Snore. This lack of sleep is catching up on me a little. Might be something to do with being woken on a 2-hourly basis last night, which means I got about 3 hours of sleep in all. Hmmm.

Maggie went home this afternoon after a [mostly] successful 4 days out here. I think she was glad to meet her first granddaughter when she's still so newborn, and almost enjoyed seeing parts of New York. It's been way too hot most of the time to do much other than bask in the air-conditioning, but Saturday afforded us some brief respite for our trip up to Bear Mountain. On the whole it was very enjoyable (great fun meeting some of the NYARA guys), but Jody was rather unaccustomed to spending so much time in the carseat and whinged about it vociferously on the way back. Poor mite.

Still haven't got the results of Jody's 24-hour EKG which we were hoping for by last Wednesday. Hopefully will get them in the early part of this week so we can know what needs to be done (if anything) by the time we go on our short break to North Carolina Wednesday afternoon. Prior to that am determined to get started on my thankyou letters, and perhaps even get the chance to go shopping for a couple of new tops. The maternity stuff is way too big and my previous tops are too small now that my boobs are somewhat big and fat so I definitely need some transition wear. I was amazed to see myself fit into my [largest pair of] pre-pregnancy jeans after one week though. Although I'm not at my original weight, I did lose the bulk of the excess (after the 14lbs of immediate loss at birth) within a very short space of time. For the first time in a while I am the owner of a squishy belly though. I can just about locate the old familiar muscles underneath but I have this alien layer of squishiness over the top. Very odd!

First day with just me and Jody at home today. Mum went home yesterday and Roj has been back at work for a week. It's gone well so far - it seems that the growth spurt she's been having the last couple of days (we think) that accounts for an almost hourly desire to feed has slowed down, so she's back to an easier 3-hour schedule and sleeping a lot. She's strapped to my chest right now, in Peta's old Baby Bjorn, which calms her down but also enables me to get on with some laundry ... and website updates.

She's still the most utterly gorgeous creature in the world. I can't wait until she starts to smile and respond properly, but even daily she is making small advances in her reactions and understanding. She's also getting tangibly heavier, which allays any fear I had about not feeding her properly. The last 12 days she's been subjected to a few different tests, including some heart tests since there were a couple of insignificant factors during my pregnancy and her birth that together encouraged the pediatrician to recommend an EKG and echocardiogram. After those relatively minor trails, the poor little mite was subjected to wearing a EKG halter for 24 hours to monitor her heart in more depth, which she wasn't bothered by until it came time to remove the 4 sticky electrodes and half a roll of micropore which they'd used to keep them in place. Understandably, that caused a lot of screaming and plenty of sympathy.

It's been great to have my mum here for a week. Inexplicably I felt quite nervous about taking Jody outside for the first time, so having someone on hand to deal with the buggy and help when things went wrong was a great relief. I think my mum suffered at the hands of my stress, tiredness and hormones though, and deserves some kind of medal for keeping her cool when I most certainly didn't.

I'm very happy with the way things are going though. I feel a bit frazzled from time to time, but on the whole am really enjoying these first few days. The sleep deprivation is no worse than during my pregnancy and there's a damn sight more to look forward to in the early hour awakenings. Jody seems to be a fairly natural feeder, and the minor problems I had have been quickly sorted out by people in the know. Had a brief nightmare mid-week when I foolishly indulged in a (very mild) curry only to find Jody bawling with her quite substantial lungs and refusing to go anywhere near my milk the next day. Quite upsetting all round, but luckily resolved within a couple of hours. Will be giving spicy food a miss for the time being.

Otherwise am just happily coming to terms with having a new human bean in the house - a particularly small one at that. Roj is fantastic with her, and really helps me out when I need that third hand (or a shower). I feel sorry for him being woken up so many times during the night and then having to go to work in the morning, but he's managing it really well.

Thursday afternoon my mother-in-law comes out for a 3-day visit which should be fun, and Saturday (pending good weather) we'll head up to Harriman State Park (knee-deep in snow last time I was there) to watch the Longest Day and introduce Jody to the NYARA adventure racers. I have a 2-week appointment at the pediatrician on Wednesday and the results of the 24-hour EKG to look forward to, but otherwise this week is just a week of adaptation - getting to know my little daughter and hoping that she gets to know me.

Thanks once again to all the well-wishers. I'm only about two thirds of the way through responding to everyone but hope to get back to everyone this week. More photos to come too, and more Jody-specific news at some time in the future, but as it stands my free time during the day is a little unpredictable at the moment so you might have to bear with me! Also congratulations to Peta for getting the closest in my birth poll. Although the date was way off (wasn't everyone's?), she was bang on with sex and weight. Must be a mother's instinct or something!!

Oh, and have finally posted my birth story for those of you interested in the [relatively] gory details.

Well. I've had the most amazing and surreal 72 hours. I definitely think that handing over my remaining work on Tuesday helped me to clear my plate in preparation for birth. To what extent psychological hurdles can prevent physical events from happening I don't know, but there's a little too much coincidence in handing over the last of my work only 10 hours or so before labour started (after 8 days of delay) to think otherwise. I think it just enabled me to relax and think only about the birth, and not the other things that were standing in the way.

I'm going to post more about the story on the bump page when I get round to it (and no doubt the page will expand to a full Jody section before long), but I have to say that the whole experience has blown my mind. I've been pretty spaced out these last couple of days; partly through tiredness; partly because it's actually all happened and I still can't quite believe it, but mostly because Jody is the most amazing and beautiful little creature I've ever seen. Roj and I are completely transfixed by her, and completely dumbfounded at how amazing she's turned out (of course all parents say these sorts of things about their babies!) She's contented and alert and wonderful no matter what we put her through - nappy changes, inexperienced handling, doctors examinations, inexpert feeding - she takes it all in her stride without much more than a whimper. It's impossible to do anything but love her completely, even when she's grizzling in the early hours of the morning. She's soft and warm and defenceless and completely gorgeous 100% of the time. Can you tell I'm smitten!?

Thanks enormously to everybody for the good wishes we've received. I'll eventually get round to responding to everyone, but time is a little precious at the moment (and my brain isn't quite up to scratch!)

And one last thing - thanks to Roj for being the most amazing husband these last few weeks. During my pregnancy I was so impressed with how considerate and tolerant he was, but in labour and delivery - and in the last few days with little Jody - he's surpassed even that. I don't know what I would have done without him - he's been brilliant with everything. He seems to have a knack to know when to to do stuff, and is absolutely the best at either waking Jody up or calming her down, depending on what's required. And to top it all off, he bought me the most fantastic gift possible for doing all this. Amazing, amazing man.

Here I am. Due date plus one week, and still no sign of the little 'un showing face. It's a bit demoralising but I'm actually finding that the longer time goes on, the less frustrated I am about it. I guess each day is practise for the next day, and the next ... (Roj, meanwhile, is getting tangibly more frustrated every second).

Besides which, it's got to happen sooner or later, and the good thing about waiting for so long is that the window of opportunity gets smaller and smaller. Soon I will practically be able to guarantee the birth day!

Meanwhile I have nearly made up my mind to spend all my life's savings on a Canon d10 digital SLR. Over a year and a half of quite extensive G2 use, I have found myself limited by the lenses available for that camera. I've really found that I love taking photographs, and would love to go on some kind of course in the future, but the glorified point-and-shoot, which is essentially what the G2 is, is no longer cutting the mustard for me - I'm pining for the opportunity to play with some different focal lengths a bit more and get a really amazing macro - since that's what I find myself most interested in. The d10 is a ridiculous cost (street is about $1500), but a friend's contact at Canon means that I can get it substantially cheaper than that. Of course the lenses are additional to that, but I figure I can start out with a macro while I still have my G2, and then when I sell my G2 (Ebay methinks, unless anyone knows of anyone who'd be interested), I'll invest in either a 75-300mm telephoto zoom, or a 28-135 standard zoom. Anyway ... mind is not completely made up so I'll see how it goes - perhaps when I pass this phase of miserable waiting, the need for radical retail therapy will subside a little!

Roj and I are going out to our favourite local eatery Vynl tonight to 'celebrate' being 41 weeks. We think we'll set a date at somewhere much more expensive next Tuesday in order to prompt Little T to put in an appearance beforehand. The Four Seasons is current favourite (as if we'd waste a frustrated overdue evening on such a posh place ... but Little T doesn't know that!!)

And it is finally HOT in NYC today. Way too hot of course - it's one extreme or the other in this place. I think it's around 25 degrees in the shade today ... which makes it about 10 degrees too hot to be walking round the Park as I was going to try and do every day this week (gravity, y'know). Ah well.

Nice day yesterday. A late breakfast at the diner, followed by a long walk around the bottom loop of Central Park, taking in the Puerto Rican parade and an hour of rowing on the lake (another NY experience box ticked). The weather wasn't particularly nice, but I guess we should be thankful at least that we weren't in one of the deluges that've been commonplace these last few weeks. Big shop at the supermarket to stock up on food for the next couple of weeks (for some reason I'm thinking it's going to be awkward for me to get out to the supermarket - but doesn't that mean I have to have the baby?) followed by a commercial-free viewing of The Godfather which I thought I'd seen but hadn't. More confusion over what is happening with my body (not much), more phonecalls from people wondering what is happening with my body (ditto), more stern words with Little T over its patent stubbornness, more depression imminently visible on the horizon (I'm gonna try and hold out for a few more days but by Thursday I fully expect to have hit the depths).

On the bright side, my (paid) work seems to be almost over, pending a handover tomorrow. I am therefore going to finally finish the spring-clean and hope that the bits I started with several weeks ago will survive with a once-over. I might also treat myself to a rare bath and feel utterly justified in pampering myself since the effort must now go into relaxing and abandoning the [work] stress of the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately the minute I start to try and relax and clear my mind, I just get all stressed about the birth thing (or more accurately lack of), so it's not doing me a whole lot of good. Think positive Lara.

Lovely surprise from Yi Shun this weekend in the shape of some utterly cute little booties and a little check seersucker jumpsuit thing from OshKosh, a good old fashioned kiddie book (which it turns out Roj used to read), and the offer of a free babysit or spa day for me. What a total sweetie!

Ah well. Must go try and go back to sleep. I will not be won over by insommnia, I will not be won over by insommnia, I will not ....

Well I'm now four days past my due date. Which isn't very much really, except that it's starting to feel like four months. In some ways it's a good thing - at least I've been able to (nearly) finish the work I've had to do these past weeks. But it's still not very easy to just wait and wonder if and when everything is going to happen. Of course the very concept of 'due date' is a laughable one - and it is reiterated at every step that your due date could be several days wrong either side. But you can't help wondering what happens if your body really doesn't make up its mind to do its thing. The obvious answer is a hospital bed and lots of drugs, but what would happen if I didn't do all that? What if my body just hasn't got a clue about what it's supposed to be doing? Sigh. Never been very good at relinquishing control, me.

Just spent the whole of today working, so it's felt very much like a normal work day (with the addition of a soundtrack from the series of crap films that Roj has been watching all day long). It's not been too depressing because I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and there's not exactly much pull to be outside since New York is, once again, doing an impression of England on a bad day, but I am now utterly exhausted and fed up. Here's hoping I can at least get things finished off tonight so I can spend tomorrow relaxing and doing normal domestic things. Like spending some quality time with my husband for example.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Dave and Barnaby. Much partying happening at Cozai today I expect.

Meanwhile the other little birthday is showing no signs of occurring yet. I am exasperated by the amount of women on the Babycenter boards who talk about how frustrating it is to be 37 and 38 weeks pregnant and not having given birth yet. Hello. Somebody please tell them that pregnancy takes forty weeks ... and sometimes longer. Have a little pity for us overdue-ers.

I'm not too concerned about it yet. I still believe that you have to give your due date at least a week either side, if not two. I've waited nine months after all ... another few days isn't going to make much difference in the long run. On the other hand it is like a cruel joke being played by Santa Claus - "this year I'm postponing Christmas and I'm not going to tell you by how much ho ho ho." Sigh.

My [current] theory is that Little T is waiting for nicer weather before showing face. New York is all too reminiscent of England in October right now - cold, windy, rainy, foggy - you name it, we have it all. If I was a newborn, I'd prefer to wait for warm yellow sunshine too.

Roj and I kept ourselves amused on Tuesday evening by making a belly cast of me. This was a messy but amusing business that involved coating the front of my torso in three layers of plaster cast bandages. The result is a reasonable replica of my body on the day I was supposed to give birth. It's very weird looking at it (does my body really look like that?), and what we're going to do with it I don't quite know, but I like it!

Meanwhile I have officially named Friday as the cutoff for my work and informed all parties involved. I have been beginning to feel a little stressed out that instead of relaxing and getting those last few chores done before arrival of baby, I have been sitting at my computer fiddling around with annoying content management systems. I think it's only right that I have a couple of days to wind down (and tie up non-work loose ends), particularly so that I don't find myself mid-labour trying to do an efficient handover. Of course baby might still throw spanners in the works by arriving today or tomorrow, but I've got to draw the line somewhere.

Couldn't really let this day pass without comment. Unfortunately the current comment is 'no baby yet', but there's no great surprise there. Taylors are stubborn animals after all. Sadly my mother-in-law's Jack Russell has beaten me to it though, and given birth to two puppies today. Here's just hoping I beat the horse (which is due in July so it'd be somewhat worrisome if I didn't).

Appointment today passed without hitch. Declined the hideous membrane-stripping experience and got signed up for an ultrasound at 41.5 weeks in case baby's still a no-show by then. The theory is that if I'm booked in for a biophysical profile on a particular day, the baby will almost definitely come beforehand, particularly when the appointment is on Friday 13th. I'm not superstitious, but it's definitely worth a try! Straight after that ultrasound I'm booked in to the birth center for ... yes, the hideous membrane-stripping experience ('strongly recommended' this time), followed by a good gulp of castor oil (don't ask), so I'm really really keen for birth to happen before next Friday. And why wouldn't it.

Not much else to report. Work and house-cleaning continue apace but otherwise am just watching that clock out of the corner of my eye and pretending that I don't care if I go overdue. In fact I don't actually care at the moment (having plenty to do to keep me busy in the meantime), but ask me again in a couple of days and it'll probably be a different story. Ho hum.

Been a bit slack these past few days so apologies to all those of you who thought I'd gone into labour! No sign of the baby yet, but then with a due date of tomorrow, it could really be any time in the next fortnight. I'm hoping it'll be in the next week though, simply because I don't want to get to that stage where I'm getting paranoid that nothing's going to happen and I'm gonna have to get carted off to hospital to consume all sorts of nasty induction drugs. We'll see.

Am midway through spring-cleaning the apartment anyway, so I'd have a bit of a rush on to complete everything if I went into labour too soon. I'm sure baby doesn't give two hoots about the dust on the bookshelves, but since it's not going to get done in a while, I may as well do it now. Even managed to clean out the freezer at the weekend, to make room for pre-cooked meals (which, of course, I haven't made yet!) for the zombie time immediately after baby. Nice to know I have less listeria-inducing items hanging around now (doesn't help that ours is one of those completely unreliable 'oh the ice-cream seems to have turned into slush today' freezers).

I have big plans to spend a lot of time walking around this week, since apparently that can encourage the baby to engage and start the whole process off. In fact I was going to drag Roj around the park this weekend, but since we've had yet more typically English windy rainy greyness, that idea went out of the window. Instead spent four excellent hours in the cinema watching Finding Nemo and The Italian Job, both of which were totally excellent. Also spent some of our incredibly generous Ernst & Young babyshower vouchers on an all-singing all-dancing vibrating bouncy seat thing for the baby, which should keep it happy for hours (highly recommended by mum-guru Peta).

I still have plenty of work on my plate this week, and probably will do right up until labour time. My little freelance project is going nicely, and pending delivery of final bits & pieces, will be finished mid-week. The other work is less amenable, but still needs to be done, so will have to find time to fit it in around this uncharacteristic domestication and swimming/walking. Otherwise the plan is just to sit, wait and visualise all week long! Don't underestimate the power of visualisation (apparently) to bring on labour! Interesting thought.