A post-dates pregger doctor takes the day off

This past weekend, I was really struggling emotionally with the fact that I was almost a week past my due date and my doctor was starting to talk more about the "I"* word, which was making me not healthy and happy...
So yesterday after church, Tim & I spent some time with a friend of ours who is one of our support persons planning to come to the house while I'm in labor. She's been doing this baby stuff for a long time, and just knew exactly what to say to me yesterday to bring a great sense of peace over me, my baby and my body. She gave me some great advice. She said that this will happen, and reminded me that I know down deep that it will; she said that I should stop going to work! and that I should enjoy the next few days doing things I like and emotionally preparing myself for labor and being a new mom, instead of trying to fix others' medical problems and getting really frustrated every morning when I walk into the clinic and everyone says: "You're here again today? We didn't expect to see you here. No baby yet? When are you going to have that baby? Still pregnant, eh?" and on and on and on... Grrr!! I know that they ask because they're interested, excited, concerned, and such, but so not helpful...
Our friend also recommended that I do things like go to the park, read a trashy novel (not a pregnancy book) or a fun book, buy some flowers, have a hot date with my husband, go to market, get a pedicure (did that last week), buy some sexy lingerie, take a long walk in the sun, sit by the river, just enjoy being me and celebrate being pregnant, feeling the baby move and getting ready for his or her arrival.
So, today I heeded her advice... and I didn't go to work! It felt good! And this is how my day has gone so far:

• Kissed my husband goodbye and sent him off to work
• Had a cup of tea and biscotti
• Lounged around and read a bit
• Went to my postdates testing appointment and had a beautiful, reactive non-stress test and an ultrasound that showed my AFI (amniotic fluid index) was 13.9 - that's good, by the way (means the baby has plenty of fluid to swim in still). No peaking during the ultrasound either. ;)
• Had lunch with my mom
• Picked rhubarb in my parent's backyard
• Went to the grocery store
• Bought some flowers
• Came home and baked - super yummy Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies - found the recipe here
• Also baked one of Timmy's favorites - Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp
• Made my sister-in-law's famous Penne with Vodka Sauce for dinner, which we ate with roasted garlic bread...
• And I'm about to take a walk with the best hubby ever, then come home to relax on the couch with him over some of that Crisp and perhaps a cup of hot tea...
• Then to bed we'll go, not knowing what the night or tomorrow will bring!

Although I was busy doing "stuff," it was stuff that makes me happy, that I enjoy, and that I might not get to do for a long time. Besides, I was really craving chocolate chip cookies!

*"I" stands for induction, in case you didn't know... and I'm really hoping and praying that we won't need to talk much more about it! (Hint: So don't ask ;)!)

My first successful bread making!

I've been dying to make bread from scratch for the longest time... first, I had multiple unsuccessful attempts, and ended up with unleavened bread (or at least it seemed), only to find out that most likely my yeast was a bad batch. Then, it was a question of getting the perfect pan to bake it in. I finally got a wonderful pyrex dish that's lovely for bread making, got some fresh-off-the-shelf yeast, and went to town yesterday. I was bound and determined to make a good loaf of bread, with lots of love and lots of flavor. Of course, I chose a steamy, hot summer day to crank up the oven and go to town kneading bread.
Baking bread is a LABOR of LOVE... especially when you're supposed to knead, then wait til it rises, then punch, knead and wait again - all sorts of waiting and muscle work! Tim took several pictures of me in action to prove that it was for real! We ended up with a big loaf of yummy oatmeal wheat bread (from More with Less, one of the best cookbooks ever published) that we took as part of our picnic dinner (note: bread still warm... so good!) at the concert in the park. Hooray! Can't wait to try more bread recipes and buff up my muscles.