I'm in LABOR????

Well this past weekend was something we didn't expect. Saturday night at 7:30 pm I started having a really sharp abdominal pain in the lower left side of my stomach. The pain persisted and by 11:30 pm we were on our way to the hospital to try to figure out what was wrong. On the way to the hospital I started having minor contractions. At the hosptial they hooked me up to all the monitors (baby heart monitor and contraction monitor). I was admitted to the hospital at 2 am when I started having contractions 1 to 2 minutes apart and was slowing starting to dilate. Now keep in mind that I am only 35 weeks along. The Dr. came in and felt my stomach as I was having a contraction and he said, "That is a good contraction, I think you will be having a baby today." This was a major shock to us. They decided to give me a shot to try to stop the contractions and slow down my labor, but the Dr. didn't think the shot would work. After the shot my contractions slowed and pretty much stopped for the next 3 hours. They decided to send me up to have an ultrasound to make sure the baby was doing okay, to check my amniotic fluid, and try to figure out what this intense pain in my left side was. As I waited for them to take me up, my contractions started again and this time they were more painful and closer together. The contractions started up high on my stomach and started moving down to were I was started to have back labor pains. These contractions were happening during my ultrasound and the ultrasound tech said, "Your placenta looks really tired, I think you will be having this baby today!!!" She called someone to come take me back downstairs and she told them to please hurry, this lady is in labor. So I tryed to get my mind around the idea of welcoming Kate 5 weeks early, and was reassured she would be fine, but that her lungs won't be fully developed and she may need to stay in the NICU nursery for 1-2 weeks. When I was back in my room they inserted my IV and were preparing for Kate to come. But then my contractions started to lessen and then they completely stopped and the abdominal cramping went away. WHAT IS GOING ON??? So they watched me a little longer and decided to send me home with instructions on what to watch for to know when I should come back. So at 8 am we were on our way back home, completely exhausted!!! But Kate is still inside and hopefully she will stay in there for at least a few weeks. I have minor, irregular contractions throughout the day and am doing all I can to keep her inside - which pretty much means being on "bed rest." I believe that the abdominal pain I had happened so I would go to the hospital where the doctors could stop me from going into labor. We'll keep you posted on what happens these next few weeks! As Ryan said, "That was a good pre-game scrimmage and now we will be ready for the real game!!"