Obstetricians, cats and visitors

We've been back at home for 5 days now. Back from our Italian vacation.

This morning we visited the obstetrician -- always a bit of a drama.

We chose to go to a different hospital for this pregnancy. We didn't have any good experiences with the doctor/hospital in Amsterdam for my pregnancy/birth with Kees. So this time we have to catch a tram and then a train and then another tram to the hospital we've chosen for this little one (we don't have a car). About an hour and a half, door to door.

Fortunately this visit we did not have to wait. The previous two visits we've had to wait about an hour and 15 minutes every time. These waiting times are incredibly stressful to me. I'm in a room full of women and children and babies and pregnant bellies -- I feel my blood pressure rising with every minute that I have to wait. At our last visit my blood pressure was so worryingly high that I had to provide a urine specimen just in case there was a question of PE. Of course there wasn't -- it's just stress.

This visit was good. We didn't have to wait. The nurse immediately picked me out of the line for my blood pressure check and weight check. BP and weight are good. Then we only waited for about 5-10 minutes for our ultrasound. Everything looked good. This little boy is (as expected) bigger than babies of his gestation should be. He was pretty active throughout the ultrasound. Then we went for another wait (10-15 minutes) for our obstetrician. She was pretty prompt too. All we really did with her was discuss options. In the end we managed to pin her down for an induction at 38 weeks. I'll be going in to the hospital on 28 August, although I don't expect that this little one will make an appearance until 29 August (if he's anything like his brother Kees).

So that's pretty exciting ... a date for a birth! Let's hope we can keep this date.

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Our cat, Blair, was ecstatic when we came home from our Italian vacation on Saturday evening.

The apartment was absolutely COVERED in orange cat fur -- you'd imagine there was a tribe of cats living there instead of one small furry animal ...

Blair played the clingy, abandoned cat for a few days but seems to be back to normal now. Thank goodness. He's fairly pathetic when he's clingy.

We received an email report from the cat sitter saying that after the first few days, Blair did not take our vacation (ie. his abandonment) well. From the sounds of it, he turned slightly rabid, and the cat sitter had to tempt his taste buds with fresh fish to be able to sneak out of the apartment every day. Fortunately he hasn't tried any of his rabid antics with us.

Other than a long weekend in the UK next month we don't have any trips planned in the near future, so Blair can rest easy.

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We got an email from Craig's aunt in NZ last week, in which she announced her intention to visit us in September. Her initial dates were the end of August --- oops! So when we got back to Amsterdam, Craig emailed her the news that we were pregnant and I was expecting to give birth at the end of August. Then he rang her the next day just to confirm she wasn't booking flights just yet. She was surprised at our baby news and was happy to tack her Amsterdam visit to the end of her European trip. So she'll be here at the end of September.

I spoke to my parents when we got back to Amsterdam -- they've been visiting family in Queensland, Australia. They are still there now. Anyway, my mother announced her intention of (maybe) coming to visit in early October. I was very surprised as I didn't think she'd ever come to visit us in Amsterdam again. My parents are both retired and don't have lots of money! My mum came last year in March, when Kees was in the NICU in hospital. She arrived in Amsterdam on the morning that he died -- she got to meet him and hold him then. So I guess this time she doesn't want to take any chances -- if this grandchild is born alive, she wants to see him too!!

So a week ago we had no inclination of the visitors we'd be receiving -- now (if this baby lives) we'll be receiving two visitors from the other side of the world when this baby boy is about 4 weeks old!!

Yay!!!