False Labor

I don't know what the technical criteria for false labor are, but at about 4am last night I was having something like it. I was getting waves of pain and nausea all up and down my abdomen. When you're not pregnant, you deal with the pain but you don't worry about it all that much-- at least relatively speaking. Stomachaches happen, and they usually resolve themselves. But when you're at the beginning of the third trimester, you start to consider going to the hospital pretty fast. I tried to think logically, which was a difficult process since I was having a wave of pain every couple of minutes. That was one clue in itself. Contractions don't usually start off that way. They start one at a time and gradually get stronger and closer together-- but that's in most cases and there's no guarantee that it can't just come on strong from the beginning. Considering that I've had another baby before, you'd think I'd be able to compare the present experience to my past one, but I was induced last time and I actually don't remember the pain too well, though I remember it was really, really bad. What I did know was that the pain I was having was comparable to a stomachache. Another clue was that I'd been having, eh, a bit of a problem with sharing enclosed spaces with people all day, if you catch my drift. I realized that I must have ingested about seven or eight nectarines, peaches and plums-- the current crop of fresh fruit-- over the last day and a half. I reasoned that this could have been the source of my troubles as well.
I eventually woke up my husband, though it was hard to speak and I didn't actually want to hear anything either. I wanted complete weightlessness and silence. I positioned myself in a draped position over the end of our bed which was more comfortable and then for some reason took comfort lying right on the hard tiled floor with my pillow. I think it was the coolness of the surface. I woke up in that position some time later-- I'm not sure how long-- and found that I was able to release all the pressure (ahem) that had been building up inside me. I felt much better and got back in to bed. I've been going easy on my stomach ever since, and I'm glad to know that little Fetus is still cuddled up inside, safe and sound and biding it's time until much closer to it's due date.