I saw the doc this morning.  Basically, there’s nothing to report.  I told him I won’t ask to be induced unless he thinks it necessary, and he said that it won’t be necessary until next week when I’ll officially be overdue.

So, we wait some more.  I keep hoping I’ll go into labor naturally, but I have my doubts.  It just doesn’t happen for me.  But maybe if I keep busy and don’t think about it, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. 

People keep asking me how I feel.  I’m not sure how to answer that question.  Maybe it’s because I’m not exactly sure what feelings folks are interested in.  Are they wondering if I’m going into labor?  Are they wondering if I’m discouraged?  What exactly do they want to know?  So, in an attempt to cover all the bases, I’ll try to answer the various angles of that question here.

1.  Physically, I feel fine, I guess.  I’m quite full of a baby who is already 8 lbs, but I can still walk around and get up and get down and do whatever else I’m supposed to do.  I’m sleeping ok at night, despite getting up very frequently to use the bathroom.  But I don’t have any trouble getting comfortable or falling asleep.  In fact, I suppose the fact that I’m not in terrible discomfort is actually bad news, since the pain might mean that I’m close to going into labor.  If I could answer, “Oh, I’m in terrible shape! I’m having constant pains and contractions!” perhaps that would be a good answer.  But it’s not true.  There is a discouraging lack of aches and pains.

2.  I realized last night that I’m really getting tired of this whole waiting game.  You know the feeling you get when you’ve been standing in line somewhere for a long time, holding the purchase you thought you really wanted, but after standing there so long you start to reevaluate whether or not you really wanted it in the first place?  Eventually you might decide it’s just not worth it and you leave it sitting on a shelf as you walk out of the store, free of the obligation to spend any more time on this crazy idea.  You’re free to consider other ideas, and you’re even free to walk back into the store at a different time and resume your quest.  Well, I’ve learned that pregnancy doesn’t exactly work like that.  Even if I get tired of waiting and standing in line, I’m stuck.  In some ways, I’m ready to say, “Hey, guys, never mind.  This idea of having a baby and all, well, I’ve changed my mind.  I’m tired of all this craziness.”  I know it’s a very illogical way to think, but pregnant people are entitled to a bit of faulty logic from time to time.

3.  Another angle to this whole “feeling” business is a great desire to see this child who has been my constant companion for the last nine months.  I try to imagine what her face looks like, I try to imagine her tiny body, and I try to imagine holding her and nursing her.  But it’s all just in my imagination for now.  I’m terribly eager to see her for the first time.  I wonder what her personality will be like when she gets older.  Last night our whole family was gathered around the computer looking at photos from a couple of years ago.  How strange to see Amelia in diapers and baby Miguel just after he was born.  How strange to see Laura, Isaac and Luke looking so little and cute!   So then I started thinking forward.  Soon we’ll have baby photos of Lilly… but what will she be like in six years?  What funny things will she say and do?  How will she be different from everyone else?  How will our lives be more complete thanks to her?

So, the next time we meet, if you ask me how I’m feeling, I might just smile and say, “Oh, fine!”  But now you’ll know all the other things going through my head.

When we woke up this morning, there was no ice!  We rolled our eyes and agreed that once again we’d been given a false alarm.

However, by around 9 a.m. the ice started to fall.  Michael hurried out to get some bank business done before the ice got too bad, and by the time he got home he said it was really slick on the roads.

I hoped that the ice would melt by afternoon, because a friend was scheduled to come over and cut the boys’ hair and my hair.  But at 2 pm the ice was still holding on tight, and our haircuts were rescheduled.

It was then that I started to worry about our other scheduled event… decorating gingerbread houses at a local bakery.  Sure enough, by 4:30 pm it was still totally icy outside, so I had to call and let the bakery know that we would not be attending.  The children were so disappointed!  And actually, I was too.  We’ve been looking forward to our decorating appointment all week.

According to the weather forecast, it’s supposed to warm up overnight and melt all the ice by morning.  So I’m guessing tomorrow will be a normal Sunday.  But today was not a normal Saturday.

Interestingly, we haven’t lost power at all today, which surprises me since ice tends to cause power outages.

I guess winter weather is here finally.

Today was a good day of work! I took the children over to the Monroe house around 2 pm, just in time for Judah to lay down for his nap. Then I hurried to finish painting the kitchen ceiling while there was still nice light coming in through the windows. Michael had all the lights taken down, so my only other source of light was from a lamp in the room. Anyway, I worked hard and finished up the ceiling to my satisfaction while the children played nicely elsewhere.

By 4 pm the supper I had brought in the crock pot was ready, so I fed everyone about the time Michael arrived to join the work party. I must share with you that I think I’ve learned the trick to encouraging children to be grateful for their supper: underfeed them at lunchtime! I was in a hurry to leave the house, so lunch was sort of an afterthought. But I was quite pleased that the children ate quite heartily when it was time for supper!

Michael and I continued to work on the house for a few more hours after he arrived. The children wearied of our industriousness, and replaced their comments about being hungry with comments about wishing to go home. We put them off until after 7 pm, and then finally loaded up and headed home.

Michael arranged with Todd to come over and stay with the children so we could go back and work some more. Our idea is that since an ice storm is forecast for morning, we will not try to work tomorrow, thus, we should get as much done today as possible. Once we got the children home and settled, we meandered back toward the Monroe house by way of Coldstone Creamery. I had a coupon, so for under $6 we got two delightful concoctions.

We spent just over an hour at the house doing a few more things before heading back home. But somehow, even those little jobs were very satisfying, and if nothing else, it was nice to work without little people underfoot.

So now we have officially earned the day off tomorrow from working at the Monroe house. If we happen to get over there, fine, but if we stay home and watch icicles form outside, that’s ok too.

Since we are in Central Illinois, we are confident of one thing: we have no idea what the weather will be tomorrow. But at least we’re ready for ice should it decide to fall.