My Mil Hijacked My Baby Shower And Labeled Me As The “Surrogate.” She Even Created A Timeline For When I Should Hand Over My Son. Does She Actually Believe This Is Legal?

A Peaceful Ending to Pregnancy

Trevor’s father said she barely left her house for a week, just stayed inside and didn’t talk to anyone. The silence was almost as weird as the harassment had been, like we kept waiting for the next thing to happen, but weeks went by and nothing did. I could go to my doctor appointments without checking the waiting room for her face.

I could go to the grocery store without worrying she would corner me in an aisle. The last two months of my pregnancy were peaceful in a way I hadn’t experienced since before Diane found out I was expecting. Trevor and I took a childbirth class at the hospital on Tuesday evenings, learning breathing techniques and labor positions.

The other couples in the class would talk about their families and who was coming to visit after the baby arrived, and we would just smile and not mention that we had a restraining order against Trevor’s mother. I kept seeing Kylie every other week, and we worked on strategies for protecting our boundaries after the baby came. She helped us create a clear plan for who could visit and when, what information we would share on social media, how we would handle anyone who tried to push our limits.

Trevor practiced saying no without explaining or justifying, just a simple no that didn’t leave room for argument. We decided together that we wanted to keep the baby’s birth completely private from extended family until we were ready to share the news ourselves. We didn’t want anyone showing up at the hospital or posting about it online before we had time to adjust to being parents.

We told Margot and Julia they were the only ones who would know when I went into labor, and they would help us manage communication with everyone else. Margot said she would bring us food and supplies but wouldn’t overstay her welcome, and Julia promised to run interference if anyone started asking questions. We felt ready, or as ready as anyone can feel before their first baby arrives.

The nursery was finished with soft yellow walls and white furniture, clothes washed and folded in the dresser, car seat installed and inspected. We had done this without Diane trying to take over every decision, without her showing up with blue outfits and custody demands. Our daughter would come home to a peaceful house with parents who knew how to protect her, and that felt like the best gift we could give her.

Kendall’s Arrival

I woke up at 2:00 in the morning three days before my due date with my water breaking all over our bed. Trevor jumped up and started grabbing the hospital bag we’d packed weeks ago while I called Margot to let her know it was happening. The contractions started getting stronger during the 20-minute drive to the hospital, and Trevor kept one hand on the wheel and one hand holding mine while he called Margot again to activate our communication plan.

When we got to the maternity ward, the nurse checked my file, and I saw her make a note on her computer before she picked up the phone. She told someone that the patient with the security alert had arrived and they needed someone at the desk right away. A security guard showed up within five minutes, and the nurse explained to us that they’d flagged Diane’s name and description in the system.

So if anyone matching her information tried to get up to our floor, security would stop them before they reached the maternity ward. The next 12 hours were the hardest physical thing I’d ever done, but Trevor stayed right next to me the whole time, letting me squeeze his hand until I thought I might break his fingers. When Kendall finally arrived at 2:00 in the afternoon, tiny and perfect and screaming, the nurse put her on my chest and I couldn’t stop crying.

Trevor was crying too when he got to hold her for the first time, just staring at her face like he couldn’t believe she was real. We spent those first few hours just being together as our new family of three, taking a million photos on our phones but not sending them to anyone yet. The nurses kept the door closed and only came in when necessary, giving us privacy to just be with our daughter without the world knowing she’d arrived yet.

On day two in the hospital, a nurse came in during her morning rounds and mentioned something while checking my blood pressure. She said someone had called the main hospital line earlier asking about patients matching our description, but hospital policy didn’t let them confirm any patient information to anyone not on our approved visitor list. The nurse said the caller had been a woman who sounded older and kept insisting she was the grandmother and had rights to know if her grandson had been born.

We looked at each other and knew immediately it was Diane, but she never actually showed up at the hospital in person. The security guard told us later that they’d been watching for her specifically, and she must have realized the restraining order meant she’d be arrested if she tried to come inside. That night, I finally relaxed enough to sleep for more than an hour at a time, knowing that Diane couldn’t get to us or Kendall no matter how hard she tried.