Author: Crisis

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Back at the Hospital

I left the hospital to pick up my mother from the airport at 14:40. It turned out that the airplane pretty much landed around that time. I arrived at the airport’s arrival pickup at 15:10, but it took until 15:45 until my mom came out. She was in pretty good shape and very happy to see me, of course.

We quickly went back to the car, I briefed her on the way for what was going on at home. Manuela can stay a little longer to make sure she is all comfortable. We had a great quick ride and were there by 16:05. I quickly paid Manuela and made mum a coffee, showed her the minimum things to not get lost and off I went to the hospital. I was worried to be too late I had said I would be back by 16:15-30. Due to the light Sunday traffic I was actually back almost precisely at 16:30. They were just doing the epidural and I could not enter right away, but well nothing really had happened. Excellent!

Now, Ana is already at 7cm and she got some Petosin to make the contractions more regular and stronger. She is feeling fine. We ordered dinner at 17:40  and are now watching some TV to relax.

Everything is on track and they tell us by 20:00 the baby should be there. That would be perfect!

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Picking up ‘Grosi’….. or not

Finally we decided that I can go to pick up ‘Grosi’. The flight is scheduled to arrive for 14:45, I will leave in a few minutes and bring her to our house. Ana has few but strong contractions. Also asking the nurse it seems ok if I leave and get back within the next one and a half hour. Leaving now….

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Changing into the Delivery Rooom

We have just changed into the delivery room. It is a nice big room, where Ana and I are quite comfortable. We will get something to eat in half an hour or so, all included in our health insurance. At this point Ana is dilated to 5cm but the contractions have gotten less.

We are pretty convinced that the baby has decided to show up when ‘Grosi’ arrives at the airport. We are trying to find Steve Nahn to pick her up… We found his son Adam at home but Jen and Steve were supposed to show up pretty soon. We will call again a little later.

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In Labor at the Hospital

Today, finally after all the back and forth — we wanted to induce by December 23, then December 26 — we are sitting in the labor room at the hospital, waiting for a delivery room to free up. There is one coming up very soon, they say.

It all started today around 4:30 when Ana got some stronger contractions and they built up until 7:00 when we called the Hospital/Doctor/Babysitter. By 9:00 the kids had breakfast and Manuela had arrived to watch the kids. Ivan was very concerned of us leaving again and insisted on knowing exactly the sequence of events, including when I would come, Grosi  would come and finally when Momy and the new baby would arrive.

Now it is 10:10 and Ana is laying on the bed, connected to heartbeat and contraction indicator and a blood pressure measuring device. I am watching her and we are waiting for our delivery room. Grosi is going to arrive at 14:40…. and I am almost convinced the new baby will arrive while I have to pick her up. Well, let’s see what happens.

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Sledding in the Garden on Christmas

Today finally we decided to try sledding in our own front yard…. There was clearly enough snow around, it was not even very cold. So, we took the highest spot right behind our little shed and slid down towards the street. It took a few attempts to pave the relatively deep snow with its icy crust such that finally we were able to slide down to the side walk on our plastic sleighs.

Marki on his way down.....
Marki on his way down.....

Afterwards we produced some snow angels in the snow of the front yard.That was not so easy with the icy finish. And finally we went back in to play some games under the Christmas tree. We are ready for tomorrow…. and it would be nice if number 4 would come soon, but maybe after Christmas 🙂

Building jewels in front of our first Christmas tree.
Building jewels in front of our first Christmas tree.
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An Early Morning in our Bedroom

This morning I got up when Markus was kicking around and it was shortly after 6:00. I realized that we have a wonderful view on Boston, and as the sun was getting stronger I took some photos. Just to prove that we do see the Boston skyline from our bedroom. We are still missing the balcony on our sun room but well we have lots of time to do that. Please do not ask me to repeat the picture in the summer, as the vegetation will take away a good part of the skyline.

30am in the morning.
View from our bedroom at about 6:30am in the morning.

On a separate note, we do not yet have the baby. Ana is holding on tight it seems.

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First Real Snow Storm ‘Done’

All right, this year the first real snow storm was pretty early. Saturday night around 11pm it slowely started and built up slowley to full strength. As announced in the news the snowfall tapered off around noon, but the tapering was kind of slow. Expecting for Ana to be ready to deliver any moment I cleaned out the driveway two times. Once around 9am and one more time around 3:30pm, whent he snowstorm was over and the snow ploughs had made their final pass at the streets . It must have been about 30cm of snow if not more. They said in the TV that it was one of the largest snow storms within the last 10-20 years…. well it was quite fine from our side, luckily it hit on the weekend and Ana did not have to go to the hospital either.

Our driveway less than 24 hours after the storm hit. Not so bad.
Our driveway less than 24 hours after the storm hit us. Not so bad.
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Our first Christmas Tree in Arlington

This year is the year of the first times….. First snow fall, first visit to Boston, first house bought, first sub zero bike ride etc. etc. Today we bought our first Christmas tree. We were not yet sure were to put it, Ana was thinking about the right side of the living room, were the speaker usually stands, I was rather thinking about the left side, replacing the floor lamp. Well as it turned out, Ana was right, the right side is nicer and the tree fit in very nicely.
Anyway, after the breakfast we went to get my warm winter boots, and after that we looked for a tree at Mahoney’s and we met Krishna with family (Dana, Isaac and ? hmm… forgot the name). They bought a big tree together with a nice large new support. We went for a somewhat smaller tree and a support which was cheaper but had the possibility to fill in some water to keep the tree fresh for longer 🙂 of course we made the better choice.
I went with Markus and Ivan to find our tree. As usual it is not easy to find the perfect tree, but finally we found a decent tree. I do not like the tip too much but it was reasonably regularly built (and cut) and would fit well into our living room.

Our first Christmas tree in Arlington. Well of course as Ana says it is not yet ready, light mnissing and some fine tuning on the decoration, but well, that's it.
Our first Christmas tree in Arlington. Well of course as Ana says it is not yet ready, light missing and some fine tuning on the decoration, but well, that's kind of it.

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Biking at Low Temperatures

As it is well known in boy scout circles: ‘It is never too cold, you might just be improperly dressed.’ So following this proverb I have adjusted my biking gear to reflect the sub zero temperatures. Last Friday morning it was -14 C when I rode to MIT the usual path. The Wednesday night before I had my first sub zero ride in the evening after a long squash game. I was so exhausted and had bad headwind that it took me almost 45 minutes to get home. Luckily it was not yet as cold so I survived with my simple jeans. The morning afterwards I did get a pair of nice skipants and the -14 C ride was almost pure pleasure. Today I completed the equipment with a pair of really decent winter boots (wonderful leather on the outside but fully waterproof through several more modern layers: ‘Chippewa since 1901’). One more thing…. I still need some decent gloves, mine kind of suck 🙂

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ETH is Calling

Yesterday i was offered the position in Zuerich. We are all excited and will carefully evaluate the consequences of a move. When number 4 is born we will make plans and we will travel to Zuerich. This is an important new step in our life and we will make sure to make the best informed decision.

As Phillip Schieferdecker put it, ‘Im Fussball nennt man das ein Luxusproblem’.