"I think that was a contraction" - Part 1

Saturday - 39 weeks
For several days I had been feeling what I thought was just the baby headbutting me. But on Saturday I realized... that was not a headbutt. I paused for a minute and started thinking of all the things I had felt throughout the pregnancy.. but that didn't feel like anything familiar.
I said "I think that was a contraction".
His head whipped around to me "WHAT. Really? Are you sure?"
Well... no... I wasn't sure. I had never felt contractions before, I wasn't really sure of what they were supposed to feel like?
After a few more "heabutts" I determined that they were in fact, contractions. Tiny as they were.
"I don't know if this is necessary, but we might want to start tracking these" I definitely didn't think that this was the real thing, but I didn't know for sure!
Queue the stereotypical (semi) freaked out husband and the nesting Momma! There was laundry I was putting off everywhere. The dishes were stacking up in the sink. I couldn't have my home in this mess if I was really going into labor.
So after a few hours the "headbutting" stopped. False alarm. Talk about an adrenaline rush!

Sunday - 39 weeks 1 day
The "headbutting" continues in an annoying, non-progressing fashion. I believe at this point we were walking whenever we had the chance and people at church were saying to me "You better not be here next week!"

Monday - 39 weeks 2 days
Continuing of "headbutting". I had ditched the hubby at this point to walk alone during the day. I tried really hard to go into labor on this day so Luke's uncle could have a birthday buddy, but to no avail.

Tuesday - 39 weeks 3 days
On Tuesday my wonderful friend, and fellow pregnant woman, gave birth to her beautiful baby boy! The annoyance of tiny contractions continues. I begin to think "This needs to either increase and start labor or stop"

Wednesday - 39 weeks 4 days
On this day is when things really started to pick up. I had a doctors appointment in the afternoon.
"About 2cm dilated and 80% effaced!" the midwife told me. "any day now!"
After this appointment, my contractions started to pick up. They were not painful, not difficult, still just annoying. I just didn't feel well.
In the evening I went to Bible study. However, as soon as I sat down I had to get back up. It was too frustrating to just sit down and be still so I walked around. Every now and then someone would ask "are you okay?" I probably told every person there that I was having mild contractions. After Bible study we decided to swing by the hospital and visit our friends who had their baby the day before. We got to the hospital around 8pm and visited. We all love to talk so its no wonder we stayed for about an hour. It was around 9pm when I said "I think we should go. I'm just not feeling the greatest." What I really wanted was to be in my pajamas. So we headed back to our domain and scooped some great big bowls of ice cream and laid down in bed watching Netflix. Pretty soon, I was getting pretty uncomfortable.
"Maybe we should start tracking these again.." so we did.
We then proceeded to "rest" for a while. (any woman who's given birth knows how incredibly impossible that is)
After resting for about 45 minutes, we decided to get up. Guess what we did? Walk! That's right, at midnight or a little after, we got up, threw on some jackets, and walked around outside our apartment building. Walking helped, but after walking every day for the past 5 days, it grew old quickly. So we decided to come back inside. I couldn't rest so... I did dishes. I had to pause mid knife scrubbing to have a contraction. Probably not my finest decision.
At about 1am my contractions were pretty consistent at about 3-4 minutes apart so I called the doctor's office! (which, by the way, I felt so terrible for waking her up at 1am)
"Hi, um, I'm not sure if I need to come into the hospital? I think I'm in labor"
[Very groggy midwife] "How far apart are your contractions?"
"About 3 minutes"
"And what baby is this for you?"
"My first"
"Have your contractions been getting more intense?"
At this point I realized that they had not, in fact, been getting more intense. They had only been getting closer and closer together. The midwife instructs me to try and rest and call her back in an hour if they started getting more intense. So that's what I did. Luke promptly fell asleep and I laid in bed next to him, only closing my eyes between contractions. There was no sleep.