Welcome to the World!

Elsie Grace Thompson finally arrived on September 13, 2009 at 2:20AM. She weighed 3.31kg/7.3lbs and was 51cm/20in long.
I ended up delivering via c-section as her little heartbeat kept dropping once I got an epideral. It was a bit stressful as all the doctors were flying around and having low-voiced conversations (in German!) - but in the end, we have a healthy, beautiful baby girl. I spent about 6 days in the hospital with her and came home last Friday. It was nice to take the time to recover and to have the nurses and staff around for all the many questions I had. Overall, I am very impressed with Swiss maternity care.
Having said that, by the end I was ready to come home. Having Elsie with us in our house has made a world of difference in how she sleeps and eats - she is much more calm and relaxed (and so are we). She has already gained half a pound in weight and is eating very well.
Matt has been great, making sure everything else is taken care of. It's so great to see him with her. Yesterday, he gave Elsie her first bath. We got it on camera, so I am going to try post some video of it.
My parents are in town until Sunday. It's good to have my Mom here to get her advice and learn from her. Plus, eat some good home cooked meals. Matt's Mum and Stepdad arrive on Thursday and will stay about a week.
Okay, enough stories, let's get to the photos. I'm setting up a photo blog site so we can post pictures on a regular basis for everyone. You can find the latest pictures of Elsie at http://www.photoblog.com/elsiegrace

40 Weeks 5 Days

We had another check-up today and everything is pretty much okay. The amniotic fluid is 5.5 on the index and 5 is the minimum amount you should score (Saturday we were at 7). So, they want me back in 2 days for another check-up and they said this time for me to bring my bag as it's likely they'll induce if baby hasn't made an appearance.
However, keeping in mind my past experience with measuring the fluid levels, they could check again on Friday and have me wait two more days. But the doctor also noticed that my placenta is starting to calcify. Nothing to be alarmed about as that is normal, but the more you go over, the more it calcifies. The midwife also had a feel of my tummy and said the baby had desended into the pelvis and that it seems like the baby was a long baby.
I am happy because it looks like there is a definite end is sight, but also not so happy if the baby comes on 9-11. Although, it would make an infamous day a lot nicer for us. Just can imagine how baby might not like having its birthday on that day. Oh well, not too much we can do about that! Today when we arrived, all the delivery beds were full. Is it bad that all I can think about is those women taking the available single rooms!? I am horrible, but I really, really do not want to share a room with anyone after I deliver!
My week at home so far has actually been pretty good. I've managed to keep myself busy all day doing little things around the house and taking Tucker for his walks. I thought I'd already be going stir crazy, but so far, so good.


Here are some photos from this afternoon in the back garden.

D-Plus 3 Days

Well, the waiting game has begun. Baby is proving it's a text book first timer, taking it's time to come into this world. I have to admit that I would have been very surprised had I indeed gone into labor on Friday, but I was kind of hoping that I would. Matt thinks the baby will come on Thursday - mostly because there is an England football match he wants to watch on Wednesday. I was talking to my Mom yesterday and she said it feels like Christmas times 10, especially as no one knows the sex of the baby and I think she is right. I am very anxious, excited, nervous, worried, scared - it's tiring having these many emotions roll around inside of you all the time!
We went to the doctor on Saturday and everything is perfectly normal. Normal heartbeat, normal amniotic fluid levels. We have to go back on Wednesday for another check and I'm trusting it'll be the same thing again. The doctor did say I could have 1-2 cups of raspberry leaf tea a day to help move things along and I will start doing that today. Along with the Tucker walks, they should help get this baby going!
I officially started my maternity leave this week. It's nice not having to wake up and go to work, but also very weird considering I've been working constantly every work day for over 10 years. Five whole months of no HP is a strange, but also refreshing feeling. I'm sure I'll only feel weird about it until the baby comes - then work will be a million miles away!
My Mom and John arrive in Zurich a week from Friday. Hard to believe they will be here that soon! If baby doesn't come quick, I might still be in the hospital when they get here! If that is the case, then I'll leave a day early and come home if baby and I are adjusting/recuperating okay. Matt's Mum and Michael will also be joining the party around the 24th - that way they can see my parents and the new grand baby.
I will try to get Matt to take a picture of me later today to update everyone - but the baby hasn't dropped down (at least that I can tell) yet and I'm definitely not getting any smaller. :-)

39 Weeks - Family Pics

Well, just four days left before D-date. I am hopeful that baby will make an on time appearance, but knowing how it goes with first time pregnancies, I'm doubtful it will actually happen. We had our 39 week check-up today and everything is fine. Baby is weighing in at 3.48kg/7.7lbs. We go back on Saturday and if everything is fine, then it seems like they don't want to see me again until about 10 days later. Seems kind of strange to me that they'd let me go the full duration of my "overdue" time with out any check-up. I will ask about it again on Friday as I know that sometimes the womb doesn't become the best enviornment after d-day and I would hate going that long without some sort of check. Did you other girls just have to wait it out?


Matt and I were very busy bees at the weekend getting the house in last minute order for our little arrival. Matt spent most of the time hanging photos he had framed while in the UK and organizing the basement storage room. Now everything is neat and tidied away. We also bought some more curtains for the guest bedroom, babies room and living room. So, I know what I'll be spending my nights doing this week. :-) Matt also practiced getting the car seat in and out of the RAV4, so he knows what he is doing when we take little one home.


I am on my last week of work this week. Although, I can hardly call it work. I have already handed over most of my stuff and am just attending a few meetings here and there and closing any last minute things that are open. I've been working at home most days; one because I'm getting tired quite easily now and two, they are redesigning the office space and have made everyone take everything off their desks. Something I had to do anyway, as I'm on leave, but I've done it earlier.


I've not been sleeping well this last week - baby is making it quite uncomfortable to get a good night's rest. Plus, my bladder awaken's me like clockwork each morning at 5am. Usually, I can go right back to sleep, but now I am wide awake. I guess that is my body's way of preparing for those early morning feedings.

Here are a few shots of all of us this time - for once we weren't rushing off to work, so Matt has joined the pictures. I've also included a shot of the nursery chair!

Quick Update

Just a quick note to say that we went back to hospital today and all is well. The fluid level is normal and the baby's heartbeat is just fine. The ultrasound technician said that measuring the fluid can kind of flukey as lots of stuff can impact it. Anyway, I head back in a week for another check-up.

Matt got back from the UK last night. I'm pretty sure he bought the entire candy and biscuit aisle at Tesco. He came back with so much food, it's crazy. No idea when he expects to eat all those sweets.
He also brought back the infamous chair as well as a few other bits we bought and some stuff that Rachael had from her little ones. I sat in the chair in the nursery and looked out over our fields this morning; it's going to be perfect for nursing and cuddling the baby. I'm very happy. :-)

38 Weeks - Zollikerberg & Shower

Phil and I had a joint baby shower on Thursday night; our friend Kerry from work, was gracious enough to host the shower for us in her back garden. It was a great night and I had a lot of fun. The girls got together and got both Phil and I each a Bobby Car (actually a SUPER Bobby Car). I know our little one is going to spend hours and hours playing on that thing. I also got some gift certificates to a baby/toy store in town as well as some super cute outfits. Phil also got me a Bumbo! It was great chatting with everyone and telling stories. For some of the girls it was their first baby shower! I've attached some photos from the night.

Matt left on Thursday to the UK. He drove 13-hours straight and arrived around 3am at his Mum's place. I know he is hating me for making him drive there to collect all our goodies, but I am very grateful to him for doing it. He should be heading home tomorrow sometime.

I had my 38-week check-up yesterday at Zollikerberg Hospital. They did an ultrasound and the doctor wasn't that happy with the level of my amniotic fluid. She said it wasn't too low, but wasn't as much as it should be. So, I have to go back on Monday for another ultrasound. Hopefully everything is okay. Our normal doctor checked just a week ago and said everything was fine. I am hoping that the Zollikerberg doctor was off - because she was also showing an intern how to take measurements. But she went back and measured again herself. I guess we'll know more on Monday. The baby still hasn't "engaged" and has flipped back on the right side. But it's head is still down, which is good!

I am feeling okay, except for the sharp pains that I mentioned in the last blog as well as super swollen feet. It was really hot here this week and my poor feet just blew up. I've been putting them up more, but it's not really helping. The weather has cooled down a bit, so hopefully that will help alleviate it a bit.

Fulled Baked at 37 Weeks

Well, we had our last appointment with our normal OB/GYN today as her office is closing for renovations for the next fours weeks and hopefully by that time I will have had the baby. Everything is still on track, all of baby's statistics are still coming in on average. Today the baby's weight is 3.0kg/6.6lbs. Doctor thinks that it will probably add about one more pound before I give birth. We also did a stress test - hooking me up to a monitor for a while to watch how the baby reacts when I have a contraction to make sure it's not elevating the heartbeat too much. Everything came back normal there too.

I think I will be having an appointment each week now until I give birth. I have to start having the checkups at the Zollikerberg Spital (where we're giving birth), which is good because it'll give us a chance to meet the birthing/obstetrics staff as well as get more familiar with the hospital.

Matt will be away for my next appointment as the magical rocking/nursing recliner we ordered has finally arrived in the UK. So he'll drive up next weekend to collect it along with all the other goodies.

Christian and Philippa have been put on standby notice as my ride to the hospital in case anything should happen while he's away. They'll also be on call the week after when Matt is in Sweden. I was joking with Phil today saying that it would be just typical that I have a very straight forward pregnancy with no drama, and then at the end our baby makes an 'early' appearance when Matt is away. That is a kind of excitement I really do not want. I would also feel sorry for Phil, because of course I would drag her into the delivery room with me to act as my coach and I'm not sure that is the kind of thing she should be experiencing as she's about to go through it herself! That is just mean!

I finished my birthing plan this week. Gundi was an angel and made a translation into German for me. I could not have done that by myself and this way we can really be sure the staff understand our wishes for the birth. Before you ask (Melissa), it is not like my famous 7-page wedding itinerary. It is just 2 pages long, very concise. Of course the translation makes it actually four, but I'm not counting that.

We also decided to just buy out the RAV-4. We have looked at several estates, but for what we (actually, I) want, it's just too expensive. With this option we could buy it out and resell it and make about 14K on it as it seems to have really held it's value and that is what similar models are selling for. Then we could still buy an estate if we wanted to.

36 weeks and 29 weeks

Last night, the Milz's and Matt and I watched Tim and Gundi's son, Daniel, while they enjoyed a dinner for two out in Zurich. While we were there, we decided to take a few comparative shots of Phil and I's bumps. She is 7 weeks behind me, so around 29 weeks. It's funny, because when I look at her I think she's showing quite a bit now and when I look at myself, I don't think I'm that big. But when you put us side by side you can really see a difference! Tim also thought he could get into the action, but his belly a little pathetic; too much biking I think.

Matt and test drove some more cars yesterday. We are leaning more towards a wagon/estate right now, but it's not something I'm very happy about. I'd much rather have an SUV, but the gas mileage is horrible and the back is too high for Tucker's arthritic hips. We also looked at some "multi-person vehicles" (read: MINI-VAN), but I don't think we are quite ready for that sort of car yet. Now we just have to find a model that looks sporty enough for me, drives well and has all the bells and whistles we want. Oh, and is within our price range. Car shopping is annoying here, because dealers carry hardly any stock, so finding a good bargain on a new car is next to impossible.

35w6d - Nursery Shots

As promised, here are some shots of the nursery. Matt did a fantastic job of putting everything together and managed to do so with only a few curse words. You can see the baby bay bed in the corner by the window. We'll move that into our room once little one is here and hopefully put the recliner in that corner. It gets a good amount of sunlight and the balcony overlooks our back garden and the farmers fields beyond. That peaceful view will hopefully come in handy when trying to deal with the endless crying sessions that I'm sure will come at some point.

Baby is still as active as ever and has developed a new trick of sticking it's head (at least that is what I think it is) further down into my pelvis and against my bladder. When it moves against my bladder it triggers the worst sensations. I would guess that it's slid further down into position and that is why I'm having these pains, which is a good thing, but it sure makes me uncomfortable!

It's not only the baby that is getting set for the final countdown. My body is also starting to do new and interesting things. I was getting ready for my nightly bath last night when I looked down and thought "What the hell is coming out of my nipple!?" Apparently my boobs are in 'warm up' mode as it seems that they are now secreting small amounts of colostrum. I just hope they don't get themselves too fired up before the big day as I don't want to have to start wearing nursing pads before I actually start nursing! My ankles have also taken on more of a constant swell over the last few weeks and I swear my usually comfortable flats are starting to pinch at the ankles. I am now turning into that giant pregnant lady, who waddles her way to the bathroom twenty times a day and grunts whenever she sits down or stands-up. :-(

35 Weeks - Getting Bigger

We are one week closer to having our little one with us! This week, we had our final infant care course. Overall, I'm not sure we needed to do the course as most of what she taught I already knew. We did learn some tips particular to Switzerland - where to buy stuff and things like that. One of the things that surprised me was that our instructor said that my diet can go back to normal after I give birth, with just one exception of alcohol. I remember all you girls telling me I still had to watch what I ate just like during pregnancy? I think I need to do some further reading.
This weekend was Swiss National Day (think 4th of July), so we went to Tim and Gundi's for a BBQ last night. They are pretty convinced that we are going to have a boy based on the way I'm carrying. Maybe they will be right?!
I was very disappointed this week to find two stretch marks appearing on my lower tummy. They look like two lightening bolts, but I don't feel like much of a super hero. You can see from the photos that I am getting bigger. It seems like the bump is growing out horizontally - like a shelf. Even some of my pregnancy clothes aren't fitting any longer. :-(
Today, we washed all the baby's things and finished puting the nursery together. I know you will all want to see pictures, so I will have Matt take some later this week. We also bought some of the final things for the baby, including a diaper genie, room monitor and a baby bay. A baby bay is a half-moon shaped sort of crib that attaches to our bed so we can have the baby in our room with us early on - but on it's own bed. We decided that was safer and more convenient than a mose basket or travel bed.
We've also looked at flights to the US for Thanksgiving. Now that I have my new passport (and name) I can go ahead and book! Speaking of booking trips, Matt's got to go to Sweden 26 - 28 of August for work. I'm really hoping baby comes late, as there aren't 24-hour flights to Zurich.

34 Weeks - She's a Thompson

Well, this was the week where I feel like I accomplished a lot. First off, before we left for Paris, I (finally) received notification that my Swiss residency permit was available for collection. Then, I received a call that my new US passport was available. So, now I am officially a Thompson. I am not sure what I will do at work in terms of changing my name, but at least I have all the needed documentation. Now I have to go about changing all my other stuff - drivers license, credit cards, bank accounts. And, Matt and I's birth certificates have arrived!

We also had another check-up with the doctor this week. I think she is a little surprised that I am still working full-time and even more surprised that I'm intending to do so right up until the due to date. She told us this last visit that she thinks I should keep working for about three more weeks, then call it quits. I had to laugh at that because I know I will definitely go crazy if I take off work three weeks before the baby is due. Don't get me wrong, if I start to feel tired or can't handle the full working days, I will be getting that doctor's note and cutting back. But I think just waiting around for the baby will drive me crazy.

She did another quick scan and measure of the baby and everything is absolutely normal. Baby is weighing in at 5.2lbs and all the measurements for it are still coming up right on average. Nice to know that she doesn't think I'll be delivering a big-headed, heavy baby! We also found out that the baby has moved over to the left side with it's head down (but not engaged yet), which means an even greater chance of delivering with the baby's back towards my stomach. Even so, I feel like the baby moves around a ton -it's probably changing positions every day! Matt and I have also enjoyed feeling the baby's hiccups. We noticed it last weekend in Paris for the first time and now feel them happening more often.

Doctor also took some more 3D scans of the baby. You can really see how our little one has fattened up!

Matt's brother, John is in town visiting for the weekend. Matt's had the poor guy mowing our lawn, putting up ceiling lights and lots of fun things like that. It's a great help, but I'm not sure he'll be jumping at the chance to come back and visit again soon! Tonight we're going to dinner in Zurich with Christian and Philippa.

33 Weeks - Oui, Oui mon cheri!

Matt and I just returned home from having a weekend trip in Paris. It was our anniversary trip and also Matt's birthday. I just realized that Matt turned 33 on the same day that I was 33 weeks pregnant.

Paris is actually a great city to visit when you are nearly 8 months pregnant. We got a little bit of special treatment at some of the major sites. At the Eiffel Tower we were able to jump the cue to get down; at the Arc de Triomphe instead of taking the 284 stairs up to the top, we got to take a 10 second elevator. It was actually quite nice to have people notice and go out of their way to make it a little more comfortable for me.

We did have a good time playing tourist. Besides the Arc and the Eiffel, we also went to the Louvre - where we saw the Mona Lisa and the Venice de Milo among other well known pieces - the Notre Dame, Invalides (where Napoleon is buried) and lots of other neat stuff. The food was also pretty good, even if Matt ended up with a mild case of food poisoning. He tried escargot so maybe that was it. Nevertheless, he won't be trying them again. Baby seemed to enjoy Paris too. It wasn't the easiest walking around the city all day, but Matt was a very good husband and gave me lots of foot massages. Baby was full of lots of kicks and squirms - in fact - baby might have even flipped to the right side. At about four pounds now, I'm starting to really feel every movement.

We'll know for certain this week the position as we've got another appointment on Thursday. Matt's brother is also coming into town that day to visit for a few days. Just seven weeks to go!

What a difference 25 weeks makes...

Well, tomorrow marks 31 weeks. Just 9 weeks to go until I officially hit "done" status. Just 6 weeks until I'm medically considered "full term". Thought you might get a kick of seeing the side by side of my 5w6d photo with the 30w6d photo.

I gotta say, I think I think I might be growing a baby in my bum too, cause it appears to have grown a bit since Jan-8th. I guess my excuse would be that I have a highly adaptive body which is desperately trying to counter-balance the increase in weight on the front with some increase in weight on the back? ;-)


Baby is turning into quite the kung-fu fighter and it's using my belly as it's dojo. I definitely don't mind it though - it's actually really reassuring. Matt has taken to resting his head on my belly and talking or humming to our little one. What is neat is that the baby reacts when it can hear Matt's voice - kung-fu fighting against Matt's head. :-)

We met this week with the agency that will be helping us locate a nanny. The good news is that they seem to have a pretty good qualified pool of candidates, so we should hopefully have no trouble finding someone for mid-January start. The Milz's were here too. We are really fortunate to have such close friends having a baby so close in time to us. Not only will baby have a playmate, we'll get a nanny a only a portion of the cost! I don't think we'd be able to afford one otherwise.

I also booked an appointment with the US Consulate in Zurich next week to start the process of changing my name. I've given up on waiting for my Swiss residency permit to come through first. We received the hospital entrance forms last week and need to fill them out and return them. I'm completing everything in "Thompson", so hopefully that doesn't cause problems and hopefully I get my passport in 20 days like it says on the State Depts website!

It's amazing the amount of paperwork we need to do to have a baby here. I am certainly not helping the situation by not having changed my name until now. But, because Matt and I are foreigners, we have to submit all sorts of stuff to the civil authorities in order to get a Swiss birth certificate issued. Then, to get passports for the baby (both British and US) we have to complete more paperwork! The only thing I can say is thank goodness for the Internet, because otherwise it'd be ten times the hassle.

29 Weeks - New Scan

Matt and I went to the doctors yesterday to have another growth scan. Everything is in order and baby is practically dead average in terms of growth charts. Baby is now weighing in at 1400gms or 3.08lbs.

Mommy however has gained 4.8lbs in two weeks! Means I need to watch those bowls of ice cream! Yesterday's weigh in a was a bit of a shock for me given that Doctor said I should be adding about 1lb a week. Guess I have to pay more attention to what I stuff in my mouth!

Baby is lying head down on my right side, which is good. It just means that as baby gets bigger it might run a little tight because it's competing with my liver for space where it's bum is currently. But all it has to do is basically roll to it's other side to get a little more room. Of course, there is still plenty of room for baby to completely flip around and end up in the breach position, but I am going to think positive and assume that it'll stay head down from here on out.

Here are two photos that the doctor took yesterday in 3D. Bit disappointed actually because she seemed in a hurry and didn't spend as much time with us on the ultrasound table as I would have liked. I think the baby has Matt's lips (and Brandy's nose??)! Baby kept sticking it's fingers into it's mouth while we were doing the ultrasound, which made it pretty hard to get a good full face shot - but at least it has 5 fingers on it's left hand! Definitely a Thompson with the way it avoids having it's photo taken!

Week 29 - More Bumpy

Thought I'd put up some pictures of the bumps progress. I felt this weird gurgling last night right under my bra, and realized that it was my stomach - about 4 inches above where it normally is and flattened out quite a bit! Baby is getting bigger and taking up more space - crazy!

The First Birthing Class - 28 weeks

Matt and I attended our first birthing class this weekend. It was a relatively small class, only 6 couples in total. At least one of each couple is a foreigner - Brits, Dutch, American are the nationalities besides Swiss. Our instructor is English, but has been living in Switzerland for quite a while. We are one of two couples who are at 28 weeks - the rest are further along than us.

It was a pretty interesting class. The only thing I found a little unnerving was that at one point I got really really faint when she was describing in detail contractions and the pain that comes with active labor. I don't know if it was me and my typical getting whoozy at the sight and thought of blood/pain or the fact that the classroom we were in was about 90-degrees! Probably a combination of both, but either way - I didn't like my reaction! I had the same reaction at our couple shower when all the girls started telling their delivery stories! What is going to happen when I actually am in the middle of labor!?!? I had better not be passing out and coming to over and over again!

Even Matt seemed to enjoy the class. There was a lot of focus on what role the partner plays in helping during labor and different relaxation techniques. Next week we'll spend more time on pain management and looking at modern birthing methods as well as spend an evening on lactation. I just hope that I can remember all this stuff when the time comes!

According to my baby book, baby is about 2.5lbs/1.1kg now! I can feel it all the time and it seems to react when I set things on my belly - especially in the evenings. I think that is pretty cool because my Mom told me I did the same with her and my Dad when she was pregnant with me. My Dad used to sit a plastic bowl on my Mom's belly and watch me kick at it. Matt and I tried it the other night with a book and our little one was making it wobble! You can also see the movements by just watching my belly - it's so neat!

Glucose Screening Test - 27 Weeks

This past Tuesday we had another check-up with the doctor. This time, I had to have the glucose screening test. Other than the fact that it took three hours to perform and I hadn't eaten anything since the previous night, it went well. I do not have gestational diabetes, so that is good! We go back in two weeks for another major growth scan.

This week, Philippa and I spoke with a nanny referral agency about getting a shared nanny between the two of us starting in February. I also spoke with a service that HP is a member of who can also help us find a nanny (without all the agency fees). Basically, I think the hard part is going to be finding a nanny who is capable of looking after two babies who are basically the same age - and hopefully willing to do it a something that isn't double the cost.
In speaking with the agency, they said that the costs actually shouldn't change too much because it's also a similar situation to multi-child families. The difference being that our kids are the same age- so like twins.
The HP-related agency also told me that I still need to apply to all the daycares in the area, so that when baby is 18 months old, we actually have a slot available 5 days a week. Crazy to think I'm apply for a daycare now, but my child won't start to attend until March 2011?!? This country is so progressive in some things, and yet so backwards in others. I guess some would argue that 'forcing' a parent to stay at home with the children because of lack of adequate daycare facilities and the nature of the schools systems is, in the long run, better for the child. But looking at the cost of living in this country, I don't know that many people who are our age who can actually afford do that. And the controls they put on daycare facilities is also good, but it also restricts the number of daycare facilities that are available to the general public. I also know that the pay that the people get in this sort of industry is pathetic.

Barbara was telling me a few weekends ago during her visit that all the daycare people in Germany went on strike for better pay and benefits. Sad to think that they have to strike to get a better wage, when at least in Barbara's case - she'd gladly pay double if that is what they wanted. But because the government regulates that sort of industry, the salaries and pay structure is pretty set. In Switzerland it's similar, but without all the government subsidies to offset the costs.
Anyway, enough on that topic. Today, we start our birthing course. I think Matt is a little wary of going - maybe the thought of watching a birth is a bit too much detail for him. I'm pretty excited though, so we'll see how it goes.

Pfingsten Weekend with the Hallmans

June 1st is a bank holiday weekend here - Pfingsten (Pentecost) and Michiel, Barbara and their daughter Sophie come over from Munich for a visit. The May's also came over from Munich and stayed with Christian and Phil. We had everybody over on Saturday for a BBQ and hung out for a bit in Matt's Man Room. Little Sophie always wanted to see where Tucker was - she was pretty wary of him, but still super curious.

On Sunday we all went down to Zurich lake and walked along the promenade. The weather was really nice all weekend, so we were able to spend most of it outdoors. It was nice to spend time together and also gave us a sneak peak at parenting :-).

Matt took a ton of photos http://picasaweb.google.com/matt.b.thompson/BankHoliday#

He even managed to get one of Phil and I together so you can see our bump progress.

On the bump progress, baby is really kicking now. Matt gets a kick out of resting his hand against my belly and feeling baby move around.

We also have decided on which hospital to give birth at. It's Zollikerberg Spital, which is about 20 minutes away. It's a smaller hospital, but features a neonatal ward and also allows for births in the general ward, but upgrades to private rooms. Which is a biggie for me.

We have also signed up for a birthing class which starts in two weeks and also an infant care course. I think the infant care course will give us both more confidence when baby comes. They sent us a bunch of material to read before the birthing course and there was a special bit for Matt about how to give me support during the birth. I read it and was pretty amused because one point it says something about - encouraging your partner to make noise - but don't let her start screaming as it can induce panic in her and in the Dad. So gutteral, lower noises are better. It was funny, but also kind of scary that they actually had to write something like that.

Before we left for the UK, our nursery furniture arrived. Matt spent about a full day setting up the crib and changing table and wardrobe. We've started to decorate, but I am not going to post pictures until it's all set up and we're closer to the due date.

This Friday was the start of my 27th week - which puts me officially into the third trimester. It's hard to believe that we have just 13 weeks left until our little one joins us!

Anniversary Weekend in UK - 25 weeks

Matt and I traveled to the lake district over our anniversary weekend to attend his paternal aunt and uncles 30th wedding anniversary. I've never been that far north in the UK, but the landscape was beautiful and the weather was great. We stayed at an old manor house with the rest of his family.

On Saturday, we went to the horse races. It was my first horse race and it was pretty fun. Matt bet on a few races, but ended up losing and gave up. Matt's brother, John, bought me my first pair of wellies (we'd call them galoshes). They are baby blue with pink doggies on them. Matt's sister Rachael also got a pair.

The next day we had a nice lunch and spent the afternoon outside chatting and telling stories. It's nice to spend time with Matt's family as they are very down to earth and also pretty funny. It was nice to celebrate our 1 year anniversary with family again. As I get older I am valuing that time more and more.

Matt's aunt and uncle (Jo and Neil) even splurged for a spa treatment for everyone so Matt and I had massages the next day before heading back down to Manchester for a little shopping and our return flight.

We also got lucky and managed to find the elusive swivel/reclining leather chair for the nursery at a shop in Manchester. It'll be delivered in about 12 weeks, so Matt will make a weekend drive back to the UK to collect it along with the pram/carrier combination we bought and also all the goodies his sister is going to give to us.

Matt's stepmom, Ann also got me this allergy thing that you stick up your nose and it prevents your body from releasing the histamine reaction and the red light reduces inflamation. It works pretty well and looks a bit freaky. I'm so glad my allergies are better because I was dying!

I bought Matt a trip to Paris over his birthday weekend in July to celebrate our anniversary and he got me a 2nd edition copy of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" - which is one of my favorite books. It's crazy to think that a whole year has gone by since our wedding day and even crazier to think that I'm six months pregnant! So much has happened over this first year - time has really flown by!

Bumptastic - 23 weeks

Haven't posted any pictures lately of the bump's progression, so I thought I'd put some up. We still need to post some pictures of the house, which I promise, we'll do (at some point).

Back to Reality 20-22 weeks

Coming back from Colorado was tough. It has been such a hectic time for Matt and I at work, that it was nice to get away for a few days. Matt had his first business trip under his new role to Berlin for a big customer event. He spent all week there and come home exhausted, but he enjoyed it. I went to Italy for work that week as well, and while down there I felt the first few kicks and nudges from the baby. By the end of the week, you could actually feel the baby kick with your hand. It was a good surprise for Matt to come home to.

We went to the doctor for a big ultrasound measure the week after we both got back. Everything is still good and the baby is really growing! We even managed to get a few 3D images from the ultrasound. Little one doesn't like having it's picture taken (already like Daddy)

Lots of photos - even one of the spine and the little ones legs.