Tuesdays With Dr. Woodruff

Never mind Tuesdays With Maury, the Weiland's are becoming accustomed to eventful Tuesday afternoons with Dr. Woodruff (my OBGYN). Yesterday we were once again sent over to the hospital for additional tests. My blood pressure took a big jump in the past week after holding steady (and low) throughout the past 38 weeks. All tests came back negative and my pressure steadily went down as I laid in the hospital bed immobile with the fetal monitor attached. HBW slept for the first half of the monitoring and then did his/her thing for the second half. Ryan & I are now familar reading the progress of the graphs and printouts while we listen to our little one's heartbeat.

A reality check when the Dr. told us that we would not be leaving the hospital yesterday if my tests showed anything funny and/or my pressure didn't come down. Any trip to the Dr. from here on out will include our hospital bags and leaving Leo prepped for a day by himself. We are still hopeful that nature can run its course and that HBW will be able to make the decision on when to arrive.

Thank Goodness For Air Conditioning

In case someone has not heard me talk about missing Seattle to date, 3rd trimester pregnancy in Oklahoma summertime has me feeling homesick and wishing I could soak my feet in the Puget Sound on a daily basis. All whining aside I am one lucky girl to have the modern convenience of air conditioning (My grandmother did this back in the 40's in Lawton, OK at Fort Sill). I think my ankles would be the size of my thighs without it!

Thanks as well for the fun and friends at KC (Kimberly Clark). They threw a very nice couples shower for us on Friday (Thanks Kim & Amber!), complete with lots of pink and blue jelly bellys and guesses on the gender of HBW. It was a fun time and we have a very lucky little baby that went home with lots of wonderful and useful gifts.

We are off to our weekly doctors appointment tomorrow and we hope this one will be uneventful......unless of course the baby would decide to begin making his/her arrival. We'll take that event!

Can You Ever Really Be Ready?

The one final item we were waiting on arrived Monday.....the crib. With all of our bedding washed and in hand (thanks Nana, Papa, Grandpa Doug & Grandma Sharon), we were ready to finish assembly of the HBW's room. A few snags with our area rug but the room is now functional for any baby that needs to sleep, eat, burp and poop lots. Just in case I needed another reason why marrying an engineer was a good idea, the crib assembly provided it. After hearing everyone's horror stories about crib assembly, HBW's Dad had it assembled without issue in 30-45 minutes.

Now we are down to odds and ends, and not too soon as we had another exciting Doctor's appointment on Tuesday. I ended up back on the fetal monitor but HBW was an overachiever and had everyone at ease immediately. I'm having contractions and have begun the dilation/effacement process so things are headed in the right direction. With the temps now at 100 here, I would sure love this little one to make an early arrival. Nature will tell...........

Visit from Grandma & Opa + Shower

We had a long weekend with soon-to-be Grandma and Opa Ziegler. They were especially good about relaxing by the pool or in the A/C with me and it was nice to have the added company. They both got to play Dad's favorite game with HBW, which constitutes pushing on his/her foot and feeling it move around the right side of my belly. The next time they come to Tulsa, the Weiland's will be "3" (+4 if you count Leo)!

With family in town we opened the shower-by-mail gifts that have arrived so far. It was very fun to read cards and messages from many you. We are really looking forward to letting you all know when Baby Weiland makes his/her debut. An extra special thanks to Aunt Sarah for organizing the shower!....and one of the special gifts from the Gibb's, a T-shirt that read "My Dad Is Cooler Than Your Dad".

Preferred Mode of Transport

Contrary to the attached photo, I am still walking these days. Although the grocery store greeter has offered me the electric cart twice in the past month. (The first time I was unintentionally snotty in my negative response and felt bad afterward.) The Okie heat aside and normal final month discomforts, I am really feeling good. I've told a number of you this already (skiers you'll relate), every morning feels like the morning after your first powder ski of the year. Yoga and walks on the treadmill continue to energize me and help me sleep better at night.

Last week we found out that our HBW is truly Healthy. Yep, the doctor actually cringed when she told us our baby was weighing in quite large by ultrasound estimates. Just what every first time Mom facing labor wants to hear:) At this point, we are still on with our mid-August due date. Off to Doctor this afternoon for our weekly check-up........