Thanks for the reassurance supersunny!!!
nurse i totally agree with what everyone else says - you'll meet other people with young babies and there'll be loads to say. You'll make friends no problem, and from what I know of you on here you're fab anyway :)
Wow tinyk that sounds stressful! But it all ended up well in the end. You have reminded me that I never posted my birth story, so here goes:
I had a few contractions on Wednesday evening but didn't recognise them as contractions, being a first-timer. There were probably about ten over a three-four hour period and they were mild. On the Thursday I had a normal day but the same pains started again at around 8 o'clock, and I started to wonder if they were contractions. I was able to talk on the phone and not let on that I was having the pain. By midnight, the pain was really bad and I knew these must be contractions. They were also becoming more regular, at around 6-8 minutes apart and a minute in length. I got DH out of bed and we stayed up all night with him timing the contractions and writing them down. At 1am we rang the hospital who said we needed to wait until the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart, lasting a full minute, and taking my breath away. The pain was intense but the TENS machine helped. Between 4 and 5am the contractions were 4-5 minutes apart and very strong, but at around 7am they slowed right down to 10 minutes and milder, and eventually stopped. DH called work and said we thought the baby might be coming and that he'd been awake all night with me and they let him have the day off. I had contractions on and off all day, but sometimes separated by an hour.
On the Friday evening the contractions kicked off again. From 10pm to 6am they were 4-5 minutes apart and quite intense. Again at 1am I rang the hospital and the midwife said this kind of labour was common among first-time mums and that, though it meant the baby was on her way, I could have these types of contractions like this every night for a week before she came 
. By 6am I was falling asleep between contractions because I was so tired, and then I suddenly woke up at 6.30, and then again at 10am, so I knew the contractions had more or less stopped.
On the Saturday I had few contractions at all in the morning. At lunchtime DH and I drove to Tesco's and decided to pick up a few bits and then go for a walk around the nearby park. I had a contraction in the bread aisle, another at the till, and two in the park. All were enough to make me have to grip onto DH but I was able to keep silent through them, thank goodness. We got home and had lunch and I had a few more contractions, but very intermittently, and then at 4 o'clockish my mucous plug came out!! I was very excited and somehow I knew that this had been caused by the contractions and meant that we were going to have the baby soon. By six the contractions had become regular. By 8pm they were extremely painful, and by 10pm they were almost unbearable. I rang the hospital again, but they listened to my contractions which slowed to 5 mins apart (they were actually 4 mins apart and i lied and said they were 2-3 minutes). The midwife again said I shouldn't come in. At 11.30 the TENS machine was doing bugger all, the contractions were still four minutes apart, but the pain was so excruciating I couldn't take it any more, so I told DH just to take me to the hospital. I had a massive contraction outside our house as I tried to get into the car, two in the car, a huge one in the hospital car park, and one as we walked into the MLU, which was lucky as DH had been given a wheelchair to take me in and he crashed it so many times I was laughing and thinking I wouldn't get taken seriously.
The midwife immediately said I could stay and stayed with us in the room from that point on, never leaving except to get us drinks or to get the pethidine I later asked for. I had an hour and a half on gas and air, which helped (but not enough) and then asked if I could have pethidine. The midwife examined me and said I was 5cm and it was perfect timing for it. Had the pethidine, turned into a bit of a loony - sleeping between contractions and waking to say things to DH or the midwife from my dream as if the dreams were real. The pethidine, the calm reassurance of the midwife, DH's amazing help in getting me drinks, helping me change positions regularly, letting me hang on him for contractions and so on, all helped me get into a zone where I knew I could keep going to the birth. Started pushing at 4am and went on the birthing stool with DH supporting me from behind. Asked for more pethidine, repeatedly, and the midwife obviously said no. At 5.30 she said the baby would be born by six, and at ten past six she was put into my arms.
Natural delivery of placenta, delayed cord cutting (DH cut the cord), and in the end a quick 'real' labour for a first-time attempt. Had a small perineal tear and two cuts to the labia but didn't require stitches.
After reading all the other stories on here I feel pretty blessed :)
Quick question for more experienced mums who have made it this far through this giant post! (have posted this on the BF boards too). Isobel fed constantly last night - every hour for 12 hours - and while her stools had gone the grainy mustardy yellow they were meant to be the last one was quite dark brown. Bit worried I might have a slow flow as she kept coming off the breast very agitated and trying frantically to latch back on. Anyone think it sounds like this? Or is the occasional brown stool nothing to worry about?