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.