Closer than we think??

First, here are pictures from Saturday when I turned 37 weeks pregnant. Emily has definitely dropped and you can see it in the pictures.

Last Friday I went for my routine doctor appointment. Everything was still looking good, and the doctor commented again on how low the baby's head was already.

I have been suspecting that Emily may come soon. Between her being so low, and I haven't been feeling too hot. With Ashley I remember feeling real good right up to being induced (probably because I hadn't had a lot going on with my body since Ashley wasn't close to wanting to come out on her own). This time I've been achey, having pains, hip and back issues, etc.

Well last night we actually had a false alarm. I wasn't feeling great during the day and looking back on it, I think I was having some contractions throughout the day but nothing real noticeable. They started off feeling like period cramps. Around dinner time though I started noticing it more. I had contractions around 13-15 minutes apart. I figured it was time to totally get the bags packed just in case.  By 11pm, the contractions were closer together, about 7 1/2-8 minutes apart, and the contractions were lasting 1-1 1/2 minutes and more intense. I was getting more severe period cramps, and my stomach was hardening. Emily was moving a ton too, like she was trying to wiggle her way out....lol.  For the next couple hours they were pretty consistent. Some were even getting closer to 5 minutes. We had contacted our doula and she thought it sounded like labor, and we were even contemplating bringing Ashley over to Matt and Christi's house and heading to the hospital. I kept worrying about Ashley--I didn't want to wake her up and move her until we definitely needed to, but at the same time I didn't want to wait too long to get to the hospital.

We decided to try to sleep some until they were consistently 5 mins apart or less. They seemed to taper off while I was sleeping. This morning I'm still not feeling great, but the contractions have stopped coming consistently. I still get one every now and then, but nothing major. I called the doctors office and they said that what we experienced is actually pretty common, and can be a sign that the real deal is coming soon. They said to drink lots of fluids and take it easy. I was hoping they'd suggest me coming in to check for dilation/contractions but they just said to call if/when things change. Sooo, depending on what happens, I may or may not get a chance to update again.