41 weeks--OK, this is getting ridiculous

Day before yesterday, I woke up with contractions. Decided to time them. Two minutes apart. Called Rob at work. He came home. We ran around and did a few last-minute things. Around noon-ish, the contractions started to peter out. So I mixed a little castor oil into a milkshake with the idea of preventing them from stopping, and went and took a nap. Woke up with more contractions. Not so close together, but still pretty regular. Eventually got the pool filled up and went outside to relax in it.

And then...

Nothing. Nada. Kept having contractions, but they got farther & farther apart. Tried to sleep and couldn't--they were still coming often enough to ensure that. I could tell they weren't doing anything. Don't ask me how, but I could. God knows they felt real enough. Well, they *were* real, just not real helpful. Not enough to do anything. But I kept thinking that sooner or later they'd flip over into the real thing. Got permission for Rob to stay home from work. Endured another day of occasional contractions. Still no baby. This is getting insane.

Some time during the first day, we made the mistake of calling our mothers. My mom just keeps calling to see how things are going. His mother--well, there's a reason we didn't mention the term 'homebirth' to her prior to this. She called yesterday to see how it was going, or he called her, and he said that the labor had just petered out, it was apparently false labor but we'd thought it was the real thing because the contractions were two minutes apart.

So she's flipped out because the contractions were close together and now they're not. For some reason in her mind this means an emergency and that we MUST GO TO THE HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW BECAUSE ONLY THE HOSPITAL CAN DEAL WITH THIS. Um, yeah. I've dealt with hospitals. I know that "I was having contractions but now they've stopped," brings the response of "OK, we'll check you out and monitor you...OK, nothing's going on, go on home and come back when the contractions are regular again." Start-and-stop prodromal labor is frustrating as hell, but it is not unusual and it is not an emergency.

So we're not answering the phone anymore. Not when it's them, anyway.

And now, I will whine...

I hurt. All these contractions hurt. Linda, of course, is still nursing. I should get some sort of medal for nursing during any sort of labor, even prodromal. Because of course nipple stimulation helps to bring on contractions, which hurt like hell. This is seriously impeding my ability to nurse her to sleep, however. Something about Mommy occasionally tensing up and starting to whimper in pain isn't very soothing. Geez, can't imagine why.

I do have hopes the baby will decide to come within the next few days. Hopefully by this weekend. He's still moving around plenty, so I'm not worried at all on that account. I'm just getting more & more impatient as I go.