Ready to Pop!

Practicing for life as a mom.

Since my adventure at the hospital (2 weeks ago today) I've been out of work with a Dr's note. This is pretty common practice in Switzerland even for those who haven't gone into labor during an audit. Women typically stop working about 4 weeks prior to their due date (and miraculously, this time is not included as part of your maternity leave). Anyhow, many have been wondering if I've been "keeping busy". The answer to that is a resounding YES! There are a lot of ladies in town who stay home with their kids (or dogs) and I have been lucky enough to join their mommy group a little prematurely. We usually meet either at one of our houses or Starbucks and then take a long walk around the lake. Here is to practicing for life as a mom :) The pictures below are of just a small part of the group.

Anna & Bosco, Nancy and twins Rachel & Julia, Kacey & Townes

Same crew, except Bosco did not want to turn around...

Walking with Bosco is like walking with a famous celebrity...Everyone wants their picture taken with him.

And last but not least...37 weeks and 1 day. Yes, I know. Yikes. And no, it is NOT twins.

Sunday at the Lake

We live in such a pretty town, and we finally got some sunshine to see it with!

The Baby Corner

Home again, home again.

I got sent home yesterday around noon - since Andy had a lot going on at work my girlfriend Anna came and got me and went with me to my Dr's appointment - where she did a complete internal exam and an ultrasound (the Dr...not Anna :)...All is ok, I am actually only dialated to about 1.5cm (did I just say "dialated" on my blog?). Anyhow, I am not on bedrest, that was the exciting part! She said she'd give me between 10 days and 3 weeks before the little one tries to make her appearance again...and once I hit 36 weeks on Tuesday it is the hospital's official policy that they no longer medically stop labor at that point. So we will see!

I just have to thank Braden & Anna (not only for coming to get me at the hospital) but for bringing over dinner last night! It helps so much to have such great friends, we love you guys. OH, and Lisa, thank you for the truffles, they were delicious :)

Speaking of adventures...

As most of you know I found myself in actual labor on my way to the Johnson & Johnson audit this morning. I was in denial for most of the morning and thought I was just having severe back pains :) Between contractions I was actually giving audit instructions...talk about a die hard auditor huh?! Anyhow, once I finally called the midwife I was told to come in to the hospital...so a very sweet co-worker of mine accompanied me on the 45 minute journey and carried all my stuff for me. Andy met us at the hospital and the midwife gave me some drugs to stop the contractions, it worked within about 30 minutes and seems to be taking hold! SO, I am now staying in the hospital overnight just to make sure i don't go into labor again, but she'll probably send me home tomorrow to bed rest at home from here on out.

I'm guessing not many people can say they went into labor at work - this is definitely an experience I won't soon forget!

In the mean time, let's see how long this baby decides to stay in....

Adventures in (extremely) amateur photography

So far I only have two subjects to capture with my new toy - my ever growing baby "bump" (if we can really call it a bump anymore) and poor Oscar, who isn't all too cooperative when it comes to my photo shoots. One things for sure, this camera takes better pictures than I do!

The Big 3-0

Thanks to our great friends here in Zurich, Andy had an awesome 30th birthday blowout last night! Judging by the fact that we got home at 2am (myself included - I made it!) and he is still sound asleep at 1pm today, he must've had fun. Here are just a few photos of the evening - some friends of ours have a band (Sons of Coco) and were kind enough to help with the party.
(Andy, Kim, Braden, Hannah and Magnus in the back...)
(A bunch of the Zurich girls)
(Sons of Coco)
(Andy & Coy)

3 weeks (and +/- 3 or so years :) early...

See the photo to the right? The one of my big belly? Well, it's getting really heavy as it turns out. This means that my back is starting to have some serious issues holding this puppy upright! We went for my 34 week appointment today and were told that I would most likely get induced 2 to 3 weeks early. In the doctors words (once she saw how tall Andy is) - "you are just too small to have his baby". Ha! 37 weeks is really considered full term so this would be perfectly safe for the baby and good for me to get some much needed relief! Looks like we are looking at a late January / early February delivery - we will find out a little more at my next appointment on the 16th :)

Will keep you all posted!

The end of a long vacation

After 3 extremely relaxing weeks off work, it is finally time to go back tomorrow. It flew by too fast...we've both decided we need to hit the lottery - or perhaps we have a long lost relative just waiting to reveal an unknown trust fund?

We spent our last day having a big brunch with friends and playing with our new toy - the Canon Rebel Xsi - which we're just figuring out. It will be so much fun and will come in very handy for baby photos to come. I am aspiring for amateur photographer status.


Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays as much as we did...until next time.

Happy 2009!

We kicked off 2009 with a big snow dump in Zurich! Happy new years to everyone!