Our night at Labor and Delivery

So last night, Scott and I spent the evening and into the night at Labor and Delivery. I had been having contractions throughout the weekend that got more frequent on Sunday night and Monday. It started to make me nervous because I had contractions like the week or two before Matthew was born and when we got to the hospital after my water broke, I was dilated to a 4 and I hadn't had any "real" contractions yet. I really didn't want to go the the hospital yesterday if nothing was wrong, but after talking with my sister-in-law Valerie, I decided it was better to be safe than sorry. For the first 30 minutes of being hooked up to monitors, nothing was happening, but then contractions started to come more quickly and with more pressure than before and my heart rate was going up, so they gave me shot of Terbutaline to stop the contractions which worked pretty much right away. It made me all shaky and my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. Just as that started to happen, I told Scott what it was doing and that maybe he should go ask the nurse if that was okay, Valerie text messaged me and told me that the medication would do that! Michael's heart rate remained perfect the whole time; going up and down as it should along with contractions. The medication didn't really affect his heart rate, so I was relieved that he was doing so well! About 45 minutes to an hour after they gave me the medication, contractions started to come back (although not as often or with as much pressure as before), so they gave me another shot of it. After that, the doctor checked me to make sure that I wasn't dilating. Thankfully, I wasn't...that was my ticket home! They watched me for a little while longer to make sure that the medication worked and then sent me home to rest with instructions not to lift and to rest as much as possible to give my body time to relax!
Scott has been absolutely wonderful! He sat with me for 5 hours, then went and got Matthew (who was with Scott's aunt and uncle) to take him home to bed. He has been taking care of everything around here this morning. He even did a little grocery shopping for me after dropping Matthew off at preschool and brought me home some flowers before running to work. I am so grateful for him and his constant support...he amazes me! I was glad that Matthew had preschool this morning, so I could sleep some more! He has been very helpful and understanding...he will be such a great big brother! We are so grateful to Brace and Karen and their girls for watching Matthew for the afternoon and evening!
We are especially grateful that everything is okay this morning and that Michael is so healthy! I have been taking it really easy and just letting my body rest! Thank goodness for modern medicine! This was a real bonding experience for me with Michael. I know that sounds crazy, but I am even more in love with him today than before. Somehow, his strength yesterday was giving me strength! Although I can't wait until he's here, I'm grateful he's not yet!