Labor? Well that didn't take long.

36 weeks and 1 day.

We made it to 36 weeks! Our goal! Now I can be excited for the baby's arrival instead of scared. I can embrace labor instead of trying to stop it. I can forget about having another preemie and focus on counting down the days until we have a new bundle of joy to hold and cuddle. Life is good.

One other thing that makes me happy about being 36 weeks pregnant is the "graduation" to the highest check box level on the hospital admission form. When I have gone to the hospital these past few months and completed the initial admission form at the front desk, I've always had to mark the "scary" box: 20 - 35 weeks. This basically translates into "Stop the labor!" Now that we can check the 36 week+ box, it means, "Congratulations, you're about to have a baby." I like my new status.

I removed the terbutaline pump last night at exactly 10:06 p.m. This was very scary for me because in a sense it was like turning off the life support. I knew that once I turned off that pump I was on my own. But it was also very freeing. I set the pump on the desk and walked upstairs to bed. This morning I could shower without all of the paraphernalia needed to keep the pump dry. During my final contraction monitoring with the nursing company last night, I had 5 contractions in one hour. That's still one less than my hourly threshold of 6, but way more than I've been experiencing recently. Last night, I didn't sleep well at all, as I was tossing and turning wondering if I was contracting or just cramping. This morning, the cramping has continued, but it's been weird. What I have been feeling doesn't constitute a textbook contraction - lasting 40+ seconds. But these cramps have been coming frequently - every 3 to 4 minutes - and last 10 - 15 seconds. Then they go away and come back. I called my doctor and they want me to monitor them closely for a few hours to see if anything changes in intensity or frequency. If so, they want us to come to the hospital. So I have been laying here for the past 90 minutes evaluating every cramp, twinge and contraction. Nothing is falling into a pattern, but these pesky cramps are still hanging around. Is this the beginning of labor? This would be so much easier if I had experienced labor with Ava.