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| It all started on a hot summer day in the Chinese Capital. We visited the summer residence of ancient emperors, one hour outside the center of Bejing, by an overcrowded bus who needed to have its shock absorbers replaced a long time ago. We sat in a teahouse on the lake, overseeing the Marble boat and myriads of temples, wooden gates in red, blue and green. Anne-Sylvie ordered a beauty tea, containing non-identifyable ingredients (maybe secret after all, because the next the day, she was pregnant): magic Chinese medicine. We retreated in our air-conditioned room at the Swissotel... |
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| Two weeks later, coming back from a flight from monsoon drowned Bombay/Mumbai, the result was obvious: the positive test result meant great joy and also great changes coming up! The nine coming months we spent probably as most couples which are expecting their first baby: not knowing where to start and what to buy for the new earth citizen, reading tons of books and hearing the advices of other people contradicting the books, preparing the baby room (warning the neighbours about the new noise source), cleaning the apartment until the contractions lasted over one minute within two minutes, etc. Fortunately, we didn't have to marry in-between, thus we were able to fully concentrate on the baby, which gender we did not want to know (anyway it refused to show, turning the back towards the front whenever a ultrasonic device was present; what a personality!). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The hospital Hirslanden (check out the map) is on the other side of Zurich city, about half an hour's drive away. Our neighbour - who owns a limousine company - promised to make it within 10 minutes, should I not be around? Swissair planned a so-called baby schedule; meaning short layovers abroad (strenuous flights), which lead to a lot of rest time back at home base Zurich. So I started in mid April with a flight to Johannesburg, then the next day back. Thereafter, a simulator refresher exercise and the simulator check that we have to do bi-annually; the next day a flight to Geneva and back; the next day to Atlanta and the next day back again to Zurich (!). Once more to Sao Paulo, but finally I didn't fly there because I found that is maybe a bit to far. So I flew to Tehran and Munich instead. By then I hoped the baby had not yet decided to leave Anne-Sylvie's warm and cosy womb prematurely. But then, my vacation started. The hospital is well situated on the slopes of Zurich berg, giving view to the lake of Zurich, even from the room where women give birth. Whether Anne-Sylvie had the time and desire to enjoy the scenery - I doubt (in addition, it was night...). So, Anne-Sylvie lost some blood in the morning of May 17, which is not always usual. So they checked her out in hospital. Nothing to worry, but the birth process started slowly, without labor still. The plan was to give her something in the evening, so that labor would start sometime in the morning. Which it did at 02:30am. Alan came so quick (05:05am on May 18) that even the doctor missed the birth by some minutes. That was fast, but intense labor!! Everybody is well (even the father...), and Alan is eager to conquer the world (at least with his eyes). He weighs 2905gr and measures 49cm. Anne-Sylvie is planned to stay about five days there. |
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| Where does the name Alan come from? It is an English name with Celtic (Breton) origin (maybe referring to -al "rock"). It came to England in the Middle Ages with Norman conquerors. |
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| Finally: see the first pictures of Alan: |
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