Last Thursday, I was fortunate to be able to fly to Virginia for my annual Girls Weekend trip.  Like I've mentioned in previous posts, Girls Weekend is an annual reunion for my 8 best friends from college.  We do it every year and it is a rare occurrence to have someone miss it.  It is always such a fabulous visit, no matter where it's held, and this year was no exception. 
We spent the first morning walking through beautiful Alexandria, VA's "Old Town".  Then we made the drive to Middleburg, VA, the wine country along the gorgeous Shenandoah Valley.  We stayed in a turn-of-the-century home with antique furniture and lots of great living space.  Not to mention, the views from the top of the hill overlooking the Shenandoah River were spectacular.  On Saturday morning, we walked along an old county highway, which is mostly gravel now, and were passed by over 50 riders on horseback, young and old, wearing traditional English equestrian gear in the middle of a true fox hunt.  They assured us this was for sport, and no foxes were actually harmed during the hunt.  What a cool experience!  Even better though was connecting with my friends, some of whom I haven't seen since last year's trip to Arizona!  I am so happy I made the trek, but also happy not to travel by plane again until after this baby is born.  What an exhausting and uncomfortable mode of transport at this stage of pregnancy!

We met with our OB again today.  Baby is doing well and right on track for growth.  The heartbeat is strong and baby's head is still down at this point.  We were getting the sense that this hospital and physician's practices may not be in line with our goals for our baby's birth.  So, we reviewed some questions that came up after the discussion at our last visit and our conversation with our doctor confirmed our instincts.  I was very happy that she agreed with us.  She was very frank in stating that this hospital's goal is to provide the most access to laboring patients so therefore they do try to accelerate labor progression and this does not always give the most personal care to laboring mothers.  She did, however, give us a referral for a colleague of hers that she feels will be a better fit for us.  So, despite our attempts to ensure one less transfer of patient records at this final stage in our pregnancy, we're at it again.  Next week, I call to make an appointment with OB #4.
Good news is we have settled on a home in San Antonio!  We've decided to stay in a condo in the Alamo Heights neighborhood and will be ready to move in on December 3rd.  It gives me great peace of mind to now know where baby's things will be and what our space will look like.  I'll be going back to San Antonio on Monday to work on gathering furnishings for our new place so it's ready for us to move into.  I think we'll be happy there.