Early - On Time - Late

Time is an interesting concept, a way in which we orchestrate our lives. Time is something we run out of, wish we had more of, wish would pass by more quickly. There are deadlines to meet, alarms to get us out of bed, flights to catch, apologies when we're late and "killing time" when we're early. We wish we had more time to do what makes us happy and we watch the clock wondering when the work day will end. Time is measured with hours, days, weeks, months, years and seasons. There are milestone birthdays and anniversaries to celebrate the passing of time. We even have common sayings about time - Time heals all wounds, it's just a matter of time, only time will tell, take it one day at a time. Certain things take a certain amount of time... cakes take 45 minutes to bake, movies last about two hours, degrees take years to earn and babies are born in about 9 months.
Maybe you notice your period is late so you take an at home pregnancy test and wait 3 minutes to see the results. In our case my period wasn't late and there was no wait time needed. As soon as the test was taken a plus sign appeared and I couldn't have been happier or more surprised. I made an appointment with my doctor and waited for the first trimester to pass. We waited even beyond that to share the news with my family until we felt confident that things were moving along as they should be. I tracked week by week and read all about what developments were happening, feeling our baby boy and girl move more and more each day.
24 weeks, the week of viability began and I was starting to get used to this new round shape I saw growing day by day. I was using most of the maternity clothes Grandma helped me pick out. I was happy, busy and all about babies. But some of those clothes will not be worn, the tags will remain on them because as I got up to get a slice of pizza my water broke - Week 24, Day 3.
We rushed to the hospital and they confirmed that I did indeed break my water and would be admitted to the hospital and put on bed rest. They told us that every day the babies remained inside would help them tremendously. I got in both steroid shots to help develop their lungs and all organs and stayed horizontal for over 1 week.
We listened to their heartbeats, checked fluid levels, watched for contractions and waited. I prayed, cried, had the best support system in the world and stayed strong and hopeful.
April 9th I woke up and went for an ultrasound. Now both babies had about the same amount of fluid, 1.52 and I knew we were running out of time. By dinnertime that night more water came in a small gush and my cervix was now open 1cm. Contractions began and about 6 hours passed by. It was time to have the babies at 25 weeks, 3 days. With a tremendous leap of faith and hope that's what we did - it was time.