False Start...

This morning I woke up to Isaac paging me that he was ready to get out of bed.  It was a typical morning with the exception that Nana was on her way to visit.  As I was walking to Isaac's room I was halfway down the hall when I felt a lovely gush, enough to stop me in my tracks.  I paused briefly and then made my way to Isaac's room.  I gave Isaac a quick cuddle and a kiss then made my way into his bathroom.  My immediate thought, knowing my due date is only 5 days away, was my water was starting to break.

At 9:53 am I sent a text message to Frazer letting him know my water was breaking slowly, I had a little bit of light bleeding and Sue was on her way but he might want to consider coming home before too long.  I expected contractions to start shortly.  I planned to change Isaac quickly and then call my OB, Dr. Tate.

Once I contacted Frazer I sent a text to Sue letting her know what was going on and quickly followed up with a phone call since contractions had started to pick up.

I called the doctor's office, provided the details of what was going on and was instructed to make my way to the hospital.  While waiting for Frazer to get home I made my way upstairs to get cleaned up and ready to go.

Not long after Frazer arrived home we had everything gathered up and we made our way downtown to Emory.

We arrived to Emory around 11:00 am and I was taken back to the triage area to get changed and hooked up to monitors.  At 11:23 am I let a few friends know that it looked like our little bundle was trying to make a debut very soon.  Even when I called the doctors office I knew there was a slight chance I might get sent home if active labor didn't kick in.  Regardless at this point I was fairly confident and extremely happy that this baby was not going to be late.

We waited around for a couple of hours.  Nurses came in and out to check the monitor and I was having contractions consistently 1-3 minutes apart but they were lacking intensity.  The best part of being connected to the fetal monitors was listening to baby's heart beat.  With each of my doctor's appointments I had a quick ultrasound and its always so comforting to get a quick glimpse.  However, listening to the heart beat is a soothing and comforting sound.  I wasn't interested in listening to music or watching the television while we waited.  I just sat and listened to the sweetest melody.  I could sit and listen to that sweet sound all day.

Finally one of the residents came in and did an exam.  I was optimistic but right before had commented to Frazer "just wait, I'm probably not even dilated to 1 centimeter yet".

Sure enough, the resident did an exam and confirmed that I was only 1 cm dilated, tested the fluid and confirmed it was not my water but the mucous plug.  Therefore, it was very unlikely our baby would arrive today.  I was super bummed to be sent home.  I also felt a bit foolish for thinking it was my water that had broken.  I knew it wasn't a Niagra-Falls-gush like I had with Isaac but it never crossed my mind that it could be something other than my water breaking.

So, around 3:00 pm we made our way home.  The positive side is knowing my due date is quickly approaching and I'll get to meet this little baby very soon.  It was nice to have the resident confirm that my body is preparing for labor and I've started to dilate.  It's just so hard to know what to expect since I've never experienced labor.  With Isaac my water broke, went to the hospital, checked in, a quick ultrasound to confirm Isaac hadn't flipped and was still breach, then it was time for the c-section.  From the time my water broke it was less than 7 hours until I was holding him in my arms for the first time.  I never really experienced full on labor and contractions.  I guess this is just another dry run putting us one step closer to the real event....  :)