waiting

I was rereading some of my recent blog entries, and it's remarkable how many start with, "It's [some absurd hour of the night] and I can't sleep, so I'm blogging instead." This one is no different. I got up to go to the bathroom at 3:15 am, and that was the end of my good night's sleep. I lay in bed with my head nestled in Abe's armpit for the better part of an hour; finally I gave in and got up. Nothing to do but play online scrabble and blog.

Can I just say, without my family and friends, I would be a miserable wreck right now. But every day, the beautiful people around me remind me that, despite my super swollen ankles/face/fingers/feet, my perpetually aching pelvis, and my burgeoning bump (which, according to the doctor, currently houses a SEVEN pound baby!!), life is still good.

Take yesterday. My dear friend Randee rescued me from the Monday blues by coming over and taking me to the Lake County dog park. This dog park is a huge meadow and forest preserve that makes you feel like you've completely left the city behind. When Randee pulled up, her smiling face and Sherman's wagging tail immediately brightened my day. She was test driving a mini cooper, and so our drive to the dog park was quite exciting.

Once we got to the park, everyone had fun. The whole ground was solidly iced, but that didn't stop Sherman! In thirty quick seconds, he had a coterie of doggy friends following him happily around the meadow, and he had a blast outpacing them all in vigorous games of fetch. If his happy form hadn't been so beautiful to watch, I would have been jealous of his agility and speed. I tried to take pictures, but they didn't capture the pure joy expressed by the body of a dog in top form.

Randee and Sherman exchanging smiles

Sherman running after a ball. In his enthusiasm for the sport, he has left his new friends waaaaaaaay behind.

 After the dog park, Randee gave me this sweet outfit for Lydia to wear home from the hospital. I love it, and I love its little message! Even now when I look at it, I feel encouraged. Lydia is definitely worth the wait.

After the dog park, Clark and I went to go get Indian food. The hope was all the spices would help induce labor, but so far that hasn't worked. Sunday night I was up until 3am experiencing false contractions. They were so close together that I got super excited and thought I might actually be going into labor...but, sadly, they stopped. As they dropped off in frequency, I started praying and explained to God why it would be advantageous to all parties involved if Lydia made her splashdown right away, but then it occurred to me that maybe God was holding off sending Lydia for Abe's sake. I rolled over and asked Abe suspiciously whether there was any good reason for him for Lydia to be born later, and he reluctantly replied that he had to teach a class Tuesday, and that it would be better if she were born after that class.

Dang it! I rolled back over and told God I would wait until after Abe's class, but after that I fully expected some divine cooperation in getting Lydia to earth sooner rather than later. She's already more than seven pounds, and if we wait around much longer, I could be birthing a pretty big baby. So my new prayer is that she'll be born later tonight--after Abe's class.

Her head is so low that for the past couple weeks, the doctor has had to push it out of the way in order to figure out how dilated I am. There's nothing like sitting through a third trimester doctor's exam to make you feel like a farm animal. I sit there, legs wide apart, grimacing and breathing hard while the doctor exclaims over and over about how incredibly low her head is and how he has to shove it out of the way to get to the cervix. Good times, good times. But, as Randee's onesie says, Lydia is worth the wait!

If you have extra room in your prayers, you can feel free to join me in praying that the wait ends SOON. =)