The Labor Story (part one)

Monday September 8- My mom comes to stay with us. I feel vaguely crampy but have nesting energy.
Tuesday September 9- Have some brownish spotting. Call doc. They say to come in for a check. See my doctor's partner. My cervix is starting to efface but I am not dilated. My mom and I run errands all day. I feel the need to stock up on food at Whole Foods. Still feel crampy. Like light period cramps. Go to bed.
Wednesday September 10- Wake up about 12:30 AM. Go to bathroom. There is blood. Is this the bloody show? What should I do? Call the doc? Ok, call the doc. Doc's partner on call. She says it's probably bloody show. Thanks. Go back to bed. Crampy. Oh wait, these cramps seem to be coming and going. Am I in labor? Get up. Pace a little. Big D is sound asleep. I'm alone in this. I am struck by this realization. I sit on the chair. Yeah, these are coming every 8-10 minutes. I think these are contractions. Go to my mom. Tell her I think I might be having contractions. She gets up and we start timing them. I sit on my birthing ball. The pain starts to concentrate in my back. Damn this hurts. I try back labor positions. They don't help. Actually, they hurt. The only thing that helps is to sit on the ball and try to breathe through it. They are now 5-6 minutes apart. Wake Big D up. Call doc. She's not very happy about being woken up again. Yeah, go to the hospital like I told you before. Ok, bitch, this is my first time doing this and you chose this profession not me so I don't need the attitude. The breathing isn't helping anymore because the pain is all in my back and I can't seem to wrap the breathe around it. We get the two bags. I throw some things in because they weren't quite packed. The three of us get in the car. Here we go.