First trip to labor & delivery...

I'm sure there will be more to come. So I've had a cold for a couple of days now and haven't been feeling great. Not terrible, just not great. I have been very congested in my nose and chest and have been having more contractions than normal. Yesterday morning I woke up around 7am and was so congested that I finally decided to take something for it. I have to eat to take any sort of medication to avoid an upset stomach so I went downstairs and grabbed a protein shake out of the fridge, gulped it down, and then took two Tylenol and one Mucinex (which ONLY contains Guafenissan and is approved for use in pregnancy), the low-dose 4-hour Mucinex by-the-way...not the 12-hour one. I then chugged a glass of water and went back to sleep hoping to wake up in a couple of hours feeling better. Boy was I wrong.
I woke up at 9am with contractions while laying in bed, something that I do not normally have. I stood up to walk to the restroom and felt crampy and serious belly-tightening contractions. I used the restroom and when I stood up, I felt like I was in full-fledged labor. I couldn't catch my breath and my upper legs and abdomen hurt so bad. I decided to lay back down and drink a bunch of water and wait it out.
By this time Max was awake and asking for breakfast...I didn't know what to do. I could not stand up and most certainly could not go downstairs to get him breakfast. I turned on some cartoons and told him I wasn't feeling well. He was very understanding and cooperative...thank goodness! After waiting out the contractions that were coming every 3-4 minutes at this point, for about an hour, I realized they were not going to go away on there own. I knew in my heart I wasn't in labor but I also knew I couln't let this continue and I had to get it taken care of. I paged Dr.A and he told me to head to the hospital.
As much pain as I was in I sucked it up and got Msx dressed, got him some breakfast, and got both of us in the car. It wasn't easy but I did it. You may be wondering where Adam was in all of this excitement. He was in a meeting in Columbus and was getting all the info from me by text. He asked me at least 10 times if I wanted him to come home and I said no because I thought that this wasn't going to be a big deal and for him to leave the meeting and drive all the way to Christ would have taken forever. Well, he was worried sick and couldn't stand to stay there. He left in the middle of the meeting and drove like a madman out of Columbus. He got pulled over on 270 and luckily got off with only warning.
When Msx and I arrived at Christ we went straight up to labor and delivery. They checked me in and put me in a triage room. They checked all my vitals as well as the babies heartbeats and got me hooked up to the Toco monitor (measures contractions and uterine activity). Immediately the nurse told me I was definitely contracting...duh. The resident OB came in to see me and ordered and FFN test, urine cultures, and IV fluids. FFN stands for Fetal Fibronectin and tests for pre-term labor. It is done using a speculum and a long cotton swab that goes behind the cervix. The urine culture is to check for bladder infection because that can cause an irritable uterus as well. The IV fluids were used to rehydrate me because that was most-likely the cause of all the contractions in the first place. After 3 hours of IV fluids and some rest on a very uncomfortable hospital bed, the contractions slowed and I started to feel much better. The FFN test came back negative and urine cultures came back clean. The doctor told me that I can become very easily dehydrated while pregnant, even more easily dehydrated with twins, and on top of that the dehydration bcomes exasterbated with a cold. Sooooo, as embarrassing as it is to write this, all of this excitement and worry was for nothing more than dehydration. I requested to go home and was dishcharged around 5pm.
I have been on strict bed rest since we got home last night. My male nurse, Adam, is vigilant about not letting me get up and forcing liquids. I am still having a lot more contractions than I normally have and am pretty uncomfortable. I am hoping that as my cold gets better the contractions will also subside a bit. I honestly do not know if I will stay sane if I have to feel like this for the next 14 weeks. Eyes on the prize...right?
(sorry for all of my spelling and grammatical errors in this post, I don't have the energy to go back through and correct them)