1:30am Update (from Nick)

At 6, Jim and I went to go get some dinner for Allison. since she was still drug-free, she was allowed to eat. Panera Bread Chicken Noodle soup it is! Jim's flight is scheduled to leave at 8am, and after some fruitless attempts to get a free flight change, he decides to go ahead and head back to Ohio. Although it is frustrating, it would be the same cost to change these flights than to just come back for another week some other time. We don't know at this time how long it will be before the baby gets here. So, after delivering dinner, Jim and I head out to get our own dinner, and then take Jim back to the house. He has a friend that will pick him up and take him to the airport in the morning. This picture is right before Jim said goodbye:

While we are gone, Allison calls at about 7:30pm with the news that the Doctor thinks she needs to start Ambien (sleepy medicine). He is hoping that the sleep will help to kick-start the contractions.

1:30am Update:

• 8:00pm - scheduled to get some sleepy medicine at 8:30pm
• 8:50pm - sleepy medicine is infused
• 8:53pm - asleep
• 12:00am - awakened by need to use evacuate bladder and from sleeping on a bed made for giving birth, not for sleeping. bed quite uncomfortable on lower back. (These are the only type of contractions she has had, in her lower back.)
• 1:30am - no contractual progress (ie, no contractions). following doctors orders to start pitocin drip. hopefully can sleep more before things kick into high gear.

At 1:30am, when the nurse came in to check her, the contractions were still not progressing on their own, and were very mild. They didn't do an internal exam, but because of the mild nature of the contractions, they didn't think she was very far along. They said they had wanted her to rest up before starting Pitocin. Although she is disappointed to have to do Pitocin (and a little scared), she also realizes that "the show needs to get on the road", and decides to go ahead with the Pitocin. She still doesn't want an epidural, though. In her words, "I am more afraid of the needle in my spine than of the pain of childbirth!"

Here we go...