first trip to the hospital . . .

I hadn't imagined that my first trip to Labor and Delivery at St. Joseph's would happen this early! But unfortunately, last night I wound up in the hospital. Don't worry - everything is totally fine. It still wasn't fun, though.
I got a nasty case of the stomach flu yesterday morning, and spent the majority of the day in the bathroom. By 8:30 at night, Kyle started getting concerned and made me call the nurse hotline. After talking with her, she said she was concerned with the amount of fluids I had lost - my potassium levels could be really low, but more importantly, excessive dehydration can lead to preterm labor (which I didn't know). She told me that I should go over to the hospital to get monitored. As silly as it felt to go to the hospital for the stomach flu, I wasn't willing to take any chances, especially after she mentioned the concern about going into labor!
After they checked me in, they hooked up two monitors on my stomach - one to measure the baby's heartbeat, and one to check for contractions. They asked if I had felt any contractions, which I hadn't, and the baby was moving around just as much as ever (which, I must say, makes the flu ten times worse - getting kicked in the stomach all day long didn't help the situation). Her heartbeat was really strong, and the various nurses kept commenting on how active she was and how strong she is for 26 weeks. But here was the scary surprise: it turns out that I was having contractions every few minutes! I just couldn't feel them - they were really short and painless, and it just felt like the baby moving. I got a little panicky when the nurse told me this - this baby is NOT ready to come out yet! And I'm not ready yet either! But the nurse said it's really common because of the dehydration. I guess it just happens when all the muscles in the body are crampy from water loss, and this is how it manifests in pregnant women. She didn't seem too concerned, and she said that it should just go away on its own (which it has by now).
So, after giving me ginger ale and immodium and checking with the doctor on call, they sent us home. I could now tell what the contractions felt like, and I think I had a couple more on the way home, but they are gone now. Thinking back, I might have had these contractions intermittently over the past few weeks, but just didn't realize that's what they were. At least now I can recognize them. I only wish that the real ones will be this painless!
I'm just glad we went in and got everything checked out. I think this is the first time I've ever been to the hospital for something unscheduled, and it felt weird - it took Kyle's insistence for me to even call the nurse. I'm just grateful that everything is fine, and from the baby's activity today, I don't think she even noticed a thing.