November 1st, 2009: Happy Halloween & 39 Weeks

Happy Halloween! The picture is of Dave and I in our halloween costumes. He came over to help with some stuff around the house and we somehow talked him into painting his belly with me and passing out candy. We also headed into town and went to a party and a bar in Adams Morgan. We won 2nd place in the costume contest at Toldeo Lounge ($75 gift certificate which Dave has decided not to use until I'm not pregger anymore)!

I'm 39 weeks today but still feeling really good. I actually feel a lot better this week than I have in the past few because she seems to have moved off of my nerve! I can now walk almost normally (except for the slight waddle) and without pain. It's amazing how good normal feels when it has been gone for a while! We had our checkup on Monday with Dr. Born. All was well -- heart rate was good, my blood pressure was good, no weight gain, etc. She said I was carrying a little bit small but that was okay and it could just be because she was moving into my pelvis. We have another appointment on Tuesday this week with Dr. Crowther and supposedly they will do an exam to see if I've started dilating at all yet.

This week we met with 3 pediatricians. One, Dr. Gallagher, is the only doctor in a small practice right by our house. She was the first we met with and is all personality. Fairly young, very tall, and quite funny/blunt. The location couldn't be better - it's about 1/2 way between our house and our daycare. The second one we met was part of Pediatrics of Arlington (Dr. Lischwe), a 6 pediatrician practice located at Virginia Hospital Center. That one was out of network, so it would have had to have been pretty great anyway, but it really didn't win us over. It was a very one-way conversation and we just didn't get a great feel. The last one we saw was Dr. Jasani of Sleepy Hollow Pediatrics (part of Capital Area Pediatric Group). There are 9 pediatricians and 1 nurse practitioner at Sleepy Hollow and they've been in business for 40 years (in the same building, but they're moving in March). We were skeptical going in, but we ended up really liking the doctor we met with and had a very good feeling about the practice. The biggest drawback is location -- it is in the heart of Seven Corners in Falls Church. If you know the area, Seven Corners is like driving hell. Traffic is always terrible, the roads are confusing, and the average IQ seems to drop by 30 points or so. Now we're still trying to decide between Dr. Gallagher and Sleepy Hollow. Both have pluses and minuses and we're confident we'd get great care with either. Decisions, decisions! It may come down to the first name we think of when we check in at labor and delivery!

Baby watch is in full effect. We'll continue to update as anything noteworthy happens!