Our trip to the hospital

Yep, I said it. We had to go to the hospital yesterday.

The day began as many Saturday's do....we slept in (as much as we could), got Ipolito ready for his t-ball game, and woke Papi so he could also come.  The game was great....a little windy, but otherwise great!

Afterwards we came home to change and headed out to Grandma's so Papi could sleep a little more. On the way over there I started having contractions. I figured they were Braxton Hicks, so no big deal right?! BUT they were pretty painful.  Then I noticed they were pretty regular. Well, again I told myself not to worry. By the time we picked up lunch for everyone and got to my mom's they were still happening (we were going on 30-45 minutes by then).  We were eating and I started crying. My poor mom was so helpful and told me to calm down. I started timing them and they were roughly every 3-3 1/2 minutes apart and lasting about 1 minute to 90 seconds.  I called the on-call doctor and of course she said to come in. By then I was terrified.

The contractions were hurting very badly. My back hurt just like it did with Ipolito. He was there and wondering why I was crying. I had to leave him with my nephew, Bubba, and my father while my mom took me to Harris.  I prayed the whole way and so did my mom.  I also prayed for my mom to stay calm because she was driving a little crazy like.

All I could think was what if this is it? We have nothing done. The baby has nothing but blankets. The baby will have to be in a NICU for at least 10 weeks. What problems can I anticipate? This isn't really happening is it? I have so much to do. Poor Ipolito. How do I explain not bringing a baby home to Ipolito? Ipolito doesn't have a bag packed. I don't have a bag packed. Jose is sleeping. Do I call him and wake him? Oh dear....he is going to have to pack a bag for me. How in the world is going to pack my panties....the one's I like?! What if he forgets my deodorant? What about Ipolito's birthday and party?!

Many crazy things were going through my mind. I was just crying and crying but also trying to stay calm.  We  finally got to the hospital (in one piece...thanks Grandma). It took forever to find the Maternal Observation Unit which is where I was told to go. Once we figured out that level 1 is actually above us (we were on level G) we found it quickly.  They ushered me into a room and got me hooked up. I was indeed having contractions every three minutes and they were pretty strong.  The nurse was fabulous. I put on football (hey I am an Aggie and the game was due to come on) and just tried to pay attention to that.

They performed an AFP test on me, which is to see if labor is imminent in the next 4 -6 weeks and checked to see if I was dilated. Well, my cervix was so high she couldn't get to it (a good sign). They decided to watch me another hour to see how the contractions progressed and to wait for the test to come back.  Well the contractions started to go away.  The test came back invalid and they couldn't repeat it for other reasons.   Then the contractions came back. Then they went away. The doctor eventually let me go home and told me to rest the rest of the weekend.  Thank God!!!

As I was leaving I told the nurse does this mean I can't do my marathon training anymore? She told me I was crazy. I said, well that is what I equate running after my 3-year old to.  We came back to Grandma's where I found Ipolito well taken care of.  I took it easy the rest of the night and today.  I feel so much better and I just thank God I didn't deliver Dos.