Scare on Black Friday

Josh and I are home with our families in North Carolina. It's always so nice to get away from the coast and head the mountains for a few days.  I've been taking it easy most of the week: laying on my left side, drinking tons of water and eating Thanksgiving treats.  Even though I've been resting most of the week I'm still getting those uterine contractions.  I had several yesterday that were close together.  Those didn't bother me as much as a weird feeling in my cervix or at least I think it was in my cervix.  It felt like pressure or something.  It became more noticable when I was standing or walking around. It started to get worse so I decided to call my doctor.  She wanted me to go to the hospital to make sure everything was okay.  I had to break the news that we were a few hours away.  But we figured out that I'm just a few minutes from the hospital where my doctor did her residency. She called the hospital's labor and delivery floor and told them I would be coming by soon.  Josh, Mom and I arrived at the hospital a few minutes later. Most of their rooms were full so I had to go into a birthing room.  The little wooden bassinet/warming table was in there.  I thought how scary it would be to go into preterm labor and deliver early.  The nurse put the monitors around my bump to hear her heartbeat and record my contractions.  I had about five contractions while we were there.  The monitor picked up each contraction.  The doctor came in and did a couple exams to make sure my cervix was long and closed.  She said it looked and felt great.  We felt so relieved.  She decided not to do any other tests.  She recommended resting and drinking lots of water.  She said I will probably have these contractions throughout my pregnancy and I will need to be monitored often to make sure my cervix isn't changing.  She said if the contractions become more frequent, stronger or even painful that I need to come back to make sure everything is okay.  I'm so glad we went by the hospital.  I couldn't have slept last night because I would have been so worried.  I still feel that weird feeling in my cervix so I'm trying to stay off my feet.  I've been so lucky to be on a break from work this week!