you learn something new every day...

well i woke up thursday morning thinking it would be a great day to have a baby. and what do you know, my contractions started at about 8:00 that morning. i started keeping track of them at 9:36... they were coming every 10ish minutes for the next few hours. they then started getting closer together (about every 7 minutes) and stronger. so i called the dr to see what to do. they said it sounded like i was in labor, but to wait to come to the hospital until they were 5 minutes apart... ok i knew this from my previous two. so i kept tracking them. in the mean time, i called my parents to let them know what was happening and they decided to head down this way. jack also called his mom to let her know the good news and she headed down too. but as the day progressed they started getting a little farther apart. they also were not quite as strong. oh well i thought, not sure what this is, but i have been in labor ALL day so there is NO way it could stop! long about the time my parents were rolling into town, they were back to 10ish minutes apart and becoming less painful. well, my parents were here, so we headed to the hospital anyway. maybe i was just in the really early parts of labor and things just weren't quite consistent yet... right?! so we check into the triage side, change into the hospital garb, and wait for the nurse to check me. i am thinking ok worse case, i am only like 2 cm and they will send me home until i am a little farther along. so the nurse checks me... not only am i NOT dilated AT ALL, but i am still thick. then the realization sets in... i have just had a day of false labor with nothing to show for it. and i have family waiting at my house, that have driven in for the big event. how stupid do i feel??!! this is my 3rd labor, surely i KNOW what labor feels like (and let me tell you, it FELT like labor!)

well luckily my family was in town. it turned out to be a very nice family weekend. friday, they took the girls to fit for fun while i went to my already scheduled dr apt (turns out i had an infection which probably caused the contractions). then we went out to a super yummy dinner at indochine. and this morning we made our way to the beach.

the girls enjoyed the sand
so did jack!!
they also got to play football with the boys :)

so all in all i learned that you CAN have false labor all day. that false labor feels very much like the real thing. and that i am very lucky to have a family that will drop everything to join us to meet madeline... even if she wasn't quite ready for the visit :)