Started having regular tightenings on Friday evening (27+4 weeks, I'm an impatient mummy so we're used to this up and down at this time of pregnancy) and as my OH was away Mum took me into hospital.
There is a fairly new test they can do to see if you have any labour hormone which tells them if you're likely to go into labour within the next two weeks. It's a swab of the cervix, the hormone is like the glue that holds the waters to the uterus and before mid-30s you don't find any inside the vagina. The test is very sensitive and they can't test if you've had sex recently and the lubrication they normally put on speculums also affects the outcome so they run the speculum under the tap.
So I had my test in triage and was sent to wait in the waiting room whilst we waited for the results (it takes 20 minutes to come back). They called me back and said that it hadn't worked so they needed to go again. For some reason the doctor didn't bring a MW in with her that time so she asked Mum to put the tap on for her. Mum's question...
"Do you want cold water?"