In January, if someone would have told me that I would have a child this year, I would have told them they were nuts. Having children was not something my husband and I wanted to do. We had decided to enjoy our simple, quiet lives. We decided to be the doting aunt and uncle to my niece and nephew and to all our friends' children. But as I write this, it's June 2006 and I have a 2 month old son. He's the most perfect child I have ever seen and was hiding out inside me. How could I not have known?

It was February when I decided to go see my GYN doctor. I had a few things to discuss with him and some things I wanted him to check on...

First was my lack of a menstrual period. I had been on Depo-Provera for almost six years, so I never had a period. That telltale sign of pregnancy was not a give away. I'd stopped taking it in September of 2004 and was waiting patiently for my body to return to normal. I never had a period. I had a few months of spotting, and that was it.

Second, I thought that perhaps I had a bladder infection. It seemed I was running back and forth to the restroom all day long!

Third — and this always cracks people up — I had been feeling what I thought were gas bubbles rolling around in my belly since January. So during my visit, the good doctor did a pelvic exam and a urinalysis, and told me I was fine. He actually told me that the "bubbles" I had been feeling were "all in my head and had nothing to do with my female organs."

I had been to see him in September of 2005 for my annual exam and was told that I needed to give the Depo more time to get out of my system. Of course we now know that I was pregnant then and he never checked for it. I never suspected. I never had a reason to!

The doctor drew some blood. He told me he was going to check my hormones and do a pregnancy test — just to be safe. He even went so far as to schedule an ultrasound to check for possible cysts or abnormalities on my ovaries that might be causing me not to have periods.

So I returned to work, thinking nothing more of it all.

About and hour later, I get a call from his office. I was told my pregnancy test came back "very positive." I was floored. I hung up the phone and called my husband. He was stunned. I began to cry and did not stop for 24 hours. This was all happening too fast.

The next day I went in for an ultrasound. I could not imagine I could be all that far along, but in my mind I kept going back to the months I did have some spotting. That was in July... JULY! That would make me 7 months pregnant!

My husband and mother went with me. A heartbeat was found with no problem. The technician took measurements of all the organs so that she could give me a gestation estimate. She could not tell me what the baby's sex was because he was already too big and facing downward. At the end she told us she estimated me to be perhaps 32 weeks along! Not realizing what that meant in terms of "months," I asked. She told me that was 8 1/2 months!

She was a bit off – obviously – but I did not know that at the time, and was so upset that I became nearly catatonic. I returned to the waiting room, sitting there holding my mother's hand and crying until they called me back in to speak with the doctor.

He was very apologetic and even said that he was "sheep faced" that he did not catch this back in September at my annual visit. He looked at the ultrasound report and told me that my child looked great! No abnormalities; size was good; fluid was good; everything was good.

He told me that I was, in reality, about 7 1/2 months along. I looked at him and told him "See! This was not all in my head!"

I was suddenly so scared of all the things I had put in my body not knowing I was pregnant. I use Nasal Spray entirely too much, take too much Excedrin for headaches and Tylenol PM to help me sleep. Plus, I was taking a prescription diuretic for hypertension. I do not drink a lot but in the past seven months had done so from time to time. Not to excess, but I've always heard that any is bad. He told me not to worry... that everything looked fine.

I was still worried... (I still am — and he's here and fine!)

As we leave his office, my whirlwind pregnancy begins.

At this point I am still stunned, but begin to feel a bit better about it all. I keep running over the past seven months in my mind. In retrospect, all the signs were there. I just could not read them.

In October, I'd gotten very nauseated at the smell of barbeque cocktail wieners at the office, when usually I love those things.

In November, I'd started experiencing bad lower back pain, and what felt like pressure on my pelvis. I'd just taken some Doan's pills and gone on my merry way.

Also in November, my wrists had begun to hurt terribly with Carpal Tunnel. I have a job that's all PC work, so I chalked it up to too much time at the keyboard.

Then the "bubbles" started in January. And throughout the entire seven months I can recall the persistent annoyance of heartburn... and all the times I cried for no reason at all.

My poor husband thought I was falling apart. I secretly thought something was really wrong with me! I even thought on occasion that I could be pregnant, but always dismissed it because I thought I couldn't get pregnant until the Depo was totally out of my system. Little did I know...

So it all makes sense now, and all of my "symptoms" are gone. I had what, to me, was a 6-week pregnancy.

I was the talk of the office and of my friends. No one could understand how I could not know. To be fair, I am not a small gal. Though I never gained any weight, my waistbands were getting awfully tight! Once I shared my story, everyone seemed to understand.

Three weeks after my discovery, I found myself in the hospital with PIH (Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension). They had taken me off diuretics to avoid having them affect my amniotic fluid. My blood pressure spiked and I began gaining fluid weight. I was admitted for "observation" and spent five days in the hospital. The Obstetrician put me on Labetalol and sent me home for bed rest until I delivered. Eventually I was scheduled for induction at 39 weeks.

On April 2nd I was admitted and began the process of induction. For 2 days the doctors and nurses tried to get me into labor — to no avail. The baby was coming when he was ready, and not before!

On April 5th at 10:25 a.m., weighing in at 7 pounds 10 ounces, my son was born via Caesarian Section. He spent a few days in the NICU for some wetness on his lungs from the lack of labor kick starting his lungs and the lack of a good squeeze through the birth canal, and also for some very mild jaundice. As I write this, he just turned 2 months old and is absolutely perfect.

My family and friends were a tremendous help throughout my abbreviated pregnancy. They somehow managed to throw showers for us and ready a nursery. He has more clothes than he'll ever be able to wear before he outgrows them, and more love than anyone can imagine.

He's our miracle surprise baby.

I am coming to terms with it. Sometimes I get overwhelmed at the sheer magnitude of it all. I am a MOM now! I never thought I would be, or that I even wanted to be. I am told that I took to motherhood very well. I never understood the whole "instinct" thing but now I do. Everything I do now is for him. I love him more than I ever thought possible — and have from the moment I saw him.
— Laura Ruffner