early labour

on april 20th i had my 37 week appointment. i told my dr. that i had been experiencing some contraction-like cramping on and off for a few days. after we chatted about what exactly i was feeling she told me that i am in early labour. YAHOO, i thought. at the end of my appointment she said "well, i wouldn't be surprised if you don't make it to next week's appointment. so maybe i will be seeing you before then at the hospital". wow. that was exciting for me. i left there wondering if i should be going out to abbotsford like i had planned. i started to have more and more contractions that day but they were all over the place. sometimes around 5 mins apart, sometimes an hour apart. so i continued with my day like nothing was happening. i FULLY expected that within that week i would be having this baby. well....the contractions basically stopped. dang. but i still kind of thought that this might happen soon. i know that i can go overdue by 10 days before being induced so technically i might not have this baby until may 21st-ish. but i was telling myself that it won't be that long. i have become increasingly more uncomfortable. my back aches a lot along with some other annoying symptoms. BUT on with life we go. had my 38 weeks appointment 2 days ago and i am 2cm dilated. she didn't say anything about me having this baby before my next appointment so i started to realize that she isn't thinking that i am going to be early. but again, i am still telling myself that this is going to happen soon. people keep telling me that i "look ready". the doctor said that the baby is very low. i feel cramping on and off each day. these all sound like things that indicate real active labour starting soon....but what is "soon". i read in my "what to expect when you're expecting" book last night that early labour can go on for "hours, days or week"....WEEKS. it's been 2 weeks already since i started getting this cramping. PLEASE OH PLEASE BABY come SOONER rather than later. like....anytime in the next week. i really don't know how much more of this discomfort and lack of sleep i can take. i am up every 1-2 hours in the night. my hips KILL when i lie on them. my back hurts basically all the time. i am exhausted from only sleeping around 4 hours each night. i need at least some of these things to let off. i don't mind the lack of sleep on its on own. but the combination of a lot of pain at night and then the pain not really subsiding much during the day is frustrating. this could be a long month.

p.s. i KNOW that i won't be getting much sleep once the baby comes, so there is no need to make any comments about how the sleeping thing won't change once the baby is here. i have had sleeping problems for years. i know what it is like to not sleep much and i can cope with it just fine when i am not in this kind of pain. thx. :P