The pressure is on

At the moment the European Championship Soccer is played in Switzerland and Austria. Holland is doing surprisingly well and will play in the quarter finals next Saturday - June 21st. One of the first games we watched with our friends Hettie and Maurice who live in our neighborhood. Hettie is due 6 weeks after me and thus we were cheering for the team with juice and our feet up!



Now that Holland is playing the quarter finals Sean thought it would be funny to get Jr a t-shirt "My first EK". But that also means the pressure is on. Either on my/Jr's side to make sure Jr comes before June 21st. In case they loose there will not be another change to wear the t-shirt anymore. Or the pressure is on on the Dutch team to play well and make it all the way to the finals, which are June 29th.

By the way

we would like Jr not to arrive tomorrow.... Friday the 13th just doesn't sound like a good start.

But besides that we don't have many wishes, we want Jr to come, but not on certain days! Poor baby.

Midwife checkup and take 2

So this morning at 6 am we had another bleeding episode..... take 2. Luckily it was a lot less than last time, but still enough to get us worried. I decided to wait with calling the midwife since I had to go there a couple of hours later anyway. Sean went to work to finish of an experiment he had started and worked on for the past 2 weeks, but didn't feel comfortable leaving me and came home right after he had finished it. We went to the midwife together. She did the standard tests, like my BP (110/80), looked at my belly and listened to Jr's heart beat. That was all great, but the bleeding she didn't trust. She called the hospital to discuss the issue with my gyno, but he was in the middle of a delivery. Since the bleeding kind of stopped again, she didn't think it was necessary to rush to the hospital right away, but we have to keep an eye on it and call if it were to start again. After 10 days since our false alarm she thinks it is necessary to make sure it is still all ok and that the bleeding is indeed still not caused by the placenta. As a "bonus" I need to take it (even) more easy, not lift anything etc.... Great, my patience is going to be tested even more.
So overall we are still doing fine, but both me and Sean stay a little nervous and wish it would just start instead of keeping us on our toes for another 2-3 weeks.
We'll keep you posted.

Nice weekend

This past weekend Sean and I enjoyed ourselves at home. Also we had some visitors (my parents and my MSc supervisor from Vermont who happened to be in town for a meeting) and we went out for dinner. It was a very nice dinner, but these "last-time-just-the-2-of-us-things" are also just weird.

Here is me at 38 weeks pregnancy in my dinner outfit :)

It feels like the waiting has begun

Ever since our false alarm Monday night it feels different. I don't want to go to far away from home and since I still have the feeling there is some activity going on it feels like waiting till Jr announces for real.
I realize it could still take 2 more weeks, so I don't want to just sit on the couch, that would make me unhappy. So today I went to the garden center to get some plants for the yard. These little projects keep me busy and occupied. Although it felt funny, Jr hasn't dropped into my pelvis yet, so in case my water breaks I have to lay down (When a baby's head hasn't dropped yet, there could be the danger of getting the umbilical cord stuck). The idea of me laying down in the isle with indoor plants actually made me laugh when I thought about that in the store....

In the evenings we also just hang out at home. Last night Sean, me and Clover were sitting in the baby room wondering how it will be real soon!


Clover is also excited!


Pretty soon I will be feeding Jr in the rocking chair.

False alarm

I ended my last post commenting on the fact that as of today we enter the "normal" delivery time-zone.... well that was almost not a joke anymore.
Last night we spent in the hospital from about 1.30 - 4.00 am, because I had woken up and was bleeding heavily. At first I called my midwife who recommended us going to the hospital right away. There they did all sorts of test, checked me and the baby and made some more ultrasounds to make sure the bleeding wasn't caused by the placenta. Everything looked fine and thus the bleeding was probably just coming from my cervix getting ready for delivery. Also I had some mild contractions, but they weren't actually doing anything useful, besides practicing my uterus. So false alarm and we got to go home again. The gyno told us you can't predict anything from this bleeding, we might be parents really soon, but it could also last another 2 weeks. But a 42 week pregnancy isn't very likely, so this made us realize all the more how soon we will be parents.

The one good thing that came out of this was the fact that we got to rehearse driving to the hospital. All the bags are ready and we seem to be well prepared and were able to handle this stressful situation very well together. Sean did a great job taking care of me and the baby and all the stuff. He even brought the car seat into the hospital which we got to take home again (empty).....

Ok, time for a nap now, I didn't get much sleep last night!

Midwife checkup at 37 weeks with my mom

My mom came up yesterday. For one reason because I am on leave and it is nice to spent some time together and also to join me to my midwife checkup.
Everything is continuing to look good for both mommy and the baby. My BP is 120/80, my belly is looking good still and the baby's heartbeat is strong. Junior didn't start to drop yet, but the midwife wasn't to worried about it. There is still some space in my belly so why would Jr decide to drop and get his/her head stuck? Good point.
So my mom got to feel Jr's head and butt and she got to hear the heart beat. She really enjoyed feeling her grandchild and to see what had changed in the 30 years since she had her checkups for me. The midwives at the practice I go to are always great in involving the person (like Sean or my mom) who joins me. It is not all that easy to schedule my mom visiting and the midwife visit in one day, so this was a very nice experience for both of us.

So in 10 days I am going back to the midwife. But as of tomorrow (when I am 37 weeks pregnant) we enter the official "normal" delivery time zone..... Jippie.

Me and my mom 2 weeks ago for Mother's day...