At noon on day 3, the contractions had finally stopped and they moved us down to the anti-partem ward. They wanted to monitor her for another 24 hours, and all went well, they were going to let us go home. We were totally relieved that the baby would stay in the womb a little longer. The thought of a premature baby scared us, and even though Ali had a lot of severe heartburn and other nasty pregnancy symptoms and I have to admit a small part of me wanted to deliver the sooner rather than later (earlier I wanted either the "tax break" baby on 12/31 or the first New Year's baby). Still, Ali said she was feeling some "tightness" about every hour so I was nervous, but I reluctantly went home around 9 PM.
I got home, took a shower and changed and watched a bit of TV before going to bed around 11 PM. I tried to get as much sleep as possible, but at 6 AM my phone beeped with a text and I woke up instantly. The text read, "I'm starting to have cramps again. I'm not sure it's the same but they are coming at intervals. Are you going to come back in fairly soon?". I wrote back "I'm leaving now" and ran out the door.
By the time I got there, the contractions were getting closer together, probably about a half hour apart. I could tell they were getting stronger and by the time the doctor checked her cervix, she was only slightly more dilated, 1-2 cm, but they decided to bring her back upstairs. At this point, I knew the baby was coming.