Daniel's most recent attempts to escape...

I think I'll just summarize a bit what has been happening since Viggo's last post, for those of you who don't always see Viggo's daily "updates" on the sidebar. Not that that much really "happens" on a daily basis here. However, there was major excitement last Friday, because I went into labor. I have had several episodes of contractions over the last few weeks, but this time it looked like the doctors weren't going to be able to stop it, and I was really going to give birth. I had much more painful contractions than I'd ever had before, and although the estimates seem to vary a bit, it seems likely that I dilated at least to 6cm or so. (I was 5cm before this episode of labor started). However, after a few hours of labor, things started to slow down, so the doctors decided to try one last time to stop them, and then the labor really did stop. It was actually a bit strange and almost sad for me, because I had adjusted to the idea that we were going to have the baby that night, and then there was no baby after all; things just went back to the same as before. Both the doctors and I thought I would probably go back into labor within the next couple of days, but nothing happened. Which is wonderful, of course, because my tummy is still by far the best and safest place for baby Daniel to be right now.

I did have some quite regular contractions for a couple of hours again on Tuesday evening, but it didn't get so far.

I wrote the above part yesterday evening. I had some contractions again after that, which eventually calmed down again, and I have been having some more painful ones this morning. Viggo still got to play soccer today, though! He just has to take along the cell phone and have someone on the sidelines hold onto it while he plays in case I call to say I'm having the baby. Really, things are still the same as they have been all along. It could happen any time now, or not. I guess that's all I'll be writing for now. I'm in a bit of pain and it's kind of hard to focus, so I'll let Viggo finish.

So far our focus has been on the baby, but a few days ago we became aware of the fact that it will be very difficult for me to stay in the US after March 8th, when my 90-day visa waiver expires. We're hoping to find a way for me to stay, but I might have to go home, or at least go to Europe, before I can return to the States. We've made a few phone calls to different government agencies, but have not been able to find a solution yet. We might try to get help from an imigration lawyer sometime next week. We really hope things will work out, so that I can stay here and that all three of us can travel home to Norway together.