The tummy that cried wolf

All day yesterday, my abdomen cramped up at irregular intervals. Nothing painful - just a somewhat uncomfortable clenching, kind of akin to really bad gas without the bloating. And it didn't seem to matter what I did. If I stood up, I'd cramp. Sit down? Cramp. Eat - cramp. Lie down - cramp. Do nothing whatsoever and just veg on the couch - cramp. So to hell with that, and since I've had my restrictions somewhat lifted, I took it upon myself to take a little walk when Gunther took the dog out. Just once, halfway around the block. And guess what? The cramps stopped.

Go figure.

Until I went to bed that is. That's when they like to come the most. Just as I'm trying to get comfortable and go to sleep for the night. I can nap during the day unaffected (save for the fact that everyone and their damned dog either calls me or makes a ruckus outside, and it's usually too warm for a good long sleep), but at night? Nope. And poor Gunther, I know he wakes up most times I do just because he knows I've gotten out of bed (even though we have one of those "independant pocket coil" mattresses that are supposed to prevent one person's movements from bothering the other) or I just can't take the being awake anymore and turn on the computer to check out the news or something and the light from the monitor stirs him. He usually just asks if everything's alright and when I answer "yeah, just (insert reason here)", he goes back to sleep, leaving me to eat my antacid and read up on the latest stupid thing the government's been up to.

Well, I swear, the moment I got the idea in my head that I was going to go to bed shortly, my stomach decided to clench on and off. I was playing World of Warcraft at the time, and telling a friend of mine that if this keeps up, I won't believe I'm in labour until GIII's waving at me from the excape hatch. Logged off shortly there after, curlled up in bed beside Gunther with my body pillow, and *cramp*... Ooookay, ignore it, try to sleep.

*Cramp*

I'm ignoring you. Time for sleep now.

*Cramp* and this time with mild pain wrapping from my back to my front.

Hmm... That's different.

Well, my stomach kept up that routine from 11:30 at night till 3:00 this morning. Just annoying enough to keep me awake. Every now and then, it would also send a shooting pain from my hips straight along my pelvic bone, just to change things up. They weren't horribly painful. Can't say that they tickled, but I could have slept through them if I wasn't so interested in seeing where things were going. And like labour, they picked up in intensity and duration up until 3 this morning and then...

Stopped. Completely. Just.stopped.dead.

Of course, the entire time GIII's doing his rendition of Stomp (normal for him late at night), so I wasn't concerned that he was being negatively affected by any of this, but I was then wired. Is it really happening? Now? What should I pack if things do progress? (Yeah, don't have bags set up yet.) I wasn't about to go rushing my ass to the hospital at the slightest twinge. Considering the incompitence the last time, plus the fact that my OBGYN has told me that they're not going to stop labour this time, there's no point in going in early. Might as well stick around at home until I have to go. So I lied in bed, wondering if things were progressing, just to have one helluvan anticlimatic experience that kept me up for another 30 minutes after that, just wondering what the fuck happened?

Then, wake up at 4:00 with heartburn (GIII's Stomp rendition included my stomach I guess). Then again at 6:00. Then again at 7:00... So I'm bloody tired.

And guess what? We've gone back to the non-painful tightening (and GIII's now doing a soft shoe dance instead of his more active performance of this past night, so I know he's still doing alright but damn, figures, he gets to sleep). And I'm supposed to be working right now (still working from home, loving that part). If it wasn't for the fact that I'm a touch typist, I'd never have made it this far in this posting cause I can't see straight thanks to being horribly drowsy. Good thing I don't have to drive anywhere. So, for my lunch break I'm taking a nap, and if the contractions resume when I lie back down, I'll be tempted to go in after the kid with a can opener. Like my Grandfather used to say, "shit or get off the pot." Crude, vulgar, but makes sense. Get it over and done with, or stop wasting my time and sanity. It's not like I'm not anxious enough to meet the little guy as is.