On your mark, get set....

Ha, ha... Fooled you. That is what the little one was saying from the womb on Thursday evening.

I was oblivious to the goings on at home as I was finishing my shift at the hospital. Usually Vicky is getting home from picking up Tyler from soccer practice right when I am getting off work. Thinking everything is right on track I don't bother to call home and check on everyone while driving home. But something is definitely not right when I enter the front door.

I walk in to see Tyler doing homework - ok this is somewhat normal but usually doesn't really happen until we harp on him for a while. I see Vicky going from room to room cleaning and straightening things. Putting things away. Busy, busy, busy. Hmmm... usually she is resting on the couch or has crashed on the bed for a quick power nap until I get home and we discuss dinner plans. Not quite the norm. She greets me as she whizzes by to do another task. She mentions over her shoulder in passing "Oh, by the way, I dusted the ceiling fans. They were really dirty."

My world froze for a moment in time. She is nesting. The time is almost here. Then she grabs her belly and does that familiar grimace. Another Braxton Hicks I think to myself. I ask my usual question as her face eases and she starts breathing normally - "How many have you had today?" She says while still whizzing about - "I don't know but I have been writing down the times on that paper over there." Looking for the usual one or two or maybe even three - I am shocked to see about six times written down. Now it wouldn't be bad if the times started in the morning but no... They started at 5 PM. Six since 5 PM. It's was only 7:45 PM at the time. They were erratic and not consistent but still frequent.

She answered all of my questions: Yes - I have changed activities trying to get them to go away. Yes - these are different form the Braxton Hicks - they feel different. Hmm.... will the timing of the contractions level out? We started to get excited a little bit that this could be it. We decided we would go ahead and go get some dinner and wait it out some more. After eating and having several more contractions we decided that we might need to look at the hospital bag and see of we have everything that we need just in case. We added a few more items and a couple of CD's. We packed a few more things in the diaper bag for the baby and waited.

As the contractions started to ease off a little at 11:00 PM, we decided we would take a nap so we would be rested a little if this little girl decided to really make her debut. We got a good nights rest (or at least I did) with minimal contractions for the rest of the night. We think the little one was just trying to get us ready for the big day by giving us a trial run. Well the bag is still mostly packed as well as the diaper bag. The car seat is correctly installed in the mommyvan. The freezer is stocked. We are ready - so any time little one! Whenever you are ready!