And an update...

Thursday night was awful.

I got an OK from my OB to up the procardia to a higher dosage, and more often. Great. I did this 3 times.

The third time was at 2:30 am on Friday morning. I took pills, had lots of water, got back into bed. 30 minutes later I was so dizzy, I was spinning. It took another 30 minutes for me to be able to get up out of bed and into the living room where my blood pressure cuff was.

Oddly, my BP was fine, but my heart rate was pretty elevated and I felt horrible. Also, remember those contractions? They were back, steady, every 10 minutes. Sometimes 8. Sometimes 6.

I ate something and managed to get back to sleep at 4:45. At 5:45 my handsome husband came looking for me (I couldn't get off the couch) and we talked about options. We carefully decided to call the doctor, and my mom, 6 hours away in Arizona.

Doctor says "GO IN!" Mom says "I'm coming!" and I rest a bit more. We call a friend who will come over and wait with the kiddos until my mom arrives, probably around 2 pm.

Things slow down. I don't take any more procardia. Still, the contractions become erratic. Steady for over an hour, then nothing for 45 minutes. This is SO frustrating.

We're still at home (and undecided) when mom arrives at 2.

We leave at 3 for a walk around the bookstore (which kicks the contractions up big time!) and a frozen custard (which keeps them holding steady) and at 5 hit the hospital. Again.

My nurse has a bedside manner of negative 3. She also (not to be too graphic here) has a finger that feels like it's about 1 inch long, and sharpened. I've never had such horrible "checks" in my existence.

Nurse: "Who said you were at a 7?"
Me: Dr. J, two days ago.
Nurse: Nah, you're at a 6.

I really don't feel like arguing with her, but I want to holler "Are you freaking kidding me!? And who are you exactly, Ms. pointy nubby fingers?!" But I go with it and she hooks me up.

The contractions go nuts. Not huge, but right on top of each other.

I explain to Ms. Pointy-Nubby that Dr. J said to come in, and that Dr. B (my Perinatologist) tried to get me in on Thursday to have the baby. She was having none of it.

Nurse: "we'll see how you do"

2 hours I have layered contractions. I read a People magazine (I don't care about the Kardashians, but am surprised to find that they're Armenian. Interesting!). My husband is kind. My mom is here. I'm pretty sure things are speeding up.

Nurse: "The Dr. on call says to send you home."

I completely lose it.

My husband, kind soul that he is, comes to my rescue and becomes my advocate.

Husband: "Ok, when are we supposed to come back?"
Nurse: "when the contractions are 10 minutes apart"
H: They've been 10 minutes apart for days.

Discussion ensues about my dilation, the distance we are from home, the fact that both other Dr's wanted me to come in, who makes that final decision to have me stay, etc.

In the end, the nurse can't tell us what to do. She says "wait until it gets really bad". We explain "it's gotten REALLY BAD a number of times, and we've put it off until we felt like we really needed to show up." So she says "I don't know what else to tell you."

It's not that I want the baby out NOW. She keeps acting like I'm there because I'm tired of being pregnant. That's not it at all. She explains that if I have the baby at 36 weeks instead of 37, then the NICU has to be in the room to whisk the baby off. I keep telling her "I WANT to go to term. I want what's best for my daughter, but we keep getting mixed messages and no one will give us a straight answer. " I even get fiscal. "There is no reason that I want to have this baby now just so that I can pay someone else a whole lot of money to keep her in a room that I'm not in. I don't' want to stay here for days and pay for a bed when I can stay in bed at home. I am NOT here to force the issue, I just want to know when to come back."

Yeah, she has no idea.

We go home, and are still home.

At least I got some custard out of the deal.