Close, but not quite

I woke up yesterday morning at 5:45 with the strange sensation that my belly was trying to implode. Tight, heavy, hard to breathe. I remembered that feeling as the way both of my other labors started and so smiled to myself and tried to go back to sleep. But by 6:00 I was excited and needed to get up. I made myself a cup of raspberry leaf tea and called my mom to calmly say that my contractions had started, but that with Addien I had contractions for a couple of days before I actually went into labor, so I wasn't getting too excited. Then I called my sister to tell her the same thing. I decided to go for a walk, since that will either really get things started or make them totally stop. By the time I got back an hour later I knew I wasn't going to be heading for the hospital anytime soon, but I was uncomfortable enough that I had to cancel my trip to see my friend Alicia in Cambridge. Since the baby is back-to-back I also called my friend Peggie, who used to be a midwife, to ask her to feel if the baby had turned yet. She hadn't. By 9:30 contractions were completely stopped, and I was more than a little disappointed, so the girls and I watched two feature-length films and spent the day feeling rather sorry for ourselves. But we had a nice time doing it. And today I'm very glad that I didn't have the baby since I came down with a nasty cold late last night and spent today feeling terrible. So we're happily waiting.