Happy Mother's Day

This year Mother's Day in the house of M was just chock full of hijinx.

This morning I decided I wanted Cheese Blintzes for breakfast [mmmmm] so I whip out my mixing bowls and get to cooking [Note to self: First recipe to teach Monkey? Blintzes]. So I'm standing there, with Monkey critiquing over my shoulder about how this crepe is not perfectly round and that crepe is too big, when I notice I'm leaking a bit. I've been doing that for the last several days-just a teensy bit at a time-but since there wasn't a gush of fluid, there wasn't enough leakage to pool, and my contractions weren't getting any worse I was happy to ignore it in favor of relaxation, sleep, and blintzes. And, honestly, I didn't want to have to drive the whole way out to the hospital just to be sent home again. This was more leaking than I'd been having, but still not a gushy, pooly, drippy kind of leaking...so I decided to sit on it. [Pun only half intended.] About 20 minutes later I started having some serious levels of pressure.

Okay fine, I sighed (mostly to myself). I'll go in. Just in case. But I'm not driving all the way to the hospital if I don't have to.

I pull myself away from the crepey goodness and head over to our local urgent care office, conviniently located less than a mile from our house. I told the doc what was happening, she gave me the good-old-cotton-swab, and after about 10 minutes she came back in and said "Congratulations-your water broke! You're going to have your baby today! Better get going to the L&D to pick up your Mother's Day present."

I. Was. Seriously. So. Excited.

Sure I was in pain, but this pain was going somewhere! I was going to have this baby! And on Mother's Day~how cute was that? This was it! Round up the troops! Call the grandparents! TWITTER!!

It was, of course, too adorable to be true. I get to the L&D and they hook me up and swab me down-I'm sitting there, ants in my pants, waiting to hear that I've dilated more or they're going to start my pitocin-or better yet, hear that the anesthesologist is on his way!-when they come back in and tell me that my water didn't actually break. Oopsies.

OOPSIES?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! I am absolutely certain that if I were a cartoon steam would have shot out of my ears and my head would have exploded into an atomic cloud of confetti.

I am still confused about how-exactly-one gets a false positive on a ferning test but my frustration level has come down from 'nuclear war peace talks' to 'ran out of toilet paper' so I'm okay-all because of Monkey.

When we got home, he ran up to me and said "I am so glad you're home Mommy! I love you sooooooooooooo much, and you're my very favorite. Happy Mother's Day!" Then he held my hand and took me upstairs to read him a story before he went to bed. It was a little past his bedtime (grandparents don't have to "do" bedtime) so while I was reading his eyes were getting droopy in that sweet way that babies' eyes have of doing. I closed the book and leaned over to kiss him and he threw his arms around me. He snuggled into my neck and said, "Thank you for reading that story Mommy. I love you through and through."

That's what motherhood is all about. Being so frustrated one minute you nearly burst a blood vessel and then-at exactly the right moment-being overwhelmed by the unconditional and awestruck love your child has for you.

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!