Saturday, July 18, 2009

Welcome Aiden Talmadge Price!

Baby Aiden finally arrived SIX days late at 6:45am on Saturday, July 18 weighing in at 9 pounds (4050 grams) and measuring 20 inches long (51 cm, same as Kelsey). He is the chubbiest baby on the floor weighing 1 kilo more than each of the 4 girls he's surrounded by. He looks just like a Price baby, and I think he looks like Tally's oldest brother, Taft! He's got dimples in his cheeks and a small cleft in his chin. These are just the first pictures...rest assured more are on the way. It was nice to have my mom there for many reasons, one of them being to take pictures!
Tal was so happy to hold his little boy after 9+ long months. He wasn't set on the middle name until my mom and I were talking to Aiden and saying Aiden Talmadge Price. Suddenly it felt right, and Tal filled out the name card.


Since I was 5 days overdue and my mom was already in town, I decided to be induced. This scared me a bit, but I felt good about the choice. My doctor had me go in at 10pm on Friday night to be induced (interesting time, but who am I to judge). By the time they gave me the medicine (not pictocin, don't know what it's called in English), it was 12am on Saturday. I sent Tally home to rest and my mom and I slept. At about 2am, I woke up to pee and started having regular contractions. I couldn't sleep, and so I walked around and had a great time talking to my midwife or Hebamme, Anita. She didn't have any other patients and was helping out with the newborns (I got to hold little 2 and 3 kilo baby girls for a bit). My mom woke up and joined in the fun - we read our books and listened to Nora Jones. All was good, until things turned serious. My contractions started getting very strong and very close together. My mom rubbed my back and at about 5:30am, I called Tally and told him it was time to come over. I was only dilated to a 3 by now and felt it might be too early, but I wanted him there to help me through. I asked Anita to fill up the tub. I thought, 'if this doesn't help, I'm going to get an epidural. I couldn't imagine surviving these contractions for as long as it would take to get to a 10. The bath was very soothing, but of course, it doesn't take away the contractions. I knew from last time I had to relax and not fight the contractions to allow dilation. Tal was there by now and I could hear my mom and the nurse say they thought the baby wouldn't come until the next shift (7am). Around 6:15, I felt a hint of that familiar "I have to push" feeling. I told my mom to go get the nurse. She checked me and I was at a 10 already. The midwife said "don't push, give me 10 minutes to call the doctor, another midwife and get everything prepared!" Poor thing just ended her apprenticeship in April and was all alone on the night shift. With each contraction, I tried to breathe and not push (easier said than done). However, at 6:47, without a doctor, Aiden made his way into the water and into the world in one big push. He was blue and not breathing for a bit, but I was able to hold him, still attached to me, and help stimulate his breathing. He finally coughed and screamed and slowly gained his pinkish color. Tally cut the umbilical cord (and later my mom at the part that was closer to the baby) and we rejoiced that all was well. Then the doctor walked in...about 5 minutes too late. I feel so blessed that the baby is healthy, the labor went quickly, and my family was there to support me. I don't know how I got so lucky (ps I didn't tear!?!). I couldn't ask for more and find myself thanking God for each of these beautiful blessings. Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts and support!

They don't wipe all the slime off of them here, but feel it's better to leave the natural "lotion" on the baby which is why he looks so white, like a little doll or something.

Kelsey is coming in a few minutes to see the baby for the first time. I will try to upload pictures and video of that as soon as I can. She'll be so excited to see him - and I'm excited to see her reaction!

You can check out his picture on the hospital website under baby gallerie

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Waiting for Baby

Tal took this picture of me on my birthday. I don't know if you can tell but my belly is pretty big.
He's going to be a BIG boy I think!
Jessi Berg came to Zurich for the day and I only wish I could have spent more time with her. We played at Ashley's and Yi made us yummy Chinese food! It was bittersweet though since it was our last time playing at Ashley's - the last of the Barlow/Shontz apartment (sigh). So many fun memories there. We'll have to plan a trip to Geneva soon - and a trip to London to see Ashley!
My little jumper
Now she counts before she jumps: One, Two, ONE! We're still working on that. This was on one of our many walks to get baby to come out!
Cuddling up to a great movie...or Barney.
I thought it was so cute that she wanted to lay longways on the short part of the couch! We had some lazy days at home when mom was too tired to go to the park AGAIN.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Zuri Triathlon (Olympic Distance)

So last month Tally started training for a sprint triathlon, but he postponed registering for it until the last day since it was scheduled one day before my due date. With only one day until the big race, Tally decided to switch from doing the sprint distance (5oom/20km/5km), to the olympic distance (1500m/40km/10km) plus you have to ride your bike up a very long and steep hill three times in the olympic tri but not the sprint. So, before today, he hadn't swam more than 1000 meters, or run more than 7km in any of his training sessions - but he wanted to "stretch himself." Luckily, he didn't drown and ended up finishing better than expected. Here's some pics of my triathlete and other fun stuff from today.

THE SWIM - 1500 meters

Tal was one of the very few who didn't have a wet suit

THE BIKE - 40 kilometers



THE RUN - 10 kilometers

THE FINISH - 3:01:28

THE FINISHER - Tally, we are so proud of you! He didn't stop once the entire time!

THE FINISHER with his biggest fans
THE CREW - these our our friends Maddie & Justin Tomlinson and Daniel Malm who did the tri. Great job, guys! We're so proud of you!
THE WWF WRESTLER - Kelsey had fun tackling Benjamin, jumping and running. She brought this soccer ball inside the castle and had so much fun kicking it around. She then shared with the cute baby that came in. She loves babies. However, she was not in the mood to take a picture with Maddie and she was scared to death of the cartoon lion that came into the kids paradiis.
Eva & I took the kids on the train since we knew there would be no parking. The absence of a lift proved difficult with strollers, but luckily Eva and I are training for next years' sprint tri. ;)
It was fun to watch the guys work so hard and to cheer them on!

Saturday, July 04, 2009

4th of July in Switzerland

For Independence Day, our friends Anthony & Ashley Shontz had some families over for the 4th of July. And thanks to Alyssa, we had some red, white & blue to celebrate with. I forgot to get a pic of the USA we put on our car and Rachel's yummy cupcakes.

Despite stepping on a bee (still hurts!), the evening was so fun and filled with laughs. We even sang Yankee Doodle after a failed attempt at America the Beautiful.


The pregos once again wanted smores (recall the post about the Tomlinson's farewell party), and were caught roasting long after everyone else was through. Kelsey loved playing in the neighbors' playhouse and played by herself over there for a good 20 minutes or so! Guess we'll have to get her one at some point.



Our patriotic family photo - look at that BELLY!

The boys grillin' the meats















The yummy sides - I love the Polish pottery!
We walked up to the campfire/park - Kelsey loved catching a ride with Emily in the stroller
Not a bad place to spend the 4th, huh? Too bad we didn't have an American flag to put up next to the Swiss one ;).













































Kelsey ate at least 5 marshmallows, 4 of them uncooked























Hanging out around the campfire. This is one of my favorite things to do. I didn't like being attacked by locusts though! They were HUGE!
















The bows that Alyssa brought for the girls















The kids with sparklers. Kelsey was too afraid of them, which was okay with me.


We still love you, AMERICA!

Friday, July 03, 2009

Birthday Fun and Last Hurrah before baby #2 (5 months late)

I finally convinced my friend Rob to take some time off of work and come visit us in Switzerland by promising him a trip of a lifetime. Rob arrived on my birthday and we enjoyed some great summer weather as we explored Zurich, went for a swim in the lake, checked out Lucern, and spent the evening in Rapperswil.




On Saturday Rob and I headed to Interlaken for perhaps the most extreme and fun activity that I've done in Europe so far. I highly recommend canyoning in Chli Schilere if you are the adventurous type that doesn't have issues jumping off of a 35 foot cliff into small pool of water. The weather was overcast and rainy so the pictures don't do it justice, but the extra water flowing through the narrow canyon made it even more intense.


All geared up and ready to go

"Fritz" and "Hasi" posing after successfully repelling down the waterfall

Some scenery shots on the way back to Zurich


We stopped at Como on the way down to Cinque Terra and explored the sights of Como for a few hours before taking the boat up to Bellagio.

We arrived in Cinque Terra with enough time to scout out our camping site (you're technically not supposed to camp in Cinque Terra, but no hotels offered a view we were looking for). We hiked the trail between all five cities and enjoyed the cool blue water of the Mediterainean several times along the way.



Great Italian food

A great hike between cities





My friend Rabinder from work and her friend Jay drove down with us - they loved it.
After CT we made a stop in Pisa and Siena on before arriving in Florence. I'm glad we made the extra effort to visit to Siena and the rain could dampen the charm or energy of the city.


I was a bit disappointed that the scheduled rehersal of the running of the horses around the main piazza was canceled due to the rain, but the piazza was still very impressive and we had some excellent pizza in an adjacent restaurant.





Florence was impressive and IMO Michelango's David is the most impressive piece of art I have ever seen. The Academia doesn't have much else, but the entry price (and line that we waited in) was well worth the opportunity to behold the David (for a second time).


After Florence, we headed to the Petty's place near Padova. We enjoyed some fantastic italian food at Oda's in preparation for our expedition though Venice the next day.




After Venice, we grabbed some pizza from a great little pizzaria in Camisano and then I headed back to Zurich late that night to a wife who was threatening to go into labor. :-)

Rob had to go on to Rome alone...
Thanks for coming and visiting, and congrats on your engagement to Des!