I've had a stressful morning. I woke up to the nurse telling me that I'd had five fairly major contractions in less than an hour (all of which I'd slept through thanks to my sleep aid and new friend Ambien) and giving me an 'emergency' shot of the Terbutaline. I was definitely having lower back pain (the same feeling I'd had the afternoon when I went into labor two weeks ago). The on-call doctor came to see me and said that if things didn't settle down they'd start me back on the IV of Magnesium (which I knew was the plan should I keep misbehaving). The shot didn't take, so then I had a pill of the Terb. and my regular dose of Nyphetipine. THANKFULLY it appears that the combination of drugs did end up working to slow things down, and we've bought ourselves another day. Tomorrow I'll have been here for two whole weeks and will reach my 30 week mark. It's definitely an accomplishment but I'm REALLY hoping to get to 32 weeks. Obviously, anything beyond that would be better but the deal in here seems to be you have to look at the big picture but also have small goals at the same time otherwise it's just too overwhelming. I'm definitely less stressed out now than I was earlier today. I know that this could -- and probably will -- be the way things go (the back and forth and ups and downs trying different meds.) but it's hard not to panic when you start having contractions like that.

I had my first little unpleasant experience of having laboring mothers as neighbors last night. So far, I've only heard the occasional cry of a newborn NOT the disturbing cry of a woman about to have a newborn. Last night though, I could hear this woman's screams coming in through the window. It really is a very unpleasant thing to listen to. I don't recommend it. When my nurse came in, I asked her if there was any way that I could sign this woman up for an epidural! A gift from me to her. Apparently she was 'one of those' that wanted to go a natural. I'm sure impressed -- but yet also intrigued and confused -- by those strong women. I say, why choose pain when you can choose totally, blissfully pain-free?! My nurse said that one of the nurses on the floor (who has yet to have children) was totally freaked out by this lady's warrior-cries and said she would never ever procreate. All of the nurses assured her that it's not that bad....especially if you get the drugs!! Amen to that.