Re-calibrating the pain scale

I've woken up about every 2 hours as usual to go to the bathroom. Only here, I get an escort. She's cheerful and helpful and tucks me back in nicely. She tells me about my progress and what may be coming next. I want this sort of service at home-- but with better TV channel options.

But as I've gotten up to go to the bathroom, I've noticed an overall increasing soreness in my uterus. So I asked my overnight buddy whether I've been contracting a lot. She informs me that I'm still contracting "somewhat mildly" but that it's about 3 times per hour and they'd really like to see 4. I try not to misinterpret that as "we prefer your discomfort to be greater."

She asks me what level of pain I'm at between 0 and 10. And, as the pressure is building and I'm starting to worry whether Maya is going to attempt to make her appearance out of the wrong one of the two holes in that vicinity, I allow the pain to build and tell her, "maybe a 4 or a 5." I'm guessing that this is based on my old pain scale and not the one that will be re-calibrated to include the types of pain I'll experience later in the next day or so. But for now, this is my 4-5.

And the more I'm thinking about that, the more I'm wondering whether I answered a different question. Maybe I didn't answer "how much does this hurt?", because I wouldn't call it PAIN so much as PRESSURE. Maybe I answered, "how much does this annoy you?" Or maybe they're the same thing.

She offered me a non-narcotic pain medication that I had never heard of. I turned it down, but I'm not really sure why. But I took her up on her offer for a hot compress for my lower back. That's been nice.

And now I sit here with a runny nose, watching Married with Children, tolerating pressure which is, for the moment, tolerable though not enjoyable, and hoping that the rest of the morning comes quickly enough.

I so wish they had induced me at 8pm instead of at 10:30. It seems like such a longer wait to find out about my progress.

That's the shit of it all, really. That I could be checked around 10:30, and be told that despite all these contractions, I've not really made any progress and have to do another round of cervadil. Hoping for at least a 2.5-3cm in the morning.