Practice Makes Perfect...

So, yesterday afternoon we got to practice our leaving for the hospital routine =) Thursday evening I started up with my usual Braxton Hicks contractions that have been coming fairly regularly at night for past couple weeks. I knew this was nothing to worry about because they weren't getting stronger like real contractions would and they weren't developing any sort of pattern, however, what was concerning me was that they were lasting a lot longer than they ever had and I noticed I was "leaking" (I know you wanted to know lol). So, naturally I was a bit concerned that perhaps my water was breaking very slowly, and after 4.5 hours of the contractions I called the nurses station. They said to just take a warm bath and keep an eye on things because it did sound like the early stages of labor. After a long bath, things subsided and I went to bed. Throughout the weekend the Braxton Hicks and leaking continued, so yesterday I decided I'd give them another call JUST IN CASE, simply because I had heard that 1)it's more common for your water to leak rather than gush and 2) I didn't want to risk there not being enough amniotic fluid for Caroline and put her in any distress. Well, the midwife said yes, this was a bit of a concern and to meet her at the hospital in an hour and a half and be prepared to stay just in case I was low on fluid and they needed to go ahead and induce. Greg and I ran and took showers, finished packing our bags, straightened up the house, installed the car seat, packed up the dog's food, in record time! We were nervous but trying not to get too excited because we knew it was probably nothing. Plus, I REALLY REALLY do not want to be induced because I've heard with pitocin, it is much harder to make it through labor without an epidural which is my goal, so I was very anxious about this being a possibility. Fortunately, after a few hours at the hospital and 3-4 tests later, everything came back fine and we were able to go home. We were a little disappointed to be leaving without a baby, simply because at that point we had pumped ourselves up for it, but in end it is so much better for her to have a few more weeks to finish baking =) We are also totally ready for when the real time comes now and just left everything in the car! It's also nice that all of our paper work is finished so now we won't have to worry about that either next time around! It was also exciting because we know that we are only a few weeks away from meeting Caroline for real (hopefully sooner rather than later)!! Fun times ahead for sure =)