The Good Girl, more pics Lente + video...

Hi all,


For more pictures of Lente please visit the following webalbum
Here we also uploaded the birth video (C-section!).. Only for the ones who are really interested to see that of course...

Lente is now 18 days old and doing great. At night she sleeps 4 or sometimes 5 hours untill the next feed which gives me time to get some good sleep. It is unbelievable, we are waiting for the day this will change (I hope not though)!! I used to wake up Femke at 10 in the evening for an extra feed before the hopefully long sleep in the night, but with Lente this is not needed at all... During the day she is more awake, but still sleeps 2 to 3 hours in one row.
My stiches were removed last week and I feel great. We have made long walks with Lente in the stroller and we've been to a big mall alltogether for shopping.
Femke is also very sweet to her sister, but for sure she show signs of jealousy and seeks more attention than ever from me and Arthur. My mother has been a great help and played a lot with Femke. Sadly she left this morning.
Femke is still going to the nursery from 8.30 till 3.30 3 days a week to keep her entertained, which gives us quiet time at home. And last Wednesday I started to visit the Play groups again at a friends house.


So far so good.

But now with my mother gone, we all need to find a new routine.
Luckily I don't have to worry about cleaning the house, or doing groceries (thanks to the delivery service of many shops). I just have to bring and take Femke from nursery, make a week schedule for cooking, and with Femke away most part of the day, I will try to nap once a day (which I did not do the last 2 weeks) and do some serious organizing of files and photo's.
Also the occasional social meeting with a friend can be planned.
6 weeks after the birth, so sometime end of June I also want to pick up sports again to get stronger and more fit.

We have very hot months ahead of us, in May already we had a few days of 40+ degrees!!
Next weekend we will start going to the beach again and stay at Stella di Mare Grand hotel.
Another thing we would like to do is go for a 1 hour walk in the evenings, after dinner.

Hello Lente Annabel Janse !

Our baby girl was born on Wednesday, 5 May, at around 3 pm in El Nada Hospital in Cairo.

She weighs 3,8 kilo and measured 51 cm.

Since Friday afternoon we are all home again. Meryem's mother is also here for 2 weeks.

'Lente' means 'Spring' in Dutch...

More photo's and stories soon...

Last preggie picture

I am now 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant and Arthur took yesterday evening the last picture with my big belly.. This afternoon we will go to the hospital for a c-section, my own choice no medical reasons. I am happy I waited this long, normally they plan a c-section 2 weeks before due date!

I had a good night sleep without any pain but with weird dreams, the delivery was postphoned maybe 4 times, very strange...it was one long waiting dream..

At nursery this morning I heard some sad news though, Femke's class teacher had a miscarriage 2 weeks ago while being 6 months pregnant... I think they didn't tell me in order not to upset me, but today I heard the news..Really sad for her, but at least she already has a daughter of 5, I guess that must be some comfort.

More news from the Janse family later today! I am happy it is almost over.

Playgroup at Fagnoon Art centre

Every Wednesday a playgroup meeting with toddlers and their mums, mostly living in our neighbourhood Maadi, is organised. Usually we meet at someone's home, but a few times we try to do something special. Like 2 weeks ago, we went to Fagnoon Art centre. It is about a half hour drive to the country side of Cairo, where a huge play area is built to entertain children with arts and crafts.
Femke's group did 3 activities, sticking, painting and pottery. I thought she would enjoy working with clay, but she was more interested in putting the wet clay in the bucket with water. In the end her mum made some sculpturous thingie, which was identified by friends as a vulcano...
There was also a horse and 2 camels that caught the attention of the little ones. And a cow eating grass was absolutely an attraction, they all wanted to pet the cow and threw grass towards the cow.
We had a very nice morning, with enough shade to not boil up completely and it is worth going back with Arthur one weekend.

 
 
 
 

Femke's school pictures

34 weeks pregnant!

7 weeks to go...

...but it is getting tougher every day! I get tired very quickly and prefer sitting, wherever I am, cannot go for long walks anymore, I am short of breath (mostly at nights though) and I am not looking forward to sleeping anymore! There is only one position (on the left side) I can sleep in, but this is beginning to feel uncomfortable as well, causing cramp in my left leg and a stiff neck. Luckily only one night visit to the toilet is enough but getting out of bed and walking up there takes so long I usually am fully awake before I get into bed again. But can't complain too much: I do fall asleep and finish my 8 or 9 hour sleep! And I did not gain too much weight so far, only 9 kilo's which is average...

One of luxuries of being an expat in Cairo is that maids are quiet cheap; my cleaner comes every day from 9 till 2, and her salary is only 150 euro's per month. In Turkey I used to pay my cleaner 30 euro's per day!!!
So with her around, cleaning, ironing, doing laundry, tidying up the bedroom, tidying up Femke's toys, doing dishes and sometimes cut vegetables so that my cooking doesn't take so long to prepare.. my life as a pregnant housewife is quiet easy.
But I guess the biggest advantage at the moment is that Femke goes to nursery from 8.15 till 15.30, 3 days a weeks. Sorry to say, but entertaining a 2,5 yrs old while being 7+ months pregnant is sometimes hard, so with her only around full time the 2 other days (weekends with her father around is much easier for me) is do-able (for now).

My due date is 8th of May, but I am thinking of planning a c-section on the 3rd of May, if everything goes well of course. A friend also had planned a c-section, but her water broke the night before so she had an emergency c-section after all!
Advantage of a planned date is that it will be more relaxing and practical for our family; Femke can go to nursery that day, and Arthur will pick her up in the afternoon, I will already be with the new baby in the hospital room. Also this way we don't need to worry about getting stuck in traffic on the way to the hospital, or that my doctor is not available, or Arthur is busy at work.

We have chosen a name for the baby, and a flight is booked for my mother, she will stay with us 2 weeks after the birth.
End of May, after my mother has left, we will hire a part-time nanny, who can help out on weekdays after nursery time, and on the 2 other days Femke is at home.
Well, we'll see how that works out, I am not looking forward to have another person around me, but almost all friends here in Cairo strongly advice me to hire a nanny.

I am sure friends in the Netherlands might think this is exaggerating but they have family, neighbors and friends nearby to help out!!!

Anyway, we will welcome our first visitor to Cairo this weekend, friend Francisca (always a loyal visitor during our stay in Izmir) will stay 5 days! Jippie...