So...am I in labor or what?!

39 weeks and 2 days...5 days until "D-Day"

Last night I went to sleep like most people do at the end of the day when the sun goes down and they're tired. And I slept like most people do when they sleep...with my eyes shut, breathing in and out, dreaming about living on a farm as a fox, surrounded in a sea of pillows. At 2:47 am I woke up feeling REALLY uncomfortable. I couldn't even get up to go to the bathroom. So I laid there as this discomfort coursed through my abdomen. Then it occurred to me...IS THIS A CONTRACTION?! OH MY GOSHNESS!!!! After it passed I shifted around and noticed my back was aching a lot more than usual. OOO! I thought to myself. I remember reading about back pain as a sign of the early phase of labor!! So of course I started to get all giddy and I reached inside the bedstand to get out a notepad and pen and I nerdily, geekily, dorkily, excitedly started recording when the contractions started happening and counting how long they endured. I say nerdily, geekily, dorkily because all reason told me to try to go back to sleep because if this WAS labor, I was going to need all the sleep I could get! But no way! I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! The baby was moving so much between contractions I thought it was practicing the disco in there. In reality, baby was dropping lower and lower and stretching himself out longer in my abdomen.

After a while of thrashing around in the bed, I decided to get up and eat an english muffin. I was hungry and I didn't want to wake Jon up from all my movement. It was almost 4:00 am at this point. I ate my delicious muffin and reread the chapter on labor and delivery in What to Expect when You're Expecting. Then I resolved myself to try to get some more sleep. The contractions were getting more regular now! Maybe 10 minutes apart and lasting for 30 seconds! I held off on waking Jon until a more godly hour, hoping that at least HE could get some sleep. So around 5:00 am I went back to bed and continued to take notice of my contractions. But then I noticed it would be maybe 15 and even 20 minutes between contractions and they were losing intensity and only lasting 15 seconds or so. I got really disappointed and almost started to cry. Was this all a false alarm? Was I going to be able to meet my baby today or would it still be weeks away??? Come back contractions!! I silently prayed. I'm sorry if you didn't like the english muffin, I was just hungry!! But my pleas were to no avail. It was 6:00 am. I couldn't stand laying there anymore because I wasn't tired. So I got up and took a shower. Then I thought to myself If baby DOES come today, I'll at least have the dishes done. So I tackled our mountain of dishes. 8:00 am. I laid back down and fell asleep until Jon finally woke me up around 10.

"Brenda??"

He noticed I had changed clothes, that I had laid down some towels on the bed (in case my water broke), and...

"I saw your notepad!!! Why didn't you wake me?!?!" He scolded.
"I wanted you to get some good sleep, and besides...they went away."
"I know, but you should have woken me up! I've been looking forward to this, too!"
After some back and forth, I finally promised that I wouldn't let him sleep through my contractions again, no matter how irregular they were. He shared in my grief that my contractions had slowed down or maybe even stopped altogether. After a call to the nurse-line at the hospital and some advice to "stay a little active, but don't go too far from home" I did what any lady who wanted to jumpstart her labor would do: I went to Ikea. Jon and I returned some shelves and bought a little office organizer on castors!! That's where we'll put our scotch tape and rubber bands and paper clips. I'm glad. While we were there I started getting those old familiar feelings and even enjoyed a contraction while Jon pushed me in the parking lot on the little rolly cart.

At 12:45pm Jon reluctantly left for work, but gave me strict instructions about when to call him, how to call him, etc. And now at 1:30, I am seeing the contractions coming back...10 - 20 minutes apart but lasting 30 - 40 seconds. So what I want to know is...AM I IN LABOR OR WHAT?!