US Trip 19 Weeks

It has been ages since I updated our blog, so I'm going to post over a series to catch up.

Matt and I traveled to Colorado Easter weekend for one last trip home before baby comes. Of course, baby isn't due for about 21 more weeks, but our doc said no more long distance travel after 24 weeks.
Becca, Jessica and Melissa also threw us a couple shower on Saturday the 10th at Jessica's. We had a lot of fun. All the girls prepared the food and my Mom and John cooked a bunch of meats. It was good to see everyone and catch up. We played a diaper-making game and ate loads. Laura brought her little girl, Raegan - she was soo tiny! I can't believe in a few months we'll something so small and little too!
We received tons of gifts and lots of books to read to the little one. We are very lucky to have such thoughtful and generous friends and family! We managed to get just about everything on our registry, which will go a long way in preparing the nursery. We also picked up a few additional things for the baby. We had so much stuff, I have no idea how we managed to bring it all back, but we did.

The Big Move

Matt and I are finally getting settled in our new house. The move day went smoothly - Swiss movers are very efficient! Nothing damaged and everything accounted for. We spent the first few nights working like crazy to get all the boxes unpacked. It was so exhausting, but in a good way.

It's been so nice to have a proper house and a yard. I know that Tucker is loving the extra space and freedom to make whatever noise he likes. We've also managed to spread out into nearly every room - except the babies. But, we ordered the babies furniture this weekend. It should be delivered some time in June.

We also had another doctor's appointment on Monday. It was the shortest yet (we spent more time in the waiting room then we did with the doctor!) - but we got a quick ultrasound and everything is in order. The baby was sleeping and had it's hands up around it's face - just like Matt sleeps! Next month is a much longer ultrasound where we measure the babies growth and look at each organ.

I keep expecting to feel the baby any day. I thought I felt something on Friday - it was pretty obvious - but I haven't felt anything since. I know it will happen soon enough, but I'm looking forward to feeling that for the first time. I definitely think I have a more pronouced bump now. Today was the first day where I could see several people noticing it. I'll have Matt take some pictures over the next day or so.

Work has been super crazy for both Matt and I. That coupled with the move and it means we are definitely looking forward to our US trip. Just a little over a week!

I'll get some photos on here of the house and the bump soon!

15 Weeks & Hormonal

So, thus far in the pregnancy, I feel pretty lucky. I haven't really been sick, my energy level has remained pretty normal and I haven't really been overly emotional. These are all things that I remember my girlfriends, mom, sister complaining about and also what all the pregnancy books warned about.

But, I have noticed that I am unusually weepy. For example, if I read any newstory about an abused baby, I get teary. Or, those TV commercials for children's hospitals, I get teary. It's not just tears in my eyes, it's actual crying! I watched Out of Africa on Friday night, and I was bawling my eyes out. Last night, I went and watched that Benjamin Button movie with Phil and Gundi and I was wiping tears away the whole last hour of the film.

I can only attribute this to the hormones that must be running rampant through my body. I mean, I have teared up before at movies, but I've never cried over news stories or TV commercials, it's pathetic!

The only other emotional change I've noticed is that I have completely lost my patience at work. I have zero tolerance for anything that remotely annoys me or anyone who challenges me. Which, unfortunately happens quite often. I can normally deal with and remain pretty controlled, but I find myself hanging up the phone cursing the person I was speaking with or going for a coffee and spending the whole time venting.

I am trying to keep my stress levels down and when I do find myself in this sort of a situation I try to shake it off and let it go. But so far, I've not done a very good job of it.

Other than that, I think my moods have stayed pretty stable. I have noticed that the weepiness has gotten worse in the last few weeks. I will need to read up about hormone increases throughout pregnancy to see if that is a normal thing.

We only have a week and two days left before we move! I am looking forward to getting settled in the new place. I spent most of the weekend packing up various parts of our flat. I have to remember this week to change my address with everything.

My Mom and John booked their trip out here after our little apple is due. They'll be in Zurich Sept 17th - 27th. Matt is considering a trip to Munich during that time with John to attend the Oktoberfest. I cannot imagine taking any trip that soon after baby is born, so if they do go, it will be just the two of them.

Here are some more belly pictures: 15w0d

14 Weeks

Lauren complained to me earlier this week that I have to post more than once a week. So here is my attempt.

Today we reached 14 weeks. Normally Matt and I mark this day with a listen to the heartbeat, but today was pretty hectic as we were expecting people to come over and view the apartment first thing. Moving is stressful. Trying to fit in 30 viewing appointments, pack, change addresses and do our day jobs is wearing us out and we only just started! All I think about is the lovely house awaiting us in Uster and take a deep breath.

I told work last night that I was expecting. My boss thought at first I told him I was leaving (permanently) in September, which I think freaked him out a little. In Switzerland, you are allowed 16 weeks of maternity leave and on top of that I have 40 days of vacation. I would really like to take September - January off, but I think I'm going to have to negotiate that extra month with them. We'll just have to see how it goes.

We are using all the citrus fruits now as the little one has reached the size of a lemon according to my books. Isn't a lemon smaller than a peach? Maybe I'm just used to seeing huge, hormone packed peaches from Colorado. Either way, it's about 3-4 inches now.

We are spending most of tomorrow showing people our apartment. Part of me wonders if we shouldn't have just done an open house, but I didn't like the idea of all those people wandering around our flat. I know this is Switzerland, but I'm paranoid.

Matt needs to make an appointment with the doctor. He has managed to reinjure his already bad wrist and now he's walking around with a bandage on. What I think is funny is that he hurt it in the shower shampooing his hair! He's got to get it looked at as I will need him fully operational for the move - one of us has to be able to lift the heavy stuff!

We've also narrowed the dates for when my Mom and John will be out for a visit after the birth. I think we are looking at mid-September or the first part of October. We are pushing them to stay a full 10 days. When you fly overseas, 7 days seems too short. But, I know that with American vacation it's difficult.

Tummy Photos

So, I'm a little disappointed, because Matt and I had taken a few shots of my belly and I think I've deleted a week of photos.

Anyway, Becca asked me to post some shots of the ever expanding belly, so here are two below.

First - 5w6d

And now, 13w3d

I do not think I'm getting a baby belly so much as just getting fat. But, having said that I've only gained 5lbs in the first trimester, which is okay for what my weight was before getting prego. And, I'm still wearing my "normal" work trousers; although just barely.

I promise we'll be more diligent about taking belly shots and this time won't delete them!

13 Weeks

We had Kay and Michael over this week for a visit. Matt took a few days off and took them sledging (sledding) up at Flumserberg. I didn't know this, but neither of them had ever really been up to the mountains and experienced snow like that. They were really lucky because the day was bright and clear and the sledge run was pretty empty. They had a great time as you can see from the photos here.

They had a great day up at the resort and were only a little sore the next day. Poor Kay had bruises on the insides of her knees from bouncing against the sledge. Next time they come, we'll have to attempt skiing. :-)

We had our second ultrasound this week on Thursday. The baby looks so much more like a baby now. We must have spent about 40 minutes with the doctor and the ultrasound. Our little baby is such a mover! It was amazing to see it moving and flipping around and not be able to feel it. Every time our doctor tried to get a good view of the heart valves the baby rolled over away from her. It was really funny to watch our little peach react to the pushing.












She looked at the baby's nasal bone, the femur length, the heart valves, the kidneys - we even saw the little bladder with urine in it. Which means the kidney function is good. According to doc, every looks good. I think our baby looks fabulous!

I think we've chosen a moving company. It is going to cost us about 5.5.K CHF including the cleaning of the flat afterwards which is pretty good. Matt spoke with our landlady and we're going to list the apartment on a rental search engine in hopes of finding someone to take over our lease starting April 1st. As it looks right now, we are planning to move on the 23rd March - just a few weeks away!

Today, we cleaned the attic and the basement. Well, Matt did most of it, but I helped with the attic. We had so many empty boxes from things we bought like small appliances. I always thought if we moved, it would help to sell things if we had the original packaging. Now, we've thrown that all away. We ended up with about six bags of rubbish in the end!

Jason is over tonight watching rugby with Matt. I think I'm going catch up on some Grey's Anatomy.

The Big Cleanup

Oh, I'm so annoyed. I just finished writing a new blog and managed to somehow erase it! GRRR

So, I guess I'll try again.

I spent last weekend going through my closet and my office. I was quite proud of myself because I ended up with four bags of clothes that we gave to goodwill. I was very unmotivated to go through everything, but afterwards I felt good. It's funny how those sorts of things make you happy.

I realized tonight though, that while I am a hoarder of clothes - Matt is a hoarder of electrical stuff. I managed to get us down to one drawer of electronic stuff in our flat about two years ago (pushing most of it into the attic) and over the course of cleaning out my stuff I found three NEW drawers of cords and electronics. Now, I realize over the course of these two years we've made several new purchases, but I didn't know we've spread it out over all the empty spaces in the flat.

I've already mentioned to Matt a few times that I want to go through our basement storage room and attic and electronics drawers before we move and he's suggested we wait to do it after we get to the new place. Hiring movers in Zurich is VERY expensive and I'm not about to pay a guy to move a box only to throw that box of stuff away afterwards. So, we will be taking the next weekend or two to clean out those rooms. I have no problem throwing away older cameras or computers or useless cords, but I know Matt will. I can already hear the fighting...oh well.

On the baby front, it's about the size of a lime now. I also got sick twice this week! The first time was after brushing my teeth on Tuesday morning. I have a hard time brushing my teeth now that I'm prego, but usually all I trigger is my super sensitive gag reflex. This time, it didn't stop until I was actually sick. I thought it was kind of funny, because it was my birthday and I felt like it was baby's way of saying "Happy Birthday Mamma!"
The second time was not as funny. It was Friday night and I started to feel sick while eating dinner and it lasted all night. Finally, before going to bed, I got sick. I forced myself a bit, but I'm glad because I felt better after and could go to sleep. Unfortunately though, I managed to burst blood vessels all around my eyes and neck. Nice, eh?

Matt and I also listened to the heartbeat again on Friday morning. We didn't get to listen for long, because our little lime squirmed away and hid from us back under my pelvic bone. We also went to IKEA yesterday to get an idea of the cost of their baby furniture. We didn't see too much that we really liked. But, my Mom did remind me that we won't be using it for very long and she is right; we don't want to spend a fortune on stuff we'll be using for just over a year or so.

Today we finished last minute preparation for Kay and Michael's visit. It will be nice to have them here. Matt baked some bread in our bread machine and made some quiches and I cooked a stew. It's been snowing off and all all day, so some fresh bread and warm stew sounded yummy. Hopefully the weather will cooperate this week and let them get out and about town a little bit.