In like a Lion

You all learned the saying "March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb" in the second grade, right?  I distinctly remember making lion faces out of construction paper and paper plates in grade school to demonstrate this effect.  My husband, product of Florida schools, had never heard this saying and thinks I've been making it up.

Well, and here we are March 2nd with the snow falling and arguably more of it than we've had the rest of the year.  Again, being from Florida, Joe insisted on taking the bus to work this morning so as not to have to deal with cleaning off his car and driving in a little bit of snow.  Which means I'll be expecting my water to break at any minute today since it will take him about four times as long to get home when I actually need him.

And yes!  To answer Shelly's question I've been thinking all along that I'm having a boy.  In all honesty, I'm sure this is simply because all of my cousins who have had babies in the past few years have had boys, but I've really never thought this one could be a girl.  My mom and Joe's mom have both said girl all along.  Joe thinks we're all crazy for having any sort of guess, and he thinks I'm particularly crazy for not finding out at all.  He's been dying to know all along, but I'm really glad that I've been able to hold out.  I've had strangers eye me and tell me boy or girl with equal conviction, so really I'm kind of having fun with no one actually knowing.  

As far as other random questions that always arrive with babies, in no particular order:

I hope to go without drugs as long as possible, although I'm in no way claiming I won't get an epidural.

I plan to breastfeed, and I'm probably the most nervous about this since I've heard how hard it can be.

There is no nursery at our hospital so baby will be rooming in with us the entire 36-48 hours they have us stay, and the rooms are not all private so ugh.  I'm hoping not to have a roommate, but I guess in the grand scheme of things it's not that long, right?

I think we're pretty much ready.  We still have some rearranging to do in the baby's room, but we're planning on having the baby sleep in a bassinet in our room for the first indeterminable amount of time anyway.  Joe installed the carseat and I need to get that inspected this week at some point.  I haven't gotten into the whole nesting thing, other than just generally keeping my house clean because I'm here all the damn time, but I don't even care.  I'm ready for this baby whether or not there are still books that need to be put in boxes and into storage and regardless of the fact that the crib is still full of baby gifts that haven't yet found a permanent home.  My mom today told me she's guessing the 3rd (!) and my dad is guessing the 5th.  I sincerely hope they're right, but I'm not technically due until Saturday and as the days go by I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that this stubborn child is going to make a late appearance.  My father-in-law is hoping for the 13th, since that is his birthday, and I'm having a hard time not saying anything rude as I report that because who wishes six extra days of this crap on someone?  

Yes, names are chosen, and no, we're not sharing, and surprisingly we haven't told a soul other than the three people that I have told the girl middle name to to get them to shut up begging me to let them know what we're thinking.  All I'll say here is that our girl name is my grandma's first name and Joe's mom's maiden name, and our boy name is a name we both love plus my dad's and brother's name (which is also Joe's middle name).  So if you're savvy you'll be able to pick out the boy's middle name at least.  I *adore* our boy name.  I'm less crazy about the combination of our girl name because it doesn't flow all that well, but I do love that it honors family so the flow doesn't both me too much.   

Any other burning questions?  Things to help distract me from the waiting game?  Anecdotes about your own fond labor memories that you'd like to share?