My doctor checked me and said that I was right on schedule. I had three weeks left in my first pregnancy and I hadn't dilated at all. I had been anxious the past few days and felt like she would be coming at any moment. He assured me that everything was normal and that she would be arriving on time. He was my doctor so I trusted him, besides, I had never done this before. If anyone would know -- it would be him.
The next day around 4 p.m. my stomach started to hurt. Everything hurts when you're pregnant so it was no big shock. It came and went two or three times and it was getting stronger. I felt nauseous and I thought a hot shower would help. While I was getting ready the pain came back and it was a lot stronger than the others had been. I groaned a little and sat down (the nearest seat was the toilet). My husband (Mark) heard me and popped his head in the door.
"Are you ok?" he asked.
I stood up to hug him but then another one hit. This time the pain was so severe my legs buckled underneath me. It was a good thing he was there because he literally caught me before I hit the floor.
"Something's wrong!" I cried when it finally ended.
He helped me to the bedroom and laid me on the bed.
"Is something wrong or does it hurt?" He asked when I had calmed down.
I had to think for a moment. Nothing inside me was screaming "DANGER DANGER DANGER" but I was in so much pain I felt like it should have been. I told him that it just hurt and then another one came. He held me while I wailed and cried. When it was over he called the hospital and asked if he should bring me in. (I wasn't due for 3 more weeks. We hadn't even packed the hospital bag yet!) The nurse on the phone said that if I hadn't dilated at all as of yesterday -- and if it was my first baby -- then it was false labor. If it was still happening in 2 hours call back.
So we waited. I believed the nurse and was glad to hear that the pain would be ending soon. However, the pain did not end. It became much much worse. I started tearing the sheets off the bed in agony and frustration. My poor husband tried to hold me the way he had done before but I pushed him away. I felt so HOT! It was like he was trying to smother me. The blissful breaks between the pain were now only 10 seconds which was not long enough to prepare for the next one. "Oh my heck!" I thought, "If this is false labor how am I supposed to survive the REAL thing?!"
It had only been an hour and a half but I started begging Mark to take me to the hospital anyway. I wanted drugs. They have them for normal labor so they had better have them for false labor.
"They're just going to send us home," he said gently. I didn't care. I needed to feel like I was taking action in ending this misery. We started the longest drive of my life, the 20 blocks to the hospital.
It was a beautiful day in he middle of May so everyone had their windows rolled down, including us. I'm sure that many people thought Mark was brutally murdering me. I tried to be quiet -- I really did. I could feel so much pressure and it was almost like she was trying to push herself out of me. It was then that it first occurred to me that I might actually be in labor. The real thing. I was going to become a mother TODAY and not in three weeks.
This realization was panic worthy. I looked over at Mark and wondered if he had realized the same thing. He looked very deep in thought and almost didn't notice the light turn green. When the next contraction ended I asked him what he was thinking. I knew he was about to confess his love for me and the baby and say that he was thinking about how wonderful our life was going to be. He was going to say how excited he was to be a father and that she will be the most beautiful little girl in the world. He took a deep breath.
"Oh," he said. "I was just wondering if that guy knows his gas cap is open."
(In order to submit this article I had to agree that I would not use profanity. Please use your imagination to decipher the feelings I had when he said this.)
