The baby's coming...update

So, I went most of the afternoon without any more contractions. I had one or two in the little while before dinnertime, but that was it. After dinner, I sent the kids downstairs to play, and more or less collapsed on the couch. Now they're back again. It's similar to what it was like last night--frequent and painful, but not as intense as they would be if I were in true labor. I just hope it develops into something real this time. I've never had false labor like this before--it's a new experience for me, and one that I can't say I relish. As painful as it is, though, I can't help sitting here thinking how masochistic it is to want it to get worse. Sigh.

About a half hour before the kids' bedtime, I went downstairs to get them in pajamas, to find a very unpleasant smell and sight. Meagan's diaper was dirty, and instead of coming up and telling me, she just took it off, and sat back down on the couch. There was poop smeared all over the couch. Fortunately, the couch is made of a fabric that cleans easily, but still. I was rather angry with her, but didn't want to spank her. Who wants to spank a bare, poopy bum? So I got to clean her and the couch up, all the while enjoying these crazy contractions.

It's now just past 8:30, and the kids are in bed, finally. Bethany started complaining that she was hungry about two seconds after we finished brushing her teeth. Sheesh. Then we had fights over the bedtime story, who got to pick the scripture story, the song we sang...the only thing that went fairly smoothly was the prayer. Then once Bethany was in bed, she started crying because she noticed some of her blankets were gone. I'd washed them earlier, and they were in the dryer. I'd hoped she wouldn't notice, but no such luck. So I went downstairs, and fortunately, they were dry. But then she didn't like it because her blanket was too hot. Can we say, overtired? In her state, I don't think she'd have been happy with anything. Of course, as soon as I turned off the light, and started to leave, she said she had to go to the bathroom, then Meagan had to have a turn, too. I finally got them back in bed, and I escaped out of the room. It took forever, but they're there. I'm just happy they're in bed before the contractions picked up, if they do at all tonight. At least now if the baby comes, the kid's'll never know I was gone, so I won't have to worry about them freaking out, unless they wake up to someone else besides me or Nate.