Confused

Ok, baby boy. You're getting your mommy all stressed and confused.

Last week (10/21) we went to the Dr and started our weekly visits along with pelvic exams. I saw Dr. Hudson, who said I was already dilated 1.5 - 2 cm. He said he was pretty surprised by this, especially since I was only at 35 weeks & 4 days, and it's my first pregnancy. He pretty much told us that if i had timed contractions to call and come on in, that it could very likely be labor at this point.
He also said that he'd really like for things to wait until Nov 3rd, or especially the 10th before anything happened. That'd put me at 36 or 37 weeks.

So all week, I felt great after that. Convincing myself that Evan was going to wait. No contractions, no more pelvic pain as I had been having previously.

Until Friday. I started having contractions around 5pm, and had them up until about 10pm, about once every hour. That was interesting... Thehubs just looked at me at one point and was like "Is our baby coming tonight?" I of course, said "no, babe....if anything it'd be tomorrow before he comes since things are really progressing."

So once they ended I felt relieved, but MUCH MORE pelvic pressure/pain. Like, couldn't hardly get comfortable or sleep. When I stood up, I was afraid he was going to fall out of me. Sharp pains down in that area and all of that good stuff.

Saturday was okay. My parents came out and mom and I went to Target to get some stuff needed for his room and what-not. While walking around Target, I initially felt okay, but could definitely tell the more I walked the more pressure I felt. No real contractions Saturday that I know of. I might have had a few Braxton Hicks, but I'm really not sure at this point.

So now to today. This morning, I'm pretty sure I had a few contractions...nothing major and nothing that lasted. It's about 5:30pm now, and I've had 3 contractions in the past hour. I feel horrible....but then again I feel like I should suck it up and move on.

What I'm really frustrated and confused about is the difference between Braxton Hicks contractions and "real" contractions at this point. I don't really know...and sometimes I even feel sharp pains in my back and stomach, but my uterus isn't real hard like I feel like it's supposed to be during a contraction.
So I'm just confused....

I'm pretty sure I'll KNOW when it's the real thing, and I guess that's why they tell you to wait until contractions are 10 minutes apart and timed for at least an hour before coming to the hospital. I would guess once they're that frequent, then I'd be in LOTS of pain and pretty certain that it's the real deal.

So we go back to the Dr tomorrow and I'm anxious to see if I've dilated anymore. I also want to ask about any thinning that's occurred, and where's he's positioned as far as how far down he is. Oh, the questions increase for the Dr. each week!

We shall see when you decide to arrive, but I have a feeling it will be before your due date of November 17th. :)