So, no magic happened yesterday. I started having contractions late Saturday night, along with an upset tummy and vomiting. At about 4:30 Sunday morning, the contractions were lasting 1-2 minutes and were about 5 minutes apart, so Cory and I headed to the hospital. When we got there, they hooked me up to the monitors and the contractions weren’t lasting quite as long, but were actually only about 2 minutes apart. Cory and I were quite excited, expect for the fact that I felt awful. I was still having an upset tummy, on top of really pretty painful contractions. Which is quite difficult to manage, when you are tethered to the bed with monitors. The nurse checked me and I was only dilated to 1/2 a centimeter, which was no more than at my appointment on Thursday. This really had me discouraged! Mom and Dad had arrive by this time, expecting that this may be the special day.
My blood pressure and pulse rate were also quite high, which was not happy news for the doctor. Because of the bood pressure, they checked my urine for protein, but thankfully found none. They also drew blood to look for signs of pre-eclampsia. Again, all was good. However, they found that I had LOTS of ketones, which meant that I was severely dehydrated. So, IV fluids became my friend. After 2 bags of fluid, I was feeling much better and the contractions had all but stopped.
So, it turns out that dehydration can cause “uterine irritability”. The contractions were real but they weren’t going to make me progress to real labor. 10 hours of labor really sucks once you realize that there will be no baby reward at the end! After observing me for nearly 8 hours in L&D and doing lab work and an EKG, they let me come home. My pulse rate and blood pressure were still a little high when I left, so they sent me home on “modified” bedrest. No really sure what that means, but I have a feeling that I will be spending a lot of time on the couch until Carter arrives! I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, so I’ll ask lots of questions. Right now, it means that all of the meals come upstairs to me. 
Saddness!!! Let me tell you that I stalked your blog all day yesterday to see if you had a baby boy!!! I was so excited be 10/26 is a very special day for me so I would have been SO happy to know someone born on it. I think that 10/27 sounds lovely too though. At least now you know what to expect…and there is nothing wrong with finding out that you need to have more fluids. Once Carter does arrive…what is your stance on visitors?