Ohhhh Baby...False Alarm

Well, on Wednesday around 8:30am and while at work, I started to feel more and more contractions. I started to time them and I had about 7 or 8 per hour and they were lasting about 20- 30 seconds. Well from our Birthing Classes, I learned the term 511. Which meant five or more contractions lasting about a minute each for an hour. As I monitored them during the next hour and I got up to walk around to alleviate the contraction they seemed to get worse, so I called my doctor. My doctor wanted to see me right away and then said he'd determine the next steps- meaning admitting me to the hospital. I called Darin and told him that I did not know anything yet, but would keep him posted. However, I did not call him until I was almost at the doctors office, I figured he'd drive so quickly that he would beat me there. Once I saw the doctor (within about 10 minutes) he said we're going to admit you and place a fetal monitor on you to measure the contractions and monitor Madison's activity. They planned to monitor me for 1-2 hours and depending on how things went, would send me home or keep monitoring me. Well during the admissions process they asked a plethora of questions- again thank goodness for the Birthing Classes as Darin and I had already discussed the options. Well the nurse asked about my choice for pain relief and if an epidural was OK. I said we need two, one for me and one for Darin.... It was about 11:30 am and I was getting hungry, however since I had so many contractions they told me I could only be on liquids. I thought back to Darin's hospital experience about a month ago and all I could think about was chicken broth and jello..yep! Darin arrived just a few minutes later with his sack of food from Sonic (great timing) as he said I brought you something to eat! Too late, I told him I was on liquids. He mentioned that the chicken broth at the hospital was better than the beef broth. My tray arrived a few minutes later and yes it was beef broth....After the first two hours they check to see if I dilated, I had just a little bit, so they decided to keep me another 2-3 hours. Well during that time it was much the same and I dilated just a little bit more, but not enough to stay. The doctor decided that I could be discharged. However, he mentioned that since I have the quantity and timing of contractions I need to see and feel if they get more intense. He mentioned so intense that I cannot walk or talk. We'll this was Darin's opportunity to ask what he could do to assist with the intensity as he thought it would be "great" if I couldn't talk for just a little while or more. So we're still not sure if it was early or false labor, but now we're starting to know what to expect. Well sort of......