Knocked Up Abroad: Be Quiet

On Wednesday I picked up a jar at of yogurt at the grocery store and squealed in delight.  The expiration date said 10/22. Surely by that time, 6 days past my 41-week French due date, little Bonbon will have arrived.  I will have a baby before this yogurt goes bad, I thought, smiling like a loon in the middle of Monoprix.  How exciting! The next day we went to our Midwife, Mrs. M, for our last appointment...

Knocked Up Abroad: Shake Your Bonbon

We've had a very busy week of appointments over here, so I just wanted to provide a little update of what's been going on with Bonbon. I call that picture The Cone Bump.  Little Bonbon has been spinning, spinning, spinning all over the place and moving and shaking!  She morphs my belly into the funniest shapes:  cones, lopsided, even squares.  One night she was bouncing around so much that I took a video.  I...

Knocked Up Abroad: The Go Bag

Do you guys watch Breaking Bad?  Ever since Mike stashed his secret Go Bag in the trunk of his car so that he could flee the country at a moment's notice, we've been calling our hospital bag The Go Bag.  Our Go Bag will contain our passports, but not millions of dollars, unfortunately. So since I'm entering the 38th week of pregnancy this weekend, we thought it would be an appropriate time to start getting our...

Knocked Up Abroad: La Chambre de Bonbon

We've spent the last few weekends shopping, building, and organizing Bonbon's bedroom and we're finally done!  When we first talked about the vision we had for the room, we wanted to be very minimalistic, knowing that we could be/probably would be picking up and moving during the first 6-9 months of Bonbon's life.  That definitely ruled out painting (not sure if we're allowed to anyway - the previous tenants/owner...

Knocked Up Abroad: The Specialists

I've told you all before how pleased we are with the level of health care we receive here in France.  They really seem to be focused on preventative treatment and finding the root of your symptoms before it becomes a serious problem that needs to be treated with drugs and interventions.  The prenatal care is no different.  I've felt very taken care of during this entire pregnancy and like all of my concerns are...

Knocked Up Abroad: Turn Baby, Turn!

Hi All! First of all, sorry for my absence over these last 2 weeks.  I've been feeling so good this entire pregnancy, and then weeks 30-33 hit me like a ton of bricks.  And you guys, I really hate to just constantly complain about the weather, but I attribute most of my misery to the 90°+ temperatures and the crazy humidity that we've had for all of August.  For the last month, the heat has been unrelenting,...

Knocked Up Abroad: The Newborn List

First of all, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who commented or messaged me regarding my KUA post about essentials for a newborn.  You ladies sure are impressive with your lists and spreadsheets and reading through everything has been a huge help.  This weekend we went over to one of our friend's houses to go through some of their baby things that they were happy to lend us for the first few months.  Aren't our...

Knocked Up Abroad: The Great Doctor Search

A few months ago, I mentioned that we were still in the thick of The Great Doctor Search.  I thought I'd give you all an update on how that's going, now that it's (mostly) resolved.  The resolution could not come quickly enough seeing as I am, clearly, at the point where I should have all this figured out. First of all, I'll explain how the hospital vs. private clinic and doctor vs. midwife thing works...

Knocked Up Abroad: The Third Trimester

Honestly, I'm having trouble believing that as of Saturday, I'll be 27 weeks and officially in the third and final trimester.  How is this going by so fast? !    Back in the spring, it seemed like I had all the time in the world to find the right doctor, set up a room, and - you know - figure out how to take care of a baby.  But here we are, in the thick of summer, and we're realizing that our little Bonbon will...

Knocked Up Abroad: French Etiquette

Want to know how the French treat pregnant women? Like Queens. It's awesome. Seriously, I don't have to wait in line ever.  Not at the grocery store, not for a fitting room, and definitely not at the airport.  I get offered a seat wherever I go, especially on the tram,  and restaurant servers even agree to let me order my meat bien cuit.  People here are so accommodating and it's very...