Close but no cigar

Well, I thought we were going to have a baby this weekend. I'm going to try and make a long story short, which is very difficult for me. This past week Gabe got the flu and so I had a puking kid to deal with. Plus, I had been having contractions but they were just Braxton Hicks and I didn't think much about them. Wed. night I noticed I was having a lot at work so I started timing and they were between 5 and 15 minutes apart. So, I went home and relaxed and didn't think much about them. I got them the next day but they were like 2 every hour so again, I didn't worry. Then Thursday night they got closer again. Plus, when I got home from work Eric said he wasn't feeling well and went to bed early. When I went to bed finally he was laying there shaking with chills and trying to get warm. So, he decided to go take a warm shower and try to warm up. Shortly after I hear the shower start, I hear him throwing up - in the shower. I felt so bad for him. He got out and tried to clean it up as much as possible but apparently the drain was clogged. By this time it was about midnight and I told him to leave it till the morning. So, I was up late with that and he didn't sleep well, which meant I didn't sleep well. Then Gabe decided to wake up at 4:45. I usually let him lay there when it is that early but my hope was that I could get him real quick and we could both fall asleep in the living room in the recliner. I was wrong. Plus, now I wasn't feeling well. Eric got up shortly after and tried cleaning out the shower. He finally succeeded but had to drag out the shop vac. Meanwhile my contractions are getting stronger and pretty close together. I decided when my doctors office opens I would call them and probably go in to just get checked and see if I am dilating at all. Well, then at about 6:45 I start throwing up. Now I get scared that this isn't good for the baby so Eric calls the on call nurse helpline. I talk to her and she said that since I was pre-term and I was having more than 6 an hour I had to go to the hospital. Now, the contractions are stronger and about 3 minutes apart. I'm convinced that I'm going to have her. I pack a bag real fast for Gabe, Eric finishes cleaning out the shower which has been soaking in bleach water and takes a shower. Then he takes Gabe to a friends house and we make those arrangements. We finally get to the hospital a little after 8. Oh ya, I threw up again on the way there. They check me and I'm dilated to 2 so I think they are just going to let me have this baby. No, the next 13 hours they continue to give me shots and pills to try and make the contractions stop. They would stop for a little bit but come back. They weren't very strong though so they weren't making me dilate so it was creating this vicious cycle of nothing happening. I couldn't go home till they were completely gone and they couldn't let me have the baby unless I was dilating in spite of all the meds. Eric is the one I feel sorry for though. He got one hour of sleep the night before, was also sick, and had nothing but this uncomfortable chair to sit in this tiny little room. There were some points that he was lying on the cold floor with my purse as his pillow. At least they gave me anti-nausea meds and stuff to make me sleep. Plus, a bunch of bags of IV and antibiotics. They definitely hydrated me! So, finally they stop and we get to go home. Thank God that Gabe was staying at Eric's parents because we have never been so tired in our lives.
So, now I am on these meds to stop the contractions but I am still having them. I'm supposed to go in again if they get to be 6 in an hour again. I am not doing that! The only thing that really works is lying down so I'm doing a lot of that. I'm almost 36 weeks and I think they'll just let me go at that point. I want to make it to my baby shower next weekend though. My fear is that we will do all this stuff to make me wait and then I'll end up going past my due date. I will be so mad if that happens! So, please pray that I make it at least a week.