2 Months'

Time seems to go by so quickly. Kirsten hit 2 months old on 30 July. John was out of town at the annual Infosol Conference, and we survived the worst monsoon storm that we've seen in Phoenix since arriving a little over 6 years ago. Kirsten has survived and finished with colic now we're having some constipation issues which included a trip to the ER at the end of the monsoon storm in the early hours of 31 July/1 August.

We're now preparing ourselves for guests. John's sister and her husband (Karen and Guy) arrive on Saturday 25 August and stay until Friday 7 September and then my parents (Ross and Anne-Lise) arrive on Monday 10 September and stay until 1 October. You are all aware that my Mum was here for the first 4.5 weeks of Kirsten's life, but my Dad is coming out to bond. John's parents are then spending Christmas with us, arriving on December 9 and leaving December 31.

1 month old

Kirsten is now 1-month old. She had her monthly check-up on Monday and then John and I also weighed her on Wednesday when she reached 5 weeks. She continues to gain about 2 oz a day and as of Wednesday weighed in (although dressed in a clean nappy and babygrow) at 9lbs 12.5 oz. We'll be weighing her again today and suspect that she'll have reached 10lbs. Unfortunately she suffers very badly from colic and so sleeps very little, but still eats a lot. As you can see from the photo I'll stoop to anything to stop her from crying. It works, if only for short periods, but when she kicks it makes it very difficult to concentrate on playing the piano.

For those of you who haven't seen them yet here's a link to take you to pictures that were taken of us at the hospital when Kirsten was 2 days old. http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/babypage_view.asp?URLID=8W8T7J8Q0F

We then had another set of pictures taken last Wednesday when she was 4 weeks old. http://mystudio.kiddiekandids.com/viewshare.asp?c=60700148824UAJDPY

Enjoy

4 Weeks On

I can't believe that Kirsten is going to be 4 weeks old today. At her first check-up with the pediatrician ( Monday 4 June) after we brought her home she weighed 6 lbs 9 oz (2.98 kilos). When she was in for a check up on Monday (25 June) she weighed 8 lbs 11.5 oz (3.95 kilos). Kirsten was unfortunately born tongue tied (absolutely no movement in her tongue), but with a simple procedure this was fixed last Friday by our pediatrician. We now love watching her being able to stick her tongue out. Kirsten has also grown about 0.5 inches as she is now about 21 inches long. We get a lot of comments about her being blonde as it is a rarity around Phoenix with all the hispanics.

My mother, Anne-Lise, has been here since the day after Kirsten's birth, and I really don't know what I'd have done without her help. We're going to be sad to see her leave on Monday (2 July), but she will be back again in early September with my father so that's only 2 month's away.

Kirsten, welcome to the world!

Sigrid and I are very happy to announce the birth of our baby daughter Kirsten!


She was born Wednesday May 30th at 8:20pm Phoenix time and weighed 7.2lbs. She is a real cutie (must take after me?)

We will of course post more pictures as/when we can. Sigrid is due to come home Friday evening.

The Final Countdown

I'm now at 38.5 weeks and really getting limited in what I can and cannot do. Anne-Lise, my mother, comes into town week today (May 31st) and stays until July 2nd so we're looking forward to having her here. I now have check-ups every week and so my last one was on Tuesday 22nd. The likelihood is that something is going to happen in the next couple of days. The doctor is trying to get an appointment for an induction and has indicated that she will take a cancellation so I live minute to minute, and hour to hour. In the meantime everything is ready at the house, the fridge and freezer are full of food. Various friends and neighbours are on standby and John just awaits that call from me to say that it is "all systems go". Thankfully we've got our first bank holiday weekend of the year this weekend to celebrate Memorial Day which means that I have John at home for 3 days.

Temperatures last week were really high for the time of year (in the low 100s F which is the very high 30s C). This week they've been cooler and only in the mid-90s F (mid-30s C). Although I've pushed the air conditioning down to lower than we've ever had it before at 78F (25C) I still keep suffering from severe hot flushes, and of course I daren't use the pool unless John is home. If I'm not in hospital this weekend I'll definitely be in the pool as it is now 76F (24C).

As soon as we know any more we'll let you know. An email will go out probably within 36 hours to most of you and a select few friends and family of course will be receiving that all important phone call. We'll do our best not to forget anyone!!

37 Weeks

Wow. We've made it to 37 weeks (yesterday, Saturday), but only Just. Friday we came very close and I had to make a trip to the hospital to be monitored for an hour. On Friday I felt like a bit of a fraud, but by yesterday I was glad I'd done what I'd done. There was very little movement on Friday from baby so at 10am I called my doctor and at 11am they asked me to go to the hospital for a non-stress test. Janet took me down and Lisa met us there. I'd told John to stay at work until we knew what was happening. It turned out I was slightly dehydrated and also got a lecture on taking it easy and was sent home. Yesterday morning baby was kicking continuously from 6am.

The temperatures here have skyrocketed and we've jumped up to around 105 F which is about 40C. John and I actually used the pool yesterday (that is ours not the one at our club) as it had reached about 76F (24C) and was beautiful. The next couple of weeks is about taking it easy and resting up until our daughter is good and ready to arrive.

Thanks for all your well wishes.

Final Countdown - Week 36

So it's 32 days until d-day and as John and I are fully aware anything could happen at any time although we hope to make it to at least 37 weeks. We've got 3 more prenatal classes to attend at the hospital: Infant CPR (both of us); breastfeeding (Sigrid); sneak peak (Sigrid, but possibly both). Before you ask "Sneak Peak is a newborn care class that gives expectant parents a peek at the reality of life with a newborn. Learn about the joys and challenges of early parenting and resources to help you cope. This class will teach you the basics of baby care including diapering, bathing and calming a fussy baby."

The temperatures have really started to climb here so the air conditioning has gone on earlier than normal as I can't cope with it. We went to the club on Sunday so that I could feel the weightlessness in the pool. Our pool is still a little on the cool side. We also went out to dinner at some friends on Saturday evening. We met Amy and Jeremy at our first prenatal class. Amy is due a month after Sigrid. I've attached a picture so that you can see comparison. I'm exactly at 35 weeks when it was taken.

I'm not sure we're ready, but then again I'm not sure we'll ever be ready...