False alarm

Last night I started having contractions, but I was still able to sleep from 10 pm to midnight. When I woke at midnight to turn over, I noticed the contractions more, and when I timed them, they were 3-5 minutes apart and lasting about 30 seconds. After an hour I woke Tom up and we timed them for a while together. They seemed to be getting more intense, so we called the doctor's office...then they got even more intense, so we called Tom's sister, Chris, to come watch the kids while we went to the hospital.

As Chris was walking in the door, the on-call doctor (not my OB) finally returned my call, and we decided that my contractions had calmed down a lot and I shouldn't go to the hospital unless they were quite uncomfortable (they were only a little uncomfortable).

So we went back to bed about 3 am, and nothing else happened. I have continued to have contractions, but none as strong as I had during the night. Chris stayed to watch the kids while I went to the non-stress test this morning. The baby is doing great: he/she responded to the contractions properly, and there is a good amount of amniotic fluid. The contractions during the test were 6-10 minutes apart, but my blood pressure is still high (138/87).

Needless to say, we're exhausted! We thank Chris for responding to our false alarm (she said she enjoyed the dry run, but a daytime dry run would have been nicer than a night time one!) After the non-stress test today, I stopped by the OB office and asked if we could be induced on Friday, and the doctor said yes. I'll be 39 weeks, it's Tom's Friday off (and he doesn't have much paid time accumulated to take off for the baby, so it will be nice to have the weekend to add to his days off) and my OB is working Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Of course, that's IF the baby doesn't come in the next three days! Thanks for your prayers for a safe delivery!