We had a rather eventful evening yesterday! Out of the blue, I went from normal Braxton-Hicks contractions (becoming more and more common, especially after exercise or when the baby's doing her evening calisthenics) to something more like false labor. It felt something like a Charley Horse all over my belly and back. Tim started timing the waves while we frantically checked through the pregnancy books (this would be why we have them!) to see their notes on false vs. real labor. It was over after about an hour, but such a strange experience! We couldn't get to sleep after that... then as usual, I couldn't stay asleep after about 5:30, when the discomfort in my back and hips gets to be so painful I have to get out of bed. Our cats were thrilled to have me join them on the couch in the living room, but didn't quite understand that I wanted to sleep for a few more hours, so took turns trying to wake me up. Seriously, I know it isn't the same thing, but I really do believe that pets are wonderful practice for parenthood.
Here's hoping tonight is a bit less dramatic; I am entirely wiped out and really ready for some rest!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Doctor's Appointment - Week 36
Almost forgot: we had our check-up yesterday. Dr. Büscher was very happy with my blood sugar readings, and said we can step down to checking after meals a few times a week, instead of 6 times daily. (Whew!) Speck looked fine (though sleeping) on her ultrasound; she was kind enough to put on a show when we were strapped up for fetal monitoring, though, so they got a good idea of the range of her heartrate. There's something inherently hilarious about her active periods, when she moves enough to make my tummy move. A lot. As in, you can see it from across a room. It looks like I have a litter of puppies in there or something, not just one baby.
Anyway, her growth is still right on target. Her head is engaging; between that and the whole loosening of my pelvic ligaments, sleep has become a lot less comfortable for me lately. No risk of going into labor in the next week or two, so we'll go back in 2 weeks. We have a midwife appointment in the meantime, which will include acupuncture to stimulate the onset of labor. I'm intrigued by the concept.
I came down with an awful cold Sunday night, and so have been home nursing it with tea and bed rest. I'm back to work today, but taking it easy per the doctor's instructions. Other than some Tylenol for the general achiness, there's not much else I can do. This is no fun!
Anyway, her growth is still right on target. Her head is engaging; between that and the whole loosening of my pelvic ligaments, sleep has become a lot less comfortable for me lately. No risk of going into labor in the next week or two, so we'll go back in 2 weeks. We have a midwife appointment in the meantime, which will include acupuncture to stimulate the onset of labor. I'm intrigued by the concept.
I came down with an awful cold Sunday night, and so have been home nursing it with tea and bed rest. I'm back to work today, but taking it easy per the doctor's instructions. Other than some Tylenol for the general achiness, there's not much else I can do. This is no fun!
Family roots
We've been so busy since our last post, it's hard to know where to begin. Our big news, though, was our trip out to Western Germany. We had a few things to take care of out there, including some work-related meetings for me, so we combined them into one week-long visit. Here's how it went:
Sunday we dropped Minka off at Puppy Camp (aka with our friend Regina) because one of the hotels we'd booked didn't allow us to bring her with us. Regina loves Minka; Minka is so happy to see Regina that she doesn't even look back at us when we leave. We've been very spoiled by having such a friendly and eager dog-sitter in Berlin. We then drove straight to Ahaus, which is near the Dutch border. Despite some inclement weather, we made the drive in about 5 1/2 hours including stops - not bad. We checked into the very charming family-run hotel Tim had booked for us, took a nice stroll around the town, and enjoyed dinner in the hotel's restaurant.
Monday we had to get to work. We had been sent the e-mail address of a genealogist in Eggerode, a small hamlet right outside Schöppingen, and had made arrangements to meet with him Monday afternoon. So in the morning, we went to Schöppingen, the town from which Tim's Klitz ancestors emigrated to the US, to begin some research. The clerk at the town hall recognized our name at once, and pulled some files she'd set aside for Tim in response to an earlier query, which included the emigration paperwork that his ancestors filed back in 1869. She also helped us dig through census records to find which farmsteads the Klitzes lived on, and gave us a great map of the area so we could see exactly where those sites were. We stopped off to get photos at a few of them on our way to lunch, then came back to Eggerode for our afternoon meeting. What a treat! The genealogist, Matthias, turned up with two older villagers, both of whom are active in the town's historical society and one of whom is the descendant of the Klitzes' landlords. We explained why we were there, and they took us out to the site where the Klitzes farmed. Here's a picture:
It was taken by the final member of our party, the town journalist, who wrote a piece about our visit for the local paper. We were then invited by Mr. Schulze Sievert, the landowners' descendant, to his farm, where we walked through the grounds (including several buildings that have been there since Tim's ancestors' time) and enjoyed a nice chat with these very kind folks. It was an incredible experience.
Tuesday morning we had an appointment with the priest in Schöppingen, Father Böcker. He was very friendly and happy to give us access to the photocopied church books, including marriage, baptism, and death records. We found some very helpful information on the Klitz ancestors, though wish we could have spent more time with the records. We also discussed with him the second big item on the trip agenda: would he be willing to baptize Pauline in the Schöppingen church? We brought a few records of our own, which satisfied him that we're really married and that at least one of us is Catholic. So on April 26, Pauline will become the first Klitz in generations to be baptized in St. Brictius Church.
We continued on to Paderborn, where we spent the night in another charming hotel. It's the archdiocese seat for the towns that Tim's Kaup ancestors hailed from (Kaup being Tim's paternal grandmother's family). We spent a good chunk of time on Wednesday in the archdiocese archives, where we found lots of information. We then drove to Cologne, where we would spend the night and where I had meetings scheduled Thursday morning.
Thursday was the start of Karneval in Cologne. Imagine Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Now spread it out over 5 days, and that's Cologne during Karneval. It was terrific fun to see this pageant unfolding all over the streets. Tim got a few pictures of the revelers as he explored the city on foot; I was in meetings most of the day, but we went out again when I got back at night. It's one of those things I'm glad we didn't miss during our time in Germany.
Friday we walked around the city a bit, including a visit to the magnificant cathedral, then started our drive home. It took over 8 hours, due mainly to traffic, during which poor Tim had to deal with a very cranky wife - who would have thought that our deluxe business-class hotel in Cologne would have a bed much less comfortable than the ones we'd enjoyed in the hotels we booked for ourselves? Hard mattress + 8 1/2 months pregnant = cranky and sore. Despite the stack of extra pillows I ordered for our second night.
We had a wonderful surprise over the weekend: Tim's dad Chuck got an e-mail from a distant Klitz cousin in Germany, someone he and Tim had corresponded with years ago in the process of doing their research, but with whom they'd lost touch. She saw the article and the photo in the local paper, and wrote to Chuck. She also asked if she could join us for the baptism. It should be quite an interesting affair!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Pulling my sweet tooth
Well, Monday was the day (and a half) at the hospital for blood sugar monitoring. It was pretty straightforward - we checked in first thing in the morning, and I ate only the hospital food they served me; the nurses came before and 2 hours after each meal to check my blood sugar. Because they wanted to do a reading in the middle of the night, I had to stay the night there. Tim spent the whole day with me, minus a quick trip home to let our dog out and feed the pets, then came back first thing in the morning.
The news wasn't great, but could have been worse. According to the nutritional consultant, it's somewhere between impaired glucose tolerance and gestational diabetes. We discussed foods I may and may not eat, and she showed me how to use a home blood sugar test kit so I can keep monitoring on my own. Meanwhile, we learned through our own experiments that a walk after meals (especially breakfast and dinner) really helps regulate my levels, so we're timing our exercise to get the most benefit from it.
Hospital food in Germany is a bit strange. For one thing, the breakfast trays they sent me seemed very generic (jam, honey, coffee, sugar, sweetened fruit yogurt, etc. - not exactly at the top of the "approved" list.) For another thing, dinners are very light (although the PSAs on our military TV did warn us about that) - dinner was bread, a few slices of salami, butter, and soft cheese. Seriously. I did cheat there and ask Tim to bring me some carrots from home. But it was good to know what to expect when the time comes.
So, for the next 2 weeks, I'll be testing 5-7 times a day. Tim suggested keeping a food journal, which I've started doing scrupulously. And we're trying to find things I can eat. I was on the road for work yesterday and had a working lunch with colleagues; that was pretty easy (soup, salad, whole wheat bread, etc.) We did black beans and rice for dinner, which turned out to have a bit too many carbs for me. My morning high-fiber whole-grain breakfast cereal, which is the staple of my diet, turns out to have much too much sugar added to it (never noticed it before!), so I'll need to do some shopping this weekend.
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We had our first birthing class last week. It was fun. Nice to get an idea of what to expect. We'll finish it up tomorrow. We then get to pack for our trip out to western Germany, where we'll be combining work, genealogical research, and a meeting with the priest in the town of Schöppingen, the Klitz family's home before emigrating to the U.S. We've asked about having Pauline baptized there, and he's open to the idea, but wants to meet with us before he agrees to do it. This will be our last road trip before the birth (in theory); although we're sad we can't bring Minka with us, we're looking forward to one last adventure with just the two of us. Which isn't to say we won't do loads of travel once the baby comes; it'll just be rather different!
The news wasn't great, but could have been worse. According to the nutritional consultant, it's somewhere between impaired glucose tolerance and gestational diabetes. We discussed foods I may and may not eat, and she showed me how to use a home blood sugar test kit so I can keep monitoring on my own. Meanwhile, we learned through our own experiments that a walk after meals (especially breakfast and dinner) really helps regulate my levels, so we're timing our exercise to get the most benefit from it.
Hospital food in Germany is a bit strange. For one thing, the breakfast trays they sent me seemed very generic (jam, honey, coffee, sugar, sweetened fruit yogurt, etc. - not exactly at the top of the "approved" list.) For another thing, dinners are very light (although the PSAs on our military TV did warn us about that) - dinner was bread, a few slices of salami, butter, and soft cheese. Seriously. I did cheat there and ask Tim to bring me some carrots from home. But it was good to know what to expect when the time comes.
So, for the next 2 weeks, I'll be testing 5-7 times a day. Tim suggested keeping a food journal, which I've started doing scrupulously. And we're trying to find things I can eat. I was on the road for work yesterday and had a working lunch with colleagues; that was pretty easy (soup, salad, whole wheat bread, etc.) We did black beans and rice for dinner, which turned out to have a bit too many carbs for me. My morning high-fiber whole-grain breakfast cereal, which is the staple of my diet, turns out to have much too much sugar added to it (never noticed it before!), so I'll need to do some shopping this weekend.
------
We had our first birthing class last week. It was fun. Nice to get an idea of what to expect. We'll finish it up tomorrow. We then get to pack for our trip out to western Germany, where we'll be combining work, genealogical research, and a meeting with the priest in the town of Schöppingen, the Klitz family's home before emigrating to the U.S. We've asked about having Pauline baptized there, and he's open to the idea, but wants to meet with us before he agrees to do it. This will be our last road trip before the birth (in theory); although we're sad we can't bring Minka with us, we're looking forward to one last adventure with just the two of us. Which isn't to say we won't do loads of travel once the baby comes; it'll just be rather different!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Show-off!
We had our first regular appointment with our midwife yesterday. She checked on Speck's position (still head-down and waiting patiently; SO unlike her mother) and size - estimated weight is about 5 pounds - before hooking me up to a fetal heartrate monitor. Speck was happily sleeping when we began, but woke up and put on a show once she realized someone was watching. We went through a full cycle of activity before she settled back down; in the meantime, she was moving and kicking so actively that both Tim and our midwife could see my belly moving. It's still such an odd sensation - the realization that there's a whole other little person inside there, who moves around on her own. Everything checked out just great, including a urine test for sugar (totally negative), which was a relief after last week's OB appointment.
Tonight we have our first pre-delivery class, which our midwife will lead, with two other American couples. We're looking forward to it!
In the meanwhile, I'm finishing packing up my office and moving back to the Embassy annex out near our house, which is where I worked until last May. There are space issues at play here - we'll need my downtown office for someone else - but in the meanwhile it means I trade my 45-60 minute commute on the train for a 5-10 minute walk to work. I'm excited about having a bit of quiet to work on the remaining massive projects I have to complete before we leave in June... and of course, I'm terribly excited about going back to work in May just around the corner from home. Until delivery, though, it also puts me just a 5-minute drive from the hospital, which is a good thing.
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In other news, we bid a sad farewell to our friends Melissa and Jeremy earlier this week. We had such a great time with them! I'm so glad they could come. It turns out that Jeremy has a secret passion for golden retrievers, so was thrilled to spend time with Minka. Melissa's not as much of a dog person, but was excited to see our kitties, especially Vanya - she's known him for more than 10 years now. Minka has been in a bit of a funk since they left; I think she just misses the extra attention. Not that our dog is spoiled or anything...
Tonight we have our first pre-delivery class, which our midwife will lead, with two other American couples. We're looking forward to it!
In the meanwhile, I'm finishing packing up my office and moving back to the Embassy annex out near our house, which is where I worked until last May. There are space issues at play here - we'll need my downtown office for someone else - but in the meanwhile it means I trade my 45-60 minute commute on the train for a 5-10 minute walk to work. I'm excited about having a bit of quiet to work on the remaining massive projects I have to complete before we leave in June... and of course, I'm terribly excited about going back to work in May just around the corner from home. Until delivery, though, it also puts me just a 5-minute drive from the hospital, which is a good thing.
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In other news, we bid a sad farewell to our friends Melissa and Jeremy earlier this week. We had such a great time with them! I'm so glad they could come. It turns out that Jeremy has a secret passion for golden retrievers, so was thrilled to spend time with Minka. Melissa's not as much of a dog person, but was excited to see our kitties, especially Vanya - she's known him for more than 10 years now. Minka has been in a bit of a funk since they left; I think she just misses the extra attention. Not that our dog is spoiled or anything...
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