After The Tenth..... When The Fun Really Begins

At yesterday's doctor visit, Annie received confirmation that the baby to be named later (you didn't think I would let her name slip here, did you?) has turned herself and now has her head facing down. It is truly amazing how they just "know" how to get themselves into the birthing position.

It is a good thing that she's done this, because as of this morning we have reached a "Full Term Pregnancy". That's right, this morning starts week 37, which is often considered full-term. This also means that its time to start the PANICKING!!!!!

Speaking of week 37, I'll be updating the progression video tomorrow,  with the latest photos including this week's image.

Annie and I recently took our Babymoon. For those of you not familiar with a Babymoon, let me tell you about it. A Babymoon is a relatively new concept where first time expecting parents go away for one last vacation sans child. Its a silly name, but its a great concept.

I had tried to convince Annie that our trip to Central Europe this summer was our Babymoon, but Annie was having none of it. She immediately directed me to the Babymoon Bylaws section 4.3.2 subsection J, paragraph 3 which states the following: "Whereas, any vacation, trip or get-away that was planned and or booked prior to the official notification of pregnancy status cannot be recorded under the official title of a Babymoon."

So being informed of the official rules, I immediately started researching possible locations. Due to the expected time off of work with the arrival of our little one, a weekend away was our only real option. With Annie's advanced pregnancy status, flying was out of the question. (Technically, her doctor said that she can fly for another week, but I wasn't feeling that great about getting her 30,000 feet up in the air). So now we looked for weekend locations that were within a reasonable driving distance.

Sarasota, Florida ---a city we have never been, a 3 hour car ride, a snazzy boutique hotel in the downtown area, Siesta Key a few minute ride away....sounds like a winner.

We arrived Friday evening and since the hotel doesn't staff a desk after hours, a key was left for us in a hidden location. After dropping off the bags we headed out for a walk in the "cool" Sarasota evening air. (Compared to South Florida these days, anything is "cool"). On Saturday we were off to an outdoor breakfast at a converted train station and then we marched along the Farmer's Market. We later learned that downtown Sarasota hosts this farmer's market every Saturday...and there we were thinking we had great timing, and just happened to arrive on the right weekend.

Our first evening in Sarasota began with watching the sunset from the roofop patio of our hotel, with  hors devours and a cool beverage. Then it was off to a great Peruvian dinner at the Selva Grill, which was recommended by a friend who used to live in town. We had a dinner that was out of this world.

Sarasota is a quaint little town with lots of stores, which assisted us in getting a jump start on holiday shopping. Seeing as how we might be a little busy in the days leading up to the holidays, (the due date is December 15th) Annie thought it was prudent that we get some gifts, which worked out quite well considering the caliber of stores in downtown Sarasota.

Sunday morning brought us onto Siesta Key beach which happens to have some of the whitest and softest sand anywhere. That being said the mini sandstorm that we sat through was still quite painful when the "soft" white sand pelted us. After we had enough sand-blasting we headed over to Longboat Key for more shopping at St. Armands Circle.

All shopped out, we got back in the car and headed home to Zoe....

Ok...until this point as a reader of this site you've had a free ride, with no responsibilities but to check back often and to take a peek into our life during pregnancy. Today that all changes. We are now 1 month out from the due date (let the panicking begin) and its time to start interviewing pediatricians....and we need help.

I know that there are specific things you look for and as we go and meet the possible selections we are looking for suggested topics to ask about. I was thinking about opening with "Pediatrician #1, if you were an ice cream cone, what flavor of ice cream would you be?"

So you can see that we REALLY need some help. Your task, if you accept the challenge, is to use the comment section and provide some suggestions on what to look for in a doctor and what questions to ask.