False Alarm

Steve and I had a little scare Friday morning, which led us to the doctors in a hurry. I had some really intense contractions that were not like any I had experienced before. When I called the ob nurse she suggested I come to the office right away. When we arrived, they did a non stress test. This entailed being hooked up to two monitors which read Parker’s heart rate and my uterine activity. Turns out that I was having pretty regular contractions about every 2 minutes (the ones I experienced at the doctor’s office were nothing like those I had felt earlier in the day). The stress test was followed by an exam due to the regularity of the contractions. From the exam, the doctor concluded that I was 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced, which is more progressed than what is expected at 36 weeks, but did not mean I was going into labor! Hooray! I felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted off my chest. We hadn’t had our prepared childbirth class, finished Parker's room, or fully packed for the hospital. Needless to say, this was a great wake-up call that we needed to get everything ready in case things happened early. Steve was great and kept me calm through the whole experience. We will have even more information on Tues when I have my scheduled visit and sonogram. Stay tuned.....