Here he comes...

Not.

I'm having incredibly regular contractions that are strong enough to cause me to catch my breath, but my intuition was telling me these weren't it. When I called to report them, however, the doctor on call told me to go in to labor and delivery to get checked. So I did, scampering out of work for the rest of the afternoon.

The drive seemed to slow things down, but once we were over the mountain they were back to every 4-7 minutes. I wasn't feeling in the least concerned, honestly; just wanted to know if these contractions were doing anything.

They weren't. In fact, the entire time I was in the hospital I had two contractions. I had that many walking back to the car afterward, so I think everyone knew it wasn't time except for the on-call practitioner and my husband, who fretted himself so silly that he nearly fell asleep while I was hooked up to the monitor. I think he needs more practice at this if we're to keep him conscious during the birth, because yes, he falls asleep when he gets stressed. Meanwhile, the baby and uterus only want to do their show for the private audience==it's not time for the big show yet. But if I have to put up with this every 5-10 minutes until the baby is born, he better come quick!