A very exciting Election Day

Today was Election Day so I had the day off from school which meant that I had lots planned. The first thing on my list was to go to my 38 week prenatal appointment and get an update on Mia. My doctor was very surprised that I hadn't given birth yet (at 36 weeks she guessed that I would give birth within the two weeks). When she checked me, she made the comment "I don't know how that kid is still in there?" I was 5-6cm dilated at 70% effaced. What concerned her though was the fact that my belly was measuring 34 weeks instead of the 38, which may mean that my amniotic fluid was low, so she told me to go to the hospital, she would call them as well, and prepare for my baby to be born. So, started the mass texting and phone calls prepping for Makaela babysitting, dog watching, lesson planning, etc. I was running around like a nut until I finally decided to leave for the hospital at 3:30pm. Of course, before I headed down, I had to stop and vote.
As I was voting, I was behind a man that was paralyzed and had no use of his body from his neck down and yet, here he was on line, waiting to vote. He signed his signature with the pen propped in his mouth and then headed off to do his voting. I'm not sure if it were the massive amount of hormones or what, but I found myself tearing up. I found this man's strength so overwhelming: instead of staying home, he was out, voting and doing his civic duty and not once did I get the feeling that he expected anyone to feel sorry for him. It's strength like this that I want to instill in my own children.
When I got to the hospital, they were reluctant to admit me because I wasn't having any contractions, but once they realized how much I was dilated, they admitted me. They told me to go walking for two hours to try to induce labor a bit more. Katie and my doula, Amy came to meet me as I "walked". We headed back to triage and waited a few more hours before a doctor came in and suggested that I leave. I was politely told that they couldn't refuse to admit me due to how dilated I was, but they had no beds, so since I wasn't in active labor, I would be moved to another ward for "observation". I opted to go home, sleep in my own bed and head to work the next day. I was very disappointed since Katie, Amy and I (not to mention all the people in NY, OK and friends in HI would were texting and looking for updates) thought we would be meeting little Mia in a few hours.
As we were leaving, I realized something...they never even checked my amniotic fluid.