contractions?

Okay so I have read a bunch of places that when you are in labor "you just know." But then I have also read about women who don't realize that they are in labor until they are birthing the poor baby on the side of the freeway.

So all afternoon I have been having crampy-type contractions, but nothing earth shattering or "painful."

And then tonight I laid down around 10 pm to go to bed, but never fell asleep because I would have a contraction often enough to a) keep me awake & b) cause me to look at a clock to check the timing of it.

Since we are 45 minutes away from the hospital my doctor told me to come in when I have contractions 5 minutes apart for 30 minutes, am bleeding, or my water breaks. He doesn't want us to drive all the way down there to be turned away for false labor or whatever.

So I have been having contractions about 5 minutes apart for the last hour and a half. I was laying on my right and left side for the first half hour, but then I wanted to make sure they didn't go away when I sat up, they didn't, so then I had to check to see if they went away when I was up moving around, so I folded some towels-- they didn't go away, but they felt a little different. So now I am sitting here timing them on-line and will probably go wake Jeff up in a few minutes. But I really, really don't want to be in labor at the hospital forever AND I don't want to drive down there prematurely so I am wanting to MAKE SURE that this isn't just my body playing pretend. Plus I think I may be in trouble with him when I do wake him up if I tell him how long they have been around 5 minutes.

Oh, my phone won't let me post anything remotely on here-- so if Elea really is going to be born in the next 24 hours I will try to post when we're home again. Or maybe check Angie's blog because maybe she'll post before I have a chance.