Little Man gave us quite the scare today.  I have been having some abnormal pains in my lower abdomen since Friday, but nothing that was overly alarming.  I called the doctor on Friday and she told me to rest a lot over the weekend and drink a gallon of water a day.  I tried my very best to do just that, but despite my efforts, started getting severe pains last night.  I ended up being able to fall asleep and thankfully slept through the night without any major issues.  I woke up this morning and headed to work.  Around 9:00 am, I was having sharp pains so intense that I was in a ball on the floor of my classroom screaming.  Thank goodness I had the best fifth grade class ever and they were able to get help.  I really owe them some chocolate candy bars or something good after today.  Anyway, I had to go straight to the Women’s Center at the hospital and they got me right in and hooked me up to monitors.  Right away we heard the baby’s heartbeat, which was such a huge relief.  He is normally so active during the day, but for some reason, I hadn’t felt him move the whole morning.  I was a complete basket case.   Next, she hooked me up to a tocometer, which is the monitor that uses/reads pressure to determine contractions.  After a few minutes of watching the chart, she verified that I was having uterine contractions and they did a few more tests to make sure I wasn’t going to go into pre-term labor.  While waiting for the results, we got to stay hooked up to the monitor and listen to the baby’s heartbeat for over an hour.  I love that sound and wish I could be strapped to a monitor all day every day for the remainder of the pregnancy just so I can hear that reassuring noise.  After a long, eventful day we were allowed to leave, told to rest and continue drinking lots of fluids and to come right back if it happens again.  The tests showed that I will not be going into labor in the next 2 weeks, with a 98% accuracy rate.  Definitely reassuring.  I hope this doesn’t happen again for AT LEAST 7 or 8 more weeks.