well, we had a trial run to the hospital last night. while watching the world series last night i started cramping pretty bad. the contractions were long and painful and made me feel nauseous. after the game ended and we were turning out the light, my legs started shaking uncontrollably, just as they do when i'm in labor. i couldn't stop them for anything. since John was born so quick, we thought it best to go in to the hospital to get checked out. we were there from about 10:30 until 1:30. i had regular contractions between 2 and 5 minutes apart for most of the time we were there, but they eventually got weaker and further apart. i was only dilated at the most a cm. frustrating, but now the kids have an idea of what to expect. Mama came in to town to help and stayed the night with us. this morning we went shopping and out to lunch before she headed back home. i'm so glad the weekend is here because i sure have a lot of sleep to catch up on.