but they seem to be less far apart. So I don't know what's going on. I'm going to give it another hour or so and see what happens. If they are still coming and lasting a minute or so, I'll call Darin and have him take me in. He was gracious enough to take our 21 month old bundle of energy to work with him so I could get some sleep. Notice I'm NOT sleeping!!! Too uncomfortable to lay down, so I decided to change positions for a few minutes, mainly to write this.

I'm going back to bed to try to sleep at least a little. Hoping to sleep at least a few hours to compensate for the less than 2 hours I actually got. (Hint, Hint...No phone calls, mom...I'll call if and when we go in. We will keep you informed.)