On Wednesday, April 30, I checked in at the hospital to stay until Luke was born. We were hoping for at least 6 more weeks. I was 24 weeks 3 days. The nursing staff were wonderful. They made sure I was comfortable and had anything I needed. Mostly I just needed water and lots of it! Friends brought many things by: a hot pink and purple striped comforter (the nurses loved it) a lamp, ice cream (that was my favorite), books, games. Jessica would even let me borrow Curtis' laptop on the weekends. That was wonderful. I was able to shop and keep in touch with my girls on IVF connections. On Thursday, May 1 I was put on baby aspirin to prevent clots, after blood work came back that I have a slight clotting mutation. On Sunday, May 4 I started having mild contractions that don't even show on the monitor. Dr wasn't concerned. They couldn't believe I hadn't had them sooner. Luke moved ALOT. He was a very active little boy. The drs and nurses couldn't believe how much he kicked and moved given he didn't have much space and very little fluid. On Monday, May 5 I had an ultrasound and Luke was weighing about 1 lb 12 oz and had caught up in growth. We could see his little mouth opening and closing, hopefully swallowing some amniotic fluid. There was only 1.75 cm of measurable fluid. That evening, Luke's heart rate dropped for a few minutes and scared me to death. Apparently he didn't like those mild contractions. But he recovered fine. Time went by fairly quickly but I really missed my guys, especially after they went home on Mother's Day. I was very lonely. But I knew I was in the best place to be and I had to stay strong for all my guys, especially Luke. On Friday, May 16 I began having contractions about 2 - 3 minutes apart. It was shortly before midnight. I had been in the hospital for 18 days. I was moved to Labor & Delivery to be more closely monitored. On Saturday morning around 2am the contractions continued and I was given a mega dose of fluids which seems to help calm my uterus a little. The contractions slowed to about 20 min apart until about 6am.