Balancing Baby and Bonjour

I had my 31 week appointment this morning and purposefully scheduled it while my parents were here.  Henry typically goes to my appointments with me, however this time I invited my mom to come because I thought it would be somewhat special for her to see baby girl on ultrasound.  It was a crazy busy morning with getting both boys to school, drive back home and then walk to my appointment by 9:30 am, but we did it!

Having an ultrasound each time can be a bit daunting, just because like last time I saw that the baby was lying transverse and you wouldn’t typically know that without ultrasound (and it’s completely normal for the baby to be lying that way around 20-26 weeks).  Anyway, we arrived at my appointment and I believe I was the first appointment of the day which is always nice since there isn’t any wait!  The doc and I discussed any issues which should be addressed (which there weren’t any) and then he proceeded with the exam.  He did some blood work to keep on top of my history so this time he’s checking my platelets again, liver enzymes and iron levels

Weight gain: 11 lbs this pregnancy (up 2 lbs from my last appointment 4 weeks ago)

Blood Pressure: 110/70

Heart Rate:  Around 136 ( I actually check it each night with my stethoscope)

Baby’s current position: ROA, so head down, anterior and on my right side

Baby’s current weight: 1560 g or around 3 lbs 4 oz

The weight of the baby was our biggest concern, but she’s growing quite nicely.  I’m still measuring about a week behind via ultrasound, but he’s just guessing it will be a small baby.  He’s guessing I won’t make it to my due date and if the growth curve stops for some reason, he’ll just induce since growth outside of the womb is typically better towards the end of pregnancy.  Next appointment is in 2 weeks so we’ll just pray that she continues to grow!

Also, at the end of the ultrasound he reconfirmed that it is indeed a girl 🙂

I’ll post some pics later

I enrolled Henry in the Intersoccer League here in Lausanne for the Fall.  It runs from the beginning of September to December and I thought it would be a great activity for him.  We attended our first practice this past Saturday (the practices are 1 1/2 hours long) and he loved it!!!  The coaches are all from the UK or the US so they all speak English and French, but the camp is English speaking.  Henry is in the 3-5 year old group and I must say the coaches do a tremendous job with the kiddos.  They were doing a different drill every 5-7 minutes and they really keep the kids attention ( I mean there are balls and hula hoops all over so to keep Henry’s attention is a big deal!).

Here are a few photos from the practice, the video won’t upload…GRR:

Daddy and Henry practicing before the practice started

Going for a goal

Action shot

Being a good boy by listening to the coaches

Of course T had to try it out too 🙂

I’m really looking forward to the upcoming practices and selfishly it’s a great way to meet other parents.

I always miss and think about family, but it’s times like these (solo parenting at almost 29 weeks pregnant) that I miss them most.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m really enjoying our time here in Switzerland, it’s really like a prolonged vacation.

So last night Henry departed San Francisco at 5:15pm our time and these are the times that I get most nervous.  I mean I knew he’d be on an airplane for 13+ hours with no way of contacting him.  Our good friends here in Lausanne are on ‘holiday’ in Monoco and 2 of our babysitters have left and our other babysitter went to France for the weekend.  There are a few other contacts we have here, but 1 of them is a mother to 3 little girls and her hubby is in Russia for work.  GAH!  So around 6 pm I decided to put the boys in the bath so they could play and enjoy themselves (rather them rushing them out).  They’re in the bath and all of a sudden I get these horrible cramp/contractions/I’m not sure what they were.  It was so uncomfortable that I was sweating in pain/fear.  The thoughts going through my mind were: “How am I going to get these boys out and dressed,” and “Who can I call if I need help?”  Well I decided to let them play for a bit and I sat down and ‘rested’ for a bit, that didn’t help.  Eventually I got the boys out, lotioned, dressed and so on.  We came to the living room and I put my feet up for a bit while holding T and the pain subsided for the most part.  Gosh it was scary though.  This really has me thinking that we need to get our emergency plan in place.

I’m interviewing a potential nanny this Wednesday that can help out a bit when the baby arrives…let’s hope she’s a fit!

On another note I’m having these BH contractions that are crazy in that fact that my entire belly gets contorted into a soccer shaped mass – it’s insane!

Well on a better note; Henry had a great first week of school and daddy is on the train expected to arrive home in 1 1/2 hours – YAY!!!

Have a great weekend!

Both boys have officially started school here in Switzerland.  Little T started last week at a little creche or nursery school and will be attending Monday and Tuesday mornings, with the possibility of adding on Thursday come October.  Here in Switzerland you don’t just start nursery school by bringing them the first day and dropping them off, they have what is called an ‘adaption period.’  What this means is that I come with Thomas to school for a few hours each time until they feel he is ready for me to leave.  I think it’s a really good idea for many reasons, but most importantly because I remember with Henry it was so difficult to see him upset as I was walking out the door.

I started Thomas now because 1) a spot became available (the waiting lists here are ridiculous) and 2) Baby girl will be arriving in just 12 short weeks (or sooner) and I want him to be comfortable with the nursery and also not to think that the baby booted him out of the house.  It was suggested when we were having Thomas to start Henry in school before the baby arrived so that the transition goes smoother and again so they don’t think that someone else is replacing their spot at home.

Now onto the big 3 year old (which in and of itself seems crazy to me!)  He had/has his first big day at school today.  I dropped him off at 8:45am and boy was it a mad house.  The first day always is because you have to bring so much stuff (slippers, rain boots, rain coat, gym shorts and shoes, extra clothes and so on) and then they supply you with the cute uniform (which isn’t mandatory but nice to have).  Henry will be attending Educative Kindergarten Monday-Fridays from 8:30am-1:30pm!

Henry was so excited to start school and really couldn’t understand why T started last week.  We were doing a countdown by number of sleeps he had left until school started.  He could barely contain himself this morning while we were getting ready…he was jumping up and down, literally!

Once we arrived at school, his friend Adalyn arrived at the same time.  They walked into school hand-in-hand and of course I forgot my phone in the car. Adalyn’s from North Carolina, but was born here and has lived here her whole life, all of 4 years 🙂  Here’s a photo her mommy caught:

Adalyn and Henry

T’s first day at school

Henry’s first day at school

Thomas is resting (not really napping) and Henry’s at school, what’s a mommy to do with this free time?!?!