At thirty-one weeks pregnant, the reality of impending motherhood hit Aria with the force of a freight train.
Finals week arrived for her online classes. While she'd managed to keep up with coursework during bed rest, like completing readings and assignments from the couch, and submitting papers from her laptop balanced on a pregnancy pillow, the pressure of final exams and major term papers felt overwhelming when combined with the physical exhaustion of late pregnancy.
Aria sat at the dining table one evening, with one hand pressed to her aching lower back, while the other one was typing furiously on her laptop. Emma kicked relentlessly, making concentration nearly impossible. Every few minutes, Aria would have to stop and breathe through a Braxton Hicks contraction, which was not real
