39 Weeks and Waiting...

No Lucy yet! Although, (TMI warning here) I do think I may be losing my mucous plug. Yum! Rob and I walked today around the local library grounds, but still no contractions (as far as I know). I basically spent the entire walk talking about every single little thing I am fretting about: how I'm worried the epi won't take, that I'll tear something terrible, that I won't be a good mother, that I'll suck at breastfeeding, that my dogs will feel neglected, that I won't want to return to work in April, that Lucy won't like me when she's 15... I just went on and on. Rob just spent the whole time telling me that everything would be fine, of course! I'm just so nervous not knowing when this is going to happen. This is almost worse than my last two week wait... I said almost because that was absolute torture!

So, here I am in all my completely 39 week pregnant glory (ha, ha...right). This may be the last photo of me pregnant with Lucy! Who knows?

Final pictures of Lucy's room, I finally got the rocking chair from my mom's house, put up some sheer curtains and added a lamp. I really like how it turned out and feel like the pictures just don't do it justice because it looks so much better in real life. I think Lucy will love it!

And, just for fun some pictures of the crazy snow we had over the past couple weeks...or as our newscasters liked to call it "ARTIC BLAST"!

"So we keep waiting

Waiting on the world to change"

-John Mayer

Lucy Watch 2008 Continues...

No Lucy yet! Christmas was wonderful, I hope everyone had as wonderful a Christmas Eve and Christmas day as I did. On Christmas Eve Rob cooked a absolutely beautiful dinner for my mom and myself. To start we had cheese fondue with foccacia and cauliflower. For the main course we feasted on roast duck with a pomegranate gastrique (like a clear sauce for those as non-culinary as myself, I just had to ask him again what it was called...I could just call it delicious I suppose), twice baked potatoes (my favorite, I had five...YES I did say 5! Three for me, two for Lucy, blame her the little piggie), sauteed spinach and individual then truffle cakes with pomegranate whipped cream for dessert. Um, can you say AMAZING? So good. I swear when Rob cooks it is like eating out at a 5 star restaurant, in my own home!

After dinner we went to the Christmas Concert we attend every year on Christmas Eve. I was so afraid I would be in the hospital and miss it, and my mom was convinced that I should stay home and rest, but I assured her I was fine and off we went. It really "makes" Christmas Eve. It is a lovely concert with an extremely talented Portland pianist and an array of other artists. It is truly amazing. If you are a Portlander I cannot emphasize enough that you go to a Michael Allen Harrison concert, and try and make it to the Christmas at the Old Church concert next year, it is truly fabulous and makes my Christmas season every year all the more special.

Christmas morning was wonderful with yet again a culinary masterpiece by Rob for breakfast. He made his own lox this year and we had lox and bagels, poached eggs on spinach and bacon with toast. Yum! My mom came over again to join us and we opened presents. I got a ton of lovely things, and we even stuck to our budget this year which was really nice. My favorite is a silver bangle bracelet from Rob and Lucy with a quote on it that I will use as my end quote for this entry. To finish out the day wee had dinner at my mother's (again more delicious food!) and then went home and enjoyed a quiet Christmas night together in front of the fire.

As far as I know I haven't been having any more contractions, but honestly I don't know what they feel like if I am! I'm having a lot of stomach and back pain, but I'm just not sure. They hurt, that is for sure, but I don't want to get my hopes up that Miss Lucy is on her way so I keep thinking that it is just pain and not contraction pain. We'll see what the doctor's office says on Tuesday at my appointment. Although, my doctor is now officially out of town and I my appointment is with her colleague who I had a bad experience with last year, (see entry Doctor Debbie Downer), we'll see if she behaves herself this time! We'll also see if I've gained any weight from all the wonderful food I've had lately. I was down a pound last week so I think my highest weight was offically 34 lbs, which isn't bad at all if I do say so myself. My goal was to keep it under 40 and I did it. Whoo hoo!

39 week picture to come since I had Rob take it tonight but have to download it onto my other computer and then transfer onto this computer...and I'm just too lazy to make the trip upstairs!

Think easy labor thoughts for me!!!! We are so anxious and so excited for Lucy's arrival!!

"A mother holds her children's hand for a short while but their hearts forever"

-Quote from Rob and Lucy's Christmas present to me

Lucy Watch 2008...

No Miss Lucy yet! I was all excited last week with my continued progress only to visit the doctor today to find...nada. Same as last week. 1 1/2 dilated. BOO. I was so ready for her to come this week. We're just dying to meet her! I've done a ton of walking, I'm not working (which is such a relief) and Rob and I have been doing lots of, er, extra curricular activities...every day. Lucky dog!

On the up side at least now my chances of spending Christmas in the hospital are slim to none. That is a plus because I just love Christmas. We're just hoping she comes soon because we are so excited and anxious for her grand arrival.

Rob's bet was yesterday, Monday the 22nd, and he spent all day talking to my stomach telling her to come out. Pleading really, he hates to lose a bet. My bet was this Friday, so I guess there is a chance that I could still win. However, it really bummed me out to schedule my induction with my doctor today for January 14th, in case she really does decide to hold out in there the doctor wanted to be all ready to go. I don't know if I can stand the suspense that long. Come on Lucy!

So not much to report here. I'm feeling better than I have in well over a month. Relaxing at home, sleeping in, being pampered like I am really does a 9 month pregnant girl some good! Rob cooks me everything, cleans the house, drives me everywhere (due to the 14 inches of SNOW out there)... I'm pretty much waited on hand and foot. I was so stressed at work that this just feels so wonderful, so at least if Lucy came in the next couple weeks it would be to a completely relaxed person rather than one all stressed out and overworked. I think this will also make such a difference in my delivery. If I had gone into labor last week with the stress of work and everything, I just don't think I would have the strength that I'm storing up now!

Once the Christmas craziness is over I'll keep the updates more frequent because... I don't have anything else to do. Whoo hoo!

"The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part."

-Tom Petty