Playing the Waiting Game

Well, our little Claire was due to arrive on October 30th, but we are still waiting for her. I know these due dates are not an exact science, but I'm really hoping that she makes her entrance sooner than later!

In truth, I have had an amazing pregnancy and I've loved being pregnant. At this point, it's not like I'm overly uncomfortable or anything - I'm just excited to hold my little girl. The most important thing is her health though, and she seems to be doing great. At each appointment, her heart beat is good and strong, and she moves around on a regular basis. We have another appointment on Wednesday at which point we will decide if it is time to induce labor or to perform weekly ultra-sounds and non-stress tests to make sure that she's still thriving in her environment. Despite my desire to have her hear as soon as possible, I'd prefer to go into labor on my own, but whatever is best for her is what I'm willing to do.

In preparation for her arrival, I went on maternity leave from my job three weeks ago. I was hoping this would give me some time before baby's arrival to get some projects done, especially as we had just moved into a new place. Little did I know how much time I would have... :) However, it has been a blessing. I had several large projects, some which I'd been meaning to do for literally years, that I was able to finish. And now, starting tomorrow, I have oodles of time to work on such fun things as outstanding craft projects, an online course, studying Chinese, personal reading, and all sorts of other nerdy things and outstanding smaller projects that I haven't made time for in a long while - one of those items being blogging! I'm hoping my excitement to start these much anticipated projects will influence Claire to make her entrance now, but if not, hey, I'm still looking forward to working on them. :)

The hardest part of the last couple of weeks has been my inability to sleep a full night. Between having to go to the bathroom every couple of hours, achiness, a brain that will not shut off due to I'm sure some form of nesting syndrome, and a general paranoia at living somewhere new (it always takes me awhile to adjust to the new sounds of a new place), I've come to really dislike night time. Perhaps it's my body preparing me for motherhood - I hear I won't be sleeping much pretty soon. :) However, at this point I'd rather be up taking care of a baby at all hours of the night rather than laying there wondering what to do with myself because I know I should be sleeping. But, taken as a whole, since this is my only complaint, I feel pretty dang lucky.

So, we'll continue to play the waiting game and just be happy that our baby is healthy, we are healthy, and knowing that she can't stay in there forever!

As an update, following are some pictures from a couple of baby showers that I had over the past couple of months:

In September, my office threw me a surprise baby shower. It was a lot of fun and so sweet of them to do this for me! Looking back, it was quite comical to realize the ways they were trying to get me out of the office so that they could decorate!





Then, in early October, my friend Kayla threw another shower for me. She did an incredible job and had the most adorable diaper cake made for me! It's so much fun to get baby things!