by Kelly Wilbanks posted in Parenting

We've all been there, pregnant or not, and had to go to the bathroom...like really, really bad. I remember being in customs while traveling and thinking my bladder was going to explode. I was contemplating a slow release when I finally made it through the line and booked it to the bathroom.
Now, quadruple that feeling, add weakened pelvic floor muscles from a previous birth, 7 months of pregnancy and no bathroom in sight. That was me a couple years ago. I think I was by myself, which is surprising to think about because I'm never by myself now. But I was alone this time and quickly became desperate when no obvious solution presented itself.

I was parked between a middle school, a park, and a little museum that was CLOSED. Everything around me was closed: the bathroom to the pool, the museum, and the little soda shop. Knocking on the front door of the middle school and ask to use the restroom seemed futile in this age of background checks. I felt a bit paralyzed until I remembered that my daughter's potty chair was in the back of our van.  I've used our van to covertly breastfeed, but never for this. But desperate times call for desperate measures. I looked right. I looked left. Covertly, I opened the driver-side door and, as quickly as my rotund body would allow, I heaved myself into the second row bucket-seat.
Despite my seven months of belly bulk I dug past the McDonald french fries, the baby carriers, and whatever else was lying...