35 Weeks- What Happened

35 Weeks was eventful in the most eventful way.

I woke up feeling exhausted and thinking that I may not be able to work until 36 weeks as planned. When I got to work that day two different people said, "you look different today". That day I decided that even though I was in the thick of orienting 2 people to replace me, I would probably not come back to work after the weekend. I had a great time celebrating my babe to come with my co-workers at a potluck baby shower for the Little Lady that afternoon.
When I headed back to work at the end of the potluck I suddenly felt like I had to pee really badly. Like REALLY BADLY. As a made a beeline for the bathroom, I felt like I was peeing my pants; soaking them, emptying my whole bladder-type peeing, not just a little leakage! When I got to the bathroom I finished up and wiped, but felt like I was still going. Then I saw a little blood on the toilet paper. Then it sunk in that I had not peed my pants at all...oh shit, my water was breaking. Lucky for me, I work on the same floor as Labor and Delivery, so I walked my wet self down the hall and checked myself in. 

This was a very inconvenient time for this to happen for several reasons. 

1. The Hubs was WAY out of town on business and at least 24 hours by plane travel away.

2. I had not yet started my maternity leave and working until the last minute was not my plan!

3. My Mom was also across the country.

4. Nothing. Let me repeat, NOTHING was ready. No crib assembled, no hospital bag, washing machine broken, bathroom remodel in full swing, "nursery" a big pit of boxes to be unpacked.

But...February 6th was destined to be my Little One's Birthday, convenient or not.

Looking back, I think my motto for the day was, "I can't believe this is happening". Because I really couldn't. I must have said it 205 times and even after she was born it took a good long while for the reality to sink in because my mind just wasn't there yet. For some reason I thought I would go right to my due date or even later and be worrying about induction and what that would mean for labor.

As I write, my baby is 3 weeks old. She is perfection. She makes all of our journey worthwhile and lets me know that while I wouldn't have chosen infertility or wished for baby-making to be so high tech and such a lengthy process, I wouldn't change it. Because she was meant to be ours.

Friends, meet Piper.