False Start...

This morning around 5AM, Neha started feeling some repetitive pain in her lower back. Hmmm...lower back pains...repetitive...

Contractions!

We didn't think to much about them at first, because they were spaced pretty far apart, and not overly painful, but in an abundance of caution, we decided to call our doctor's office, just to give them a heads up. We didn't speak to our doctor, but the nurse who answered the phone told us that we HAVE TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL. RIGHT NOW.

So I totally panicked and was throwing crap together running up and down the stairs trying to remember everything we needed. I got most of it, except for the Wii, which I stupidly left at home. Neha, however, was the total opposite of me - totally relaxed, such that she demanded she be allowed to take a shower before we headed to the hospital, and annoyed at the nurse who demanded we HURRY UP AND GO (the caps are necessary to convey just how frantic this woman was).

Given Neha's composure, I was able to collect myself, and while she showered, took out the trash, cleaned up the house a little bit, got the car seat, and made three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (it's important to have snacks). I was very proud of myself. When Neha took too long to get out of the shower, I started screaming that we were getting late and DIDN'T SHE CARE ABOUT HER UNBORN BABY?!?!, but aside from that, was fine. Neha, because she is a wonderful woman, put up with my crap without saying anything.

At the hospital, we were taken to a triage room where we explained what was going on, why we came in, and got a work up. We were then told that we were early, and that while Neha was having contractions, they were too far apart and irregular to be consistent, her water had not yet broken, and she had was not sufficiently dialated. Our doctor told us that we could hang around the hospital and walk around and see if that caused the contractions to speed up, or we could go home and come back when something was happening. Basically we were being told to get the f*ck out. Which was fine, actually, because we felt a little sheepish having come in so early, despite the fact that we were constantly assured that here was nothing to be embarrassed about; people came in with false labor symptoms all the time. Nonetheless, I thought it was a little embarrassing.

So we left. On the way out, we passed by a kindly old lady who volunteered in the lobby. Upon seeing us, she said, somewhat dejectedly, "not today, huh?"

Two nurses standing nearby overhead this and couldn't help but laugh and one of them exclaimed "oh that's so sad!"

Now that was embarrassing.