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!