Pilgrims at Oak Ridge

1. I've decided I hate due dates. As a doctor, I can understand why they are necessary, but they are also sort of torture. At least, they are sort of torture when you are overdue and not prone to being a patient person. And I'm not even that overdue yet. Several people have told me about being two weeks late. I really don't have that in me. 2. Almost everyone else I know who was pregnant and due around the same day as me already has had their baby. Which makes it harder to be patient. 3. I'm very thankful a good friend came over today because she needed my help working on a quilt. We sewed for most of the afternoon. It was great having a project to work on since I already have made three kinds of cookies, banana bread, several onesies to take to the hospital, and have packed (and re-packed - thanks for all the great suggestions) my bags. 4. I'm hoping this is the last post until I have some baby pictures, but we'll see.

Before this pregnancy is over and I forget, I thought I'd post a few of my favorite things I've used during this pregnancy. 1. My water bottle . This is a great gift for someone who works - I kept it with me all the time, filled with water. I love that it has a straw so it doesn't splash on you. 2. Prenatal Pilates. I wish I started this sooner. I used two different DVDs - this 10-minute one , which was nice because it has several 10 minute chunks, and this other one , which was a little more intense. Pilates really helped my back hurt less once I started doing it. But, as I said, I wish I'd started doing it a little earlier. I'm also going to keep using both these videos after the birth, because I think they'll still be good. 3. A maternity swimsuit. Although I didn't get mine until close to the end (I stretched out and squeezed into my regular one for a long time) I did love having it. Instead of shelling out big bucks for a whole suit, I just bought a mat...

So today is my due date. And I'm currently sitting at work, doing a work-in clinic. Not exactly where I hoped I'd be today. But I realize that doing a little work is better for me than sitting at home, driving myself crazy wondering when this baby is going to come. Apparently I have a very comfortable uterus. And baby just seems perfectly content staying inside. You'd think that for all the time it took us to get pregnant, I'd have learned a little patience, that I'd be perfectly content waiting on God's perfect timing for the birth of this wee one. I guess I still have a lot to learn.

Our bags are packed and in the car. This, I assume, ensures us several more days before the little one arrives. :) Even though my bag is already in the car, I decided to do some research on what the mighty expert known as Dr. Google would have to say about it, just to make sure I do have what I need. There were obvious things, like something to wear home, something for the baby to wear home, a toothbrush. (These I could figure out for myself.) Then there are some outdated things. For instance, almost every list I saw told the dad to bring "change for a payphone, calling card, and a list of phone numbers." Since when does someone these days need change for a payphone? Every 15 year old pregnant patient I've delivered has either made a phone call or sent a text with in minutes of giving birth. Even my Mennonite patients use the cell phone in the delivery room. And they all also still say to bring camera and film . Which also seems like a somewhat quaint suggestion. I did se...

Or, as it were, in Belton... My friend, Megan , is doing a cool thing - she is getting people to post about the fun things there are to do in their hometowns. Which is a really cool idea. And you should definitely check out her posts, since she lives in the very cool city of St. Louis. I also want to participate. But there is the small issue of living in Greenwood, SC. I love Greenwood, but honestly there are not that many cool things to do here. Unless you know the code to get on the roof of the hospital . Or have a dad who is also a pilot . Or just want to come here to hang out with some really fun people. Maybe next week I can post about fun things to do in Charleston, since I did live there for four years. There is one thing I'd say is definitely worth doing in Greenwood, although unfortunately it's not actually in Greenwood, but in the nearby town of Belton - our favorite restaurant.... So here is Jeff's review from last year . Since then we've been back here sever...

I've been reading more Jeffrey Steingarten lately. I just finished reading his chapter on the taxonomy, classification, aging, cooking, evaluating, eating, and understanding of the perfect steak. He knows more about food than I thought was possible to know. I respect his opinions as one who is accomplished in the world of eating. But then I read something that made me skeptical. Early in the next chapter, on the eating of chocolate chip cookies, he mentions that one fail-safe option is to find the brightly yellow colored bag of Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips in the grocery store, and follow the recipe printed on the back. Not terribly suspicious yet, but then he notes that if you go a little light on the flour, you end up with an even better cookie. I have to admit, this is causing me to doubt his entire body of work. A couple months back I made cookies. I followed the recipe notoriously printed on the back of the NT bag, followed it to the letter. But the cookies floun...

I had get up during the church service today, right when the sermon was starting. And I sit way down front, on the the third row, while everyone else sits behind me. I think the entire church momentarily worried that I was about to go give birth in the bathroom. But no, it was just someone pushing a little too hard on my bladder. As you can see, it's not just Jeff and I who are anxiously awaiting this baby...

I had almost decided that I wasn't going to get my little diaper bag done before the baby came. Not because I thought I didn't have enough time, but I was just having a hard time motivating myself to work on it. But I guess a nesting or crafting instinct took over - and so I finished it up this morning. I really love how it came out. It also helped me understand why people who make cute bags and sell them on etsy charge so much - it really took me a while to do, though making up a pattern as I went along definitely made me have to stop and think about how I wanted to do everything. Anyway....here it is: I love the zippered pocket on the front. Inside front. Here is the inside - it has two elastic pockets. (It's hard to photograph the inside of a bag.) The back pocket might be my favorite part - I love how the pleats look. And...it has a completely adjustable strap. So now I guess the baby can really come - I think I don't have anything else to make.....

So here I am, 9 days from my due date, (im)patiently waiting for this little one to make his or her arrival. Honestly, I mostly feel fine and still feel like this pregnancy has been a fairly easy one, though I am definitely also feeling more and more ready to be unpregnant. I decided that the end of pregnancy is sort of like your engagement. You make all these plans, you pick a venue (i.e. hospital), you have showers, you try to get ready to understand how your life is going to change, you read parenting books (I'd love any recommendations anyone has) while you anxiously await the Big Day. Except.... You have NO idea when the Big Day will be. (I guess this is not true for those who have a scheduled C-section, but still...) It's like any day you could wake up, have your fiancee come to you and say, "Ok....today's the day we're getting married. Now go get dressed." It could be in the middle of the night. It could be while you're at work. You have no idea. Or...

So here's sweet Skylar, whose mom is my doctor. Seriously, her eyebrows are out of control.... I love this pic of Jeff entertaining her.... He's gonna be a great daddy.

We went on a brief resident retreat this weekend. I figured it was safe to go, since my doctor was staying in the same cabin with me. If I went into labor, I imagined we could just all pile in the car and ride to the hospital together. I got a massage - my first ever - it was very, very nice. One of the other residents gave my hair a trim. And I ate a lot of delicious food. A lot. We came back a day early, both so that we could sleep in our own bed and so that Jeff could preach this morning. I'm not sure if our dog has ever been so happy to see us.

Well, it's not exactly finished - there's definitely some finishing touches I'd love to get done, but it's getting there. Art from: Trafalgar's square on etsy . I covered this lampshade, using this tutorial . It really worked well and really didn't take long. Mobile inspired by these .

Tell Garden 2010 is underway!! This will now be my third summer of gardening, and I like to think I've learned a little something from the first two summers. If nothing else, I've learned that you don't need to start everything indoors. Many vegetables, and all herbs do just fine being started out doors once things warm up. But the tomatoes and peppers I still start inside. They grow kinda slowly, so they can use the head start. Here they are, starting...

1. I did a presentation at work today about dental anomalies. In preparing for this talk I realized I really don't know that much about normal development of teeth, so I learned a lot. I think my favorite presentations are ones where I learn as I'm preparing. I also realized I'm very glad I don't have to look at teeth all day. Gross teeth really gross me out. 2. We're really coming down to the end of this pregnancy - we got our car seat in the car, the guest bed has clean sheets on it, the crib has clean sheets, I packed a bag of some stuff for the baby. All I need to do is pack a bag for me and do some more cleaning. 3. When you ask an adolescent if they are sexually active and they say "Not really" or "what do you mean?" that is code for "yes, but I don't really want to talk about it" and is a signal to me to ask several more questions. Likewise, a similar answer to the questions "Do you smoke?" and "Do you use ille...

Since I'm a pregnant woman, nearing the end, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed last night's Office. The best quote, courtesy of Oscar, as Michael was trying to pack his "go bag": "Don't bring a dictionary. The hospital will provide a dictionary. Bring a thesaurus." I guess that's one more thing I'll add to my list for my "go bag."

I got to work this morning when the intern handed me something. It was a nice, black stethoscope - with my name on it. This is the stethoscope I lost sometime during intern year, the one that was given to me by my medical school. I looked for it for weeks, and finally was just resigned to the fact that someone must have taken it from wherever I left it. (Because I knew that I had definitely left it somewhere unusual.) I reluctantly ordered a new one, but one that wasn't nearly as nice since I had to pay for this one myself. I guess it showed up yesterday in sports medicine clinic... two years after being lost. It felt like it had been raised from the dead. So now, thankfully, I have TWO stethoscopes.... Which is good for me in case I ever misplace one again.

From Jeff, while on our nightly walk and admiring the bright moon: "Pretty moon, big and full, will you out my baby pull?" Hah!

We had our final shower yesterday - a fun party at the house of a dear family friend. I'm telling you - our baby has lots of stuff now. I should have taken a photo of the back of our car yesterday. It was stacked up completely with stuff. Jeff couldn't really even see out the back it was so full. I am again and again reminded of how wonderful it is to be a part of the Church. This baby has been loved and prayed over for a long time - many of the women at this shower prayed for this baby long before we were even pregnant. When we were still in the midst of our struggle . After our miscarriage . When we had our IUI . They prayed for me when I was in high school, when I was in medical school, for much of my life. I was just overwhelmed yesterday with how much this baby is already loved. Knowing how they will continue to pray for our wee one even after he or she is born is incredibly encouraging. I know parenting is not easy, that it will be probably the hardest thing I've eve...