The waiting really is the hardest part. Unless, of course, you're Hoda Kotb and guest co-host Carson Daly and royal shots are involved — Crown Royal, that is.
Prince William and Kate are expecting their first child and, with the Duchess of Cambridge now in labor, the world is holding its collective breath for the official birth announcement. Hoda and Carson are no exception. With a camera fixed on the hospital doors at St. Mary's Hospital's Lindo Wing and Natalie Morales on call, all systems are go for any and all royal baby news.
“To the royal baby!” Carson cheered, throwing back a shot of Crown Royal at the show's start. “Do we have a baby? Hoda, did we have a baby?”
“Not yet,” Hoda assured him. “We did not have a baby yet.”
“I feel bad for Natalie Morales,” Carson confessed, “who has exhausted every possible thing to do in and around the London area.”
Perhaps hoping to make Natalie's day a little shorter, Hoda said, “We believe, because Carson and I are optimists, that during the course of our hour, someone is going to walk out of that door with the birth announcement.”
But it might be a while yet, at least according to Carson. While he didn't deny that optimism charge, Carson did feel he had to let Hoda down gently: “I don't think that's going to happen. The rumor is that the Duchess is into a very natural — what's the nice way to say this — she's going to let nature take its course. There's no royal Pitocin happening to speed up this labor process.”
“And we should point out,” Hoda said, “that she didn't go in ambulance. She went by car with her husband.”
“No horse and carriage?” Carson asked, obviously confused.
“No, and they weren't scrambling,” Hoda laughed, before wondering whether Carson thought the baby would be a boy or a girl.
Carson was confident. “I think it's going to be a boy,” he said. “Because Kate had early morning sickness. And I think that's the only indicator we got.”
Hoda, obviously in a betting mood, wondered: “And what time do you think? Let's bet on times right now.”
“I hope it happens in the next twenty minutes,” Carson said, “because I've sworn to take all these royal shots. But, I honestly don't think it'll happen for another eight to ten hours.”
Much to everyone's disappointment, Carson pragmatism prevailed over Hoda's optimism. No royal baby yet. And, without Carson and Hoda to get us through, the waiting is once again the hardest part.