Time

Sorry for being MIA for a while - I've been a bit too busy and with two long public holiday weekends my 'me-time' was limited.

Other than that I'm fine. I think I'm starting to get a little belly (hubby says it's because I eat too many cookies - he's crazy). My regular size pants don't fit anymore in the evenings. Until my first pregnancy I wore a size larger and I kept those clothes - they now come in very handy (I also unpacked some of my maternity clothes, but those are still way too big - also partly due to the fact that these are in my previous size). Worst part of the day for me is somewhere between lunch and dinner - my belly then feels slightly crampy, I have lower back pain and am tired. Sometimes the crampy belly prevents me from taking a good nap. I'm hungry most of the time. Yesterday I was watching a cooking program on TV after dinner and I swear, I could have eaten everything that I saw.

I got my registration for the hospital's l&d and maternity ward sorted - am #7 for the registrations that started this week for due dates end of January/early February (as I live in an area with many fertile myrtles and a popular hospital, you have to register pretty early on in your pregnancy to be sure there is a bed available for you).

Time is playing strange tricks on me - when I think about my due date (end of January), I picture it as being only about five months away, upcoming OB appointments or ultrasounds are in my idea somehow scheduled in November/December instead of June/July. It seems that I relate everything back to my first pregnancy (which debuted early October '08), but I wonder if it also is somehow linked to my mom's illness and passing (she received her 'death sentence' in last September and passed away in November), because when I read about friends' babies that were born in January/February I think they're only three months old instead of five - somehow I'm still stuck in November.

I'm feeling my mom's absence more and more now - my dad inquires about my health and feelings, but when I then tell him about my symptoms he will ask "is that all normal in this stage of pregnancy?" - so far away from what my mom's reaction would be - relating to her own pregnancies, or maybe my own first - I cannot call her anymore to tell her about new appointments or funny symptoms. I also missed her a lot when we were in the south of France two weeks ago, my dad (and his new girlfriend, but that's a whole other story) were with us - we were housesitting a friends' of my parents house. Our toddler just got over a stomach flu and was still waking up every morning at six (luckily he's now back to his usual routine of 7:30 am). Taking him to our bed for some extra snooze time was no option - he wanted to get up and mommy had to come with him. So I watched Sesame Street with my son while the rest of the house was still asleep, I made him a bottle and myself a cup of tea, and I longed for my mom, who was always an early riser, and who would have gotten up if she had heard us and made us some breakfast. Now the other adults didn't show their faces until two or three hours later (when my son and I felt ready to take a nap!).

37 weeks

Made it to 37 weeks, so far so good! I keep thinking my OB just scared me more than was necessary with her comments at my last checkup - I really thought I would go into labor immediately after, but here I am, almost three weeks later. Of course I have been taking it easier, so we never know what would have happened if I had continued working... Oh, well, it doesn't matter.

What does matter though is that I received a letter this morning from the state health insurance that they're not going to pay me during my maternity leave. The company and I were under the impression that the only requirement I needed to fulfill was to have worked at least 200 hours in the last three months before the start of my maternity leave, but in the letter I got they also say I should have been registered for at least ten months before the birth of the baby. Since I've got my insurance card only since February (before that I fell under my hubby's insurance), I don't qualify.

But... good news! Our accountant just called. She talked to the insurance and I indeed don't qualify under my own number, but I do under hubby's number! So we have to send a letter with a copy of his insurance registration and they're gonna pay me after all (of course with some delay, but that's OK)!

Did go to the mall this morning. I'm sure hubby would have objected, but he's away for business today, so he wasn't there to stop me. First stop was of course the rest room, where the cleaning lady told me (after I put the 40 cts in the turnstile) that pregnant women don't have to pay, but she didn't give me back my money either... Then on to the Gap, where I bought three T-shirts (not from its maternity line, but thee rather long Ts from its regular collection in a buy 3, get one free action) and finished at H&M, where I bought two nursing tops. Must say that even though I only was there for 45 minutes, it was quite exhausting, so I was glad to be home again.

Before going to the mall I had my last test (blood: toxoplasmosis, urine: glucose and protein) at the lab, and went to the post office to buy stamps for the mailing of the birth announcements. Also made an appointment for tomorrow at the hair salon.

Some emails and phone calls awaited me when I got home. Did those, had lunch and now I'm really tired. Think I will get into the hammock again, even though it's probably a bit too windy to put up the parasol and without it it'll be too hot, but I don't want to stay indoors either with this beautiful weather.

Hubby-imposed house arrest

Yesterday I decided I want to buy one or two maternity short sleeved shirts or tank tops because almost all my other maternity wear is long sleeved and that's getting a bit too warm. Not wanting to spend too much money on it either (for the four weeks pregnancy that are left), I had thought of a quick trip to either G.ap or H.&M in the mall.

Hubby was going to the train station this morning, which is next to the mall, so I thought I'd catch a ride with him and take the bus back. He didn't allow it (mainly because of the bus ride)! Suggested he would buy the t-shirts for me (no way!), but when I refused, he said we would go together later this week...

So I stayed home and did our tax return instead...

January sale

So, as ridiculous as it is, the periods of the summer and winter sales in France are state-regulated. So this year, the winter sale started on Wednesday January 7, and will end on February 11 (end date may vary per region). No shop is allowed to do pre-sales, not even for regular customers.

My regular pants and jeans were getting awfully tight, but I could restrain myself to wait until the 7th, so I would not have to pay full prize for maternity clothes. I had already checked out some websites and knew pretty much what I wanted. It's great that I found some online, because being in the mall or city-center on the first day of the Sale is real mayhem. The first year we were here I inadvertently was at the Gap on that very day and had to wait in line for 30 minutes to pay for one pair of jeans... (and vowed I would never go to the mall on the first sale-day again).

So shopping online seemed like a great idea. No lines, just a few clicks. Found some nice clothes (and pants/jeans that were long enough!) Free shipping, free returns. Vertbaudet promised delivery within 48 hours, Esprit in 3-7 days. So I waited... and checked my inbox and the shops websites every day (yeah, I admit, I love tracking packages!). The Esprit website had no way to login to see what the status of the order was (which I don't like much), while Vertbaudet's kept saying 'colis en préparation', even six days later! Of course both had already debited my credit card the day I placed the order...

After three days I got an email from Esprit saying they were sorry but needed more time than usual in getting my order to me (yeah right, they couldn't have anticipated for the winter sale, which date has been fixed at least 6 months in advance?!). Another three days later, I received an email that my order had been shipped and they gave me a tracking number, yay! However, the tracking number gave no result on the day I received the email, nor the next day, or the day after. WTF? So I sent them an email. Got a response a day later: the day I got the shipment email was the day the package left the distribution center in Germany. French tracking info would not be available until 48 hours later. OK, fair enough, but it would have been handy if they would have mentioned that in the email (or do they assume that people in France only check their email once a week or something?). Finally, 80 hours after the email was sent, the tracking number was recognized at the Coliposte website, but I was disappointed by the lack of information (oh yeah, and I could enter my email address so I would receive tracking info in my inbox. Which I did. Never received a thing.) The package arrived two days later (so 10 days after the order). Three of the five items were fine. I'm sending back the other two. First planned only to send back one shirt (had forgotten that the French M is a Dutch S, so it was OK right now, but had no room for a growing baby bump), but then saw that one pair of pants I'd ordered and which were a bit too long (amazing!) were now even more on sale, so returned them today (oh yeah, and almost fainted again while waiting in line at the post office...) and ordered a new (shorter) pair for the cheaper price. Wonder how long it takes until they credit my account for the returned items and before the new shipment arrives.

Oh yeah, and the Vertbaudet order... last Wednesday (so a week after ordering), the site still said 'colis en préparation'. I had sent them an email as well, got some lame excuse. But then also on Wednesday I got an email that I could pick it up at my 'relais colis' (this is an other delivery option I discovered, where it is sent to a store of your choice (as long as it's in the 'relais colis' network of course, near you where you can pick it up. Quite handy, as long as the packages are not too big or heavy. Home delivery is also possible, but for an additional fee).

And the funny thing is - if I'd have them, I would wear suspenders with my new maternity jeans! They're still too big, even with the adjustments set to the smallest size! But a lot more comfy than my regular jeans tough, now my belly just needs to grow more.