Pregnancy Blessed by Owls?

I grew up in the country, and have seen many wild animals, but I had never seen an owl until I moved into the city.

In fact, I’d never SEEN an owl until this year.

We have one that lives close to us, and I’ve often heard it singing.  I always loved hearing it, and after researching owl calls I found out that it was a Barred Owl.

Then, the morning we “officially” found out I was pregnant, I saw him.  I only saw him briefly, but hubby got some video of him for a longer time.  (You can see that video at http://www.gather.com/viewVideo.action?id=11821949021883810 if you’re interested).

He was huge, and beautiful, and I was moved by seeing him.

I kept an eye on that pole, but never saw him again.

Then tonight I went out to the pantry to put some clothes in the dryer.  When I came back out I looked up at the sky, as I often do, and saw, instead of sky, a HUGE white face and two HUGE black eyes looking down at me!

Scared the heck out of me before I realized it was my owl.  He was sitting on the power line running across our back yard and was sooooo close.

I went in and told hubby, and he grabbed one of his cameras (but not the digial one) and went out, and the owl was still there.

He let us film him for a little bit, and kept his eyes RIGHT on us.  When we moved closer he ducked his head low, fluffed his wings out, bobbed his head and hooted at us.  Shortly afterward he flew away.

I find it funny that I had never seen an owl before, and since I’ve become pregnant, once at the very beginning and once now near the end, I’ve seen one twice.

Is he here for me?  Is he here for the baby?  Is it a blessing?  Is it a warning?

All I know for sure is that huge black eyes staring at me when I’m not expecting it had my heart rate a little faster than usual.