(un)Happy Halloween!

No one to celebrate with this year... With Boo here next year and the cousins at trick-or-treating and pumpkin-carving age, we'll bring ghosts, goblins, and princesses to Bordeax.
I hope someone in California is eating peanut butter cups for me...

Stroller shopping

Online, of course. Was it this complicated to choose a stroller when I was a kid? I'm just thankful that we now have ebay and I can find my astronomically-overpriced-but-way-cool stroller without bankrupting the grandparents. I'm leaning towards the frog at www.bugaboo.com but will stay open to other possibilites.

Tour de France 2006

Just announced for Boo's birthday year: the tour comes to Bordeaux! The 10th and the 11th of July. We're even a "rest" on the offical route! For those of you who have expressed interest in the past to follow the tour (you know who you are) not only do you have free lodging here, but I have a strong hunch we could work something out for the phase in the Pyrenees.

http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/presentation/fr/parcours.html

Warning: It's basically me ranting

and has nothing to do with Boo. Today I went to the ANPE (National Agency for Employment) for the third time. They not only help chomers find employment but they aid those who wish to become small-business owners (me) untangle the red tape. I had once again set aside the afternoon -- because here any type of administrative errand takes a minimum of half a day -- only to be met by locked doors upon my arrival. A representative explained that they had to close the office after a man doused himself in gasoline and threatened to light a match if the agency employees wouldn't help him with his file. Fortunately, they were able to negotiate with him to avoid a tragedy. Apparently he has been "unemployed" for the past four years, working, but with the wrong type of contract. Yes, there is a right and a wrong type in France. A magical CDI (undetermined duration contract) will open the door to home ownership, bank loans, and so many other things that we take for granted. If you are one of the unfortunate souls to have a CDD (determined duration contract) you'll not only spend your days worrying about feeding your kids, paying your bills, and keeping clothes on your back, you'll also be hard pressed to find housing. The banks will refuse a loan and no one will rent to you, because they have no guarantee that you'll be employed at the end of your contract and owners have no legal right to evict tenants. Even with my husband's six-figure salary as C.E.O., we had to ask our friends to write a letter of financial support on our behalf before the owner would agree to rent our former apartment to us. Unbelievable!

I love living in this country, and I sincerely hope one day to be able to call myself French, but there are some things that need to be changed here. There are some points of the Anglo-Saxon model that work so much better than what we have going on here, but the unions and the socialists will never accept that radical of a change. They believe that the only job-protection they have is to make it impossible for an employer to fire them. Of course, that makes it practically impossible for an employer to hire them either. Industry complains that they lack the workers to keep business progressing and yet the unemployment rate is at 11%? Someone do the math! Or it's the national economy that'll be going up in flames.

Month 4 doctor's visit

All good news! I'm fine, Boo's fine, the blood test results were fine. She wants to see me again before leaving for the States but there's no reason to think I won't be able to fly for Thanksgiving. It'll also be reassuring to know that I'll have the results from the next series of tests in case any silly infections need treatment before leaving.

I still wish I had taken tickets in Business class...

Ready for his close up...

Two more. In the photo on the right, the doctor said that Boo was opening his mouth to "drink" some of the fluid. He's already learning to use his sense of taste apparently! I hope he liked what I ate that day... 

Boo on digital

I just figured out I have a scanner option on the printer!

Left picture: Boo from above. In the bottom right, you can see the crown of his head and his left hand. In the middle, you can see his FEET. This is by far my favorite.

Right picture: Boo profile. I have a better one where you can see his nose, mouth and chin. I'll try and get that one online. 

The twins

Ursula's due any second but still looks calm, cool and collected. Apparently the boys are very comfortable in there!

For those of you who need the reminder, Ursula is my American friend who's been living in Pisa with her husband Matteo for the past few years. She's responsible for the beautiful artwork that graces our home. Check out her website at http://www.ursulamathers.com/_index.php 

To be or not to be... Diaper free?

I’ve been rolling this idea around in my head for the past few days. It all started when I saw an article in the Times about this diaper-free-baby movement. I hadn’t really thought about it but the idea is tempting, if not labor intensive at first. But I can’t handle washing cloth diapers and the thought of 90 euros a month going to plastic diapers that are only going to fill a landfill depresses me. So the concept of helping Boo become diaper independent at 4 months could maybe possibly be a good option. It could also be a nightmare, but since I work at home, it could be a feasible nightmare. None of my friends seem interested in trying this out so I may be a trailblazer in this domain. And really, the mothers in the forums seem so positive about the experience that I don’t see why it wouldn’t be worth trying. I’ll just have to look into investing in rubber pants (for me) and protective covers for the furniture until we get into the rhythm.

For more info, go to http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/

Providing all goes as planned

In one month from today I'll be home in the USA! From the airport directly to Brandy Ho's...

Down Syndrome results

In the 4th month of pregnancy, the doctor's send us for yet another blood test – this time to check for Down Syndrome. Of course it's only 75% sure, but it's still something. This is supposed to be done in addition to measuring the foetus’ nuchal translucency during the first sonogram. If the nuchal translucency measurement and the blood test results both come back as being in the "at risk" category, the doctor suggests an amniocentesis. Boo's sonogram showed him to be in the normal range but the blood test results I won’t have for another 10 days. Of course, at dinner tonight my friend Sandrine (who is exactly one month ahead of me in her second pregnancy) told me that the lab only contacts you in the event of a problem. Otherwise, you yourself hear nothing and only your doctor knows the results. I'm as worried about the health of my baby as the next mother-to-be so, when we got home after dinner and I checked the mail on the entryway table, I freaked when I saw that I had a letter from the lab. I had to read it three times in order to understand that they just wanted to confirm my age and my contact information. Thank goodness! I don’t think I could handle contractions and the idea of an amniocentesis in the span of a week.

Things are looking up

The results are in and the good news is that I don't have any unknown infections that are causing me grief. The bad news is that there's still no "medical" reason as to why I'm having contractions. I have a sneaking suspicion that all of this has something to do with the level of thyroid medication that I have in my blood but the specialist just laughed me off. He was also the quack who said that my getting pregnant had nothing to do with the thyroid meds either. Maybe I should change "experts".

At any rate, I do feel better today. I've actually been much more active but have had fewer contractions overall. With any luck, this will be the only hiccup in the pregnancy.

All of France is celebrating the victory against Cyprus -- 4 to 0! This means that they qualify for next year's world cup in Germany. Finally the country is starting to come out of its funk. Even the SNCM has decided to go back to work after a 23-day strike.

Speedbumps at 16 weeks

Well so that’s it. I’ve done the first series of tests and everything has come back negative. The baby is fine, but I’ve seen better days. I can deal with contractions during labor but I don’t want to have them for the last 5 months of my pregnancy. We’ve past the 48 hour mark so I suppose I should just thank my guardian angles that the pain isn’t as strong as it was on Sunday night when we called the SAMU wondering if we should head to the hospital or not. (The doctor we spoke to said no, but the next morning I got a stern lecture from my gynecologist about never hesitating when it comes to contractions. At least now I know.)

So the entire Duroux family is freaking out over this. I feel like I need to write this down so that when I tell my side of the family I can stay lucid. Pascal was kind enough to drive me to the hospital this morning for further tests and he told me that every woman in the family had lost a child in the first trimester. I know that his intentions were noble, but it sort of came at a bad moment. I will do anything to avoid belonging to that club. If I have five months of bed rest and I can’t go home for Thanksgiving, well that’s fine. I just want Boo to be okay. Which he will be. I've heard that a lot of women have contractions all throughout the pregancy, but this is still a little too early. Were in the clear as there is no bleeding and my cervix stays nice and closed.

The sonogram this morning (number 4) proved that he’s doing great and is moving as much as ever. That’s the most important thing and that helps me keep it together when I can feel yet another contraction coming on. Speak of the devil… back to the couch I suppose.

Pilates

My pilates course this morning did not go as well as it usually does. I had a hard time keeping my balance and kept rolling over when we were on the side-kick series. Our instructor Christine said that my tummy muscles are being stretched and I have to learn how to use them differently. I didn’t have this problem last week! Luckily we’re a small group and she can help me modify the movements. There’s another American in the course who did pilates for all nine months of her pregnancy and claims it saved her from the lower-back pain everyone warns you about. I've heard the same claims for water aerobics but I'm a bit less motivated to look like a beached whale at the public pool.

Une visite de la sage-femme

I love the French health system -- not only is everything covered financially for your pregnancy, but for 18months they basically surround you with health officials who love to do house-calls.

About two weeks ago I got a card from the county health department stating that there was a midwife at my disposal, at no extra charge, should I wish to contact her. A week later, I got a card in the mail saying that she would stop by my house Monday morning to chat and ensure the pregnancy is going well. So this morning, promptly at 10:30, an incredibly energetic young woman sat with me and talked for about 45 minutes. She took the time to answer all the little questions that I keep forgetting to ask my doctor – can I take vitamin C, what kind of pain killers can I use for a headache, is it okay to continue pilates, etc. She was so friendly and personable that I didn’t even worry about asking such silly questions. We were even able to listen to the baby’s heartbeat, once we were able to pin him down of course. He’s much bigger now – 15cm – but must be a bit shy because he kept moving away from the microphone! She also showed me some photos to see what he looks like right now. It’s hard to believe that he has all his fingers and toes, and tiny little ears.

I have another appointment with her in December, after the next sonogram, and after my trip to the States. So we have another two months to debate whether or not we should find out about the baby’s sex. Unfortunately, it’s a hot topic because we can't agree. Thomas wants to know and I don’t. That would be fine if I thought him capable of keeping a secret but I’m fully aware of his limits and, quite frankly, would be livid if his mother knew the sex before I did. To be decided…