The Big Move

Thursday, September 27^th, 2013, marked a rather important day for Butterbean: She was off to the country of her birth! The three of us descended into Lisbon that afternoon and were taken to our (thankfully temporary) accommodation. Very nice apartment but not our cup of tea.

Thomas and I underwent the various appointments required to get us set up – acquiring tax numbers, residency papers, health insurance, bank accounts and I’m sure all sorts of other things I can’t remember now - thankfully with a representative from the moving company who knew the minefields and spoke Portuguese and English. Then the big one: finding somewhere to live!

We spent a couple of days with a real estate agent, who started off by showing us various monstrosities of apartments in condominiums that had a security guard, swimming pool, massive communal lawn… I explained to the real estate agent at the end of the day that the day had been an exercise in showing us what we don’t want. It turns out about 95% of expats want this sort of living arrangement, so that’s what the agents go with, rather than take into consideration the criteria we asked for...

After Thomas went back to work I headed (waddled) out again with the real estate agent and eventually narrowed down our search to the gorgeous place we live in today: no security guard, no swimming pool, a private lawn (extremely unusual in the centre of Old Cascais), and a homely place. We really do live in the most central area, which is fantastic for walking around… not so much with a pram, but thankfully Margaux loves to be in a front-pack facing outward so we have no problems there!

Number 13, Rua da Vista Alegre (the bottom two windows are our home)

Looking from our terrace onto our private lawn...

 

 ... and from our lawn onto our terrace!

 

But back to the baby-in-waiting… I had had a midwife-gynaecologist duo who had been highly recommended to me – both of whom speak perfect English – and who were available to take me on as a patient. Hooray! The pregnancy continued to go as smoothly as it had been, although I was retaining an obscene amount of fluids… nothing my gynaecologist was concerned about, but rather frustrating for me! By this stage, my wedding rings didn’t fit my fingers and if I put socks on even for a minute I would see the indentation from the elastic at the top on my leg. Tying my shoes was a herculean challenge, but that was mostly because of my tummy – and Butterbean was a relatively small baby!

We live a walk or bike-ride away from the medical clinic, which is very convenient. I know I wasn’t supposed to be riding a bike but necessity dictates actions, so it was a frequent mode of transport for me. It was certainly more convenient and comfortable for me than walking to the shops or the clinic!

All the monitoring was going without a hitch; I had massive goosebumps every time I heard Butterbean’s heartbeat or saw her on the ultrasound.

See the next blog for the last few weeks of pregnancy and The Birth!