Getting ready...

The great part of life in the Foreign Service is living in foreign countries, immersed in foreign cultures and languages, meeting people from different places and walks of life, experiencing daily life in societies that are sometimes very different from what we're used to as Americans.

The absolute worst part, bar none, is the physical act of getting yourself, your family, your pets, and all your worldly possessions from point A to point B.

Our plan for this move was fairly simple: Send our sea freight (the bulk of our stuff) to Washington about 6 weeks before we'll arrive there, which is how long it took our things to get here from Washington. Send our air freight (a smaller load of things you need more quickly) to Cleveland, so we have it before we leave for Omaha. Heck, keep a few things we'd prefer to have for these last weeks (kitchen stuff, our own sheets and towels, a small TV/VCR, etc.) and do a second air freight shipment to Washington - since both Tim and I have travel orders, we can do all sorts of creative things.

Then, after many e-mails to my point of contact in the US for the company that will be receiving our stuff, processing it through Customs, and delivering it to us, I finally called him last week and learned:
1. The air freight shipment to Cleveland wouldn't arrive until mid-July, 3 weeks after we send it.
2. Our sea freight shipment isn't due to be delivered until late August, possibly after I've gone back to work. So much for those extra days of home leave so I wouldn't have to take time off to help unload shipments and unpack our house.
3. Our car won't arrive until mid- to late-August either, so the vehicle we'd been planning to rent for our summer driving will need to be rented longer. At our expense, of course.
4. No one has done anything yet about arranging for delivery of the things we have in storage, mainly furniture we were counting on since we've been in fully furnished quarters overseas for so long.

Bugger! Now, instead of a fairly relaxed last few weeks in Berlin, we've been scrambling to call people, make arrangements that should have been made months ago (if only someone had told us this), revise our plans (e.g. find boxes and mail the things we were planning to send to Cleveland, at our expense, so they get there in time for us to take them to Omaha. Things like Pauline's portable crib, spare diapers, etc.)

The good news is, by sometime in September, we should have everything at our house, boxes unpacked, and by October I'm hopeful that we'll have the house fairly put together. The bad news is, getting from here to there is going to be a huge headache.

But there's more good news! We have a house!!!!! Thanks to a very helpful real estate agent and our good friend Kristi, we have secured a lease for a townhouse in Alexandria. It looks very nice, from the photos we've seen and from Kristi's description of it. 3 bedrooms, one of which will be set up as a guest room - we anticipate plenty of visitors! It's just off of Duke Street, so convenient to major roads and also to Old Town. And there are lots of amenities within walking distance, like a big grocery store, a public library, and a dog park. Something for everyone! It should be fairly convenient for me to commute to and from the office, which is very important. We can't wait to see it!

Friday is the big day - we'll be up with Pauline from early in the morning to close our suitcases, load the pets in their crates, and leave for the airport. We fly to Amsterdam, then to Detroit, where my parents will meet us with their van and a U-Haul (really) to schlep the six of us (2 cats, 1 dog, 1 baby, and 2 exhausted parents) back to Cleveland. We're hoping Pauline does well on the flight, or at the very least, doesn't repeat this morning's opera performance. Our girl isn't content with just talking to us anymore, now she wants to sing. Loudly. I'm thrilled that she seems to have inherited my capacious lung power, I just hope she doesn't use the flight to show it off...

Sleep, glorious sleep!

I'm hesitant to even think this out loud, much less type it... so please, go find something wood to touch before you read any more...

We had a very sleepless Saturday - Miss P wouldn't stay down for naps longer than a half-hour. Even the nice looooong walk Minka and I took her on didn't do much; Pauline was having way too much fun staring up at the trees. But, when we finally got her to go to sleep, she stayed down. And stayed down. Until sometime around 4 AM. Quick feeding and then back to bed until 6:30 or so. Sunday was the same - no big naps, but a long night's sleep. Monday, though, she took a big mid-day nap, as she often does during the week, and so I figured we wouldn't get so lucky last night. Ha! She slept until 4-ish, then came back to bed with Tim until I had to get up anyway; she napped on the couch until almost 7. I won't say anything more for fear of losing this awesome karma, but my is it good!!!!!

Let's see, what else is new with our gorgeous little one? She's getting more and more comfortable with the bath, which is great; we're still coping with her tendency towards rogue peeing (I thought this was more of a problem with little boys, but our girl just loves to pee as soon as you take off her diaper) (Mommy's new trick with wet diapers that aren't poopy: Open the new diaper and put it under her, then slip off the old one and instantly press the new one up to her tummy; adjust and fasten. Anyone with a son who's reading this must be laughing their heads off. It doesn't spray us, it just wets her changing pads and whatever she's wearing.) She's still very active, and now also very vocal. She loves to have conversations with us, practising different vowel sounds and now some consonants, too. And in general, she's a very happy little girl. I think she'll be even happier when she can move herself around; given how well she holds her head up and pushes out with her legs when she's on her tummy, that might be sooner than we thought. She's getting better and better at grabbing things and moving them, though doesn't seem to have much preference yet for what she grabs. With one exception: she loves to take hold of the chain around my neck where I (still) wear my wedding rings. She likes to grab the rings, especially when she's nursing.

The wonderful reddish hair Pauline was born with has almost completely fallen out; she has baby fuzz now, with just a mullet-like fringe at the back and a whorl in the middle of her head. We're not sure what color it will be when it comes back in, maybe a reddish-brown. We also have no idea what color her eyes will end up. They haven't really changed since she lost the newborn blue - they're a crazy color that I could best describe as hazelish gray. There are hints of green, gray, blue, and brown, though not much brown; the predominant color changes depending on what she's wearing. I keep trying to take pictures of her eyes to capture the color... they're simply lovely, and so reflective, they remind me of hematite.

Tim's been chugging along getting us ready for the movers to come next Monday. I cannot believe it's only 2 and a half weeks before we get on the plane! Please pray for us (and our fellow passengers) on Friday the 26th; this is going to be such a monster trip. We just hope Pauline gives us some rest on the flights.

Like Father, Like Daughter?

If ever anyone wonders if I am Pauline's daddy, all they need to do is look at us dancing. This has got to be genetic. You can't teach these moves!

2 months old!

Pauline turned 2 months old on Wednesday, May 27! It's hard to believe it's been 2 months already... or, it's hard to believe it's only been 2 months. She has already changed sooo much since she was born.

She decided to celebrate her big day by sleeping through the night. Tuesday night, we put her down in her bed (after feeding, burping, changing, singing, and putting her into her pajamas along with the nightly reading of her "Pajama Time!" book) around 7 PM; she slept straight until midnight, woke up to eat, and went back down until 5. This was so much fun that we did it again last night - we started later, so she didn't go down until 8:30, but she was out until 2, woke up to eat, and went back down until 6. I am frantically knocking on wood as I type this, but I really hope this is a trend and not just a fluke!

Other highlights from yesterday included an outing with Daddy (who had a medical appointment; Tim says Pauline was just great, willing to sit in her car seat in the corner for most of it, and more than happy to let the receptionists look after her while he got an X-ray) and a surprise visit to see Mommy in the office. This is a luxury we won't be able to indulge in once we're in Washington, but it's a great treat while we're in Berlin! I loved getting a mid-afternoon baby fix. And Tim promises that when he and Pauline have things to do in Washington that bring them into the city (museum outings, trips to Eastern Market, etc.), he'll try to make sure they fit into my lunch break as often as possible.

At 2 months, Pauline is developing faster every day, it seems. She's moving her hands a lot more now (and loves to suck on them, though hasn't found her thumbs yet); she's a pro at tummy time; she loves to sit up, if we prop her up a little bit (but doesn't get too fazed if she falls over); she has wonderful "conversations" with us, especially with Tim, where he talks to her and she vocalizes back. (She has an adorable husky voice.) We still have no idea what color her eyes will be - right now they're a sort of variable color that has aspects of grey, blue, green, and brown; if I had to pick one color I'd say greyish hazel, but it really changes. And the reddish hair she was born with is falling out; she has a tiny baby mullet on the back of her head, but is otherwise almost bald now. She's getting better and better at putting herself back to sleep, and is more willing to spend awake time in her car seat or swing (i.e. not being held constantly.) And while she's becoming more interested in some of her toys, nothing compares to her fascination with her parents. The best parts of our days now are the times we spend with her smiling and cooing up at us.

Back to work

Today is my first day back at work. Leaving this morning was pretty much as crummy as I thought it would be. For one thing, I feel horribly guilty - not about Pauline, who is in the best of hands, but about leaving Tim at home! He is an incredible father, but this is going to be rough on him, I think. And for another... it's now been several hours since the last time I heard Pauline, or saw her beautiful smile. I brought my digital camera to work just so I have the newest pictures (which I'll try to upload tonight, sorry about that) to look at when I'm missing my little one. It's good to get a fix, except then I start to cry, which kind of defeats the purpose.

Just 5 weeks of this, though, and it's time that will be so broken up by everything we have to do to move back to the US that I doubt very much I'll have a lot of "normal" work days in this time. I have a few projects to wrap up, but nothing too major. It's a good thing, given how distracted (and exhausted) I am these days...

We are doing more planning and looking forward more and more to our trip this summer. We cannot wait to spend some family time in Cleveland and Omaha, to introduce Pauline to her aunts and uncles and cousins and friends, and show her grandparents how much she's changed since they met her. It's pretty incredible!

OK, back to work with me. Just 4 hours to go until Tim and Pauline come in for our appointment at the health unit - Miss P is due for her first vaccinations. Yikes!!!!

Baptism Weekend

We made it! Pauline's first road trip was a complete success. Tim, Grandpa Chuck, Pauline, Minka, and Mommy drove from Berlin to Muenster on Friday (week 4 - time is starting to go by very fast!). It's normally a 4 to 4.5-hour drive; we stopped twice to feed Pauline, but she handled most of the trip like a trooper. She was fussy once we got to our hotel, even after eating, so we set out for dinner, which entailed a long stroll once with Mommy and another with Daddy. The reward, however, for her fussy afternoon and evening was that she slept that night for darn near 8 hours straight. We'll take it!

Saturday morning we set off after breakfast for a stroll around the old city. We headed to the open-air market, which is one of the largest in Germany. Pauline seemed to enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells; Minka and I decided to sit it out, after the umpteenth person tapped me on the shoulder to remind me that dogs aren't allowed in the market. We whiled away the afternoon waiting to hear from Father Boecker, who'd said he would call in the evening and wanted to meet with us at that point. Pauline and I took yet another walk in the late afternoon so Tim could get some rest, and when we got back to the hotel, Caroline and Antoine had arrived. Caro is my former college roommate; her son Antoine is like my godson, and the two of them are very close to me. We're incredibly moved that they drove up from Lausanne, Switzerland in a whirlwind weekend just to meet Pauline. Anyway, Tim, Pauline, and I set off shortly after that for Schoeppingen, and indeed, Father Boecker called while we were on our way. Our meeting with him took longer than we'd expected, but we outlined the baptism ceremony, and he gave me copies of at least some of the texts he'd be using so I could interpret them into German for Chuck and Tim. Back to Muenster (it's about a half-hour each way) for dinner at the Pinkus brewery - Pauline was harder to get to sleep, but got a solid 6 hours once she fell asleep.

Sunday morning we woke up, fed the baby, got ourselves dressed, got breakfast, and left for Schoeppingen. Pauline was an angel during Mass - it took a bottle and a bit of rocking, but she liked the singing especially. (I can't wait to see what she does with a Methodist service...) She was so calm that I was able to get her into her baptismal gown during Mass, so she was ready to go. Her gown was the same one worn by her Grandma Liz (Tim's mom), her uncle Tom, and her cousin Rosie. She also wore a bracelet from her godparents, a baptismal ring from Chuck and Beth, and a gold cross of mine that once belonged to her namesake, my mother's godmother. We held her in a lovely white silk blanket that was another gift from her godparents.

The ceremony was a lovely one, with lots of reference to the special nature of the occasion - that Pauline was returning to the home of her ancestors. Pauline didn't cry or fuss at all when she was baptized - a moment which Antoine captured on video for us. We were joined for the ceremony by my friend Beate, a colleague from the Embassy who comes from another town near Muenster and who helped us to contact the priest last fall to arrange the baptism. Beate's mother also joined us, which was neat. Other guests included the members of the local historical society we met in February, and Renate Klitz, a very distant Klitz cousin who had been in contact with Tim and Chuck years ago. Though she'd fallen out of contact, she saw the article in the local paper about our visit in February and wrote to Chuck to ask if she could come for the baptism. It was really neat to meet her and her husband, and of course, wonderful that Pauline could be surrounded by so many friends for this important occasion. We were also joined by another distant Klitz relation, who'd e-mailed us after seeing the article in the local newspaper, and by a reporter from the paper. Stay tuned for yet another media appearance by our daughter.

After the ceremony, we invited everyone to lunch in Eggerode, the smaller town outside Schoeppingen which is actually closer to the Klitz family's farmstead. The hotel/restaurant put on a great spread for us, with lots of typical Muensterland foods. Caro and Antoine had to leave after lunch to get back to Lausanne, but it was so wonderful of them to come. After lunch, the rest of us strolled to the Klitz family farmstead, where Chuck, Tim, Renate, and Pauline posed for a picture on the Klitz Bridge, and Chuck took some soil from the plot of land his ancestors once farmed. Mr. Schulze Sievert, the descendant of the landowners who employed the Klitzes, invited us to walk over to his farm, which is just adjacent to the Klitz plot of land. He and his wife had us in for coffee, and we got to continue our conversations about emigration, history, farming... all sorts of things. Tim and I both thought when we met the members of the historical society in February that Chuck would have loved to talk to them, and we were so happy that he had the chance to do so. It was such a special day.

We went back to Muenster around 6 that evening. Pauline had been perfect all day, but by then was worn out and fussing. My sainted husband took her and Minka for a walk around 8:30, to let me get some rest; I didn't hear them come back, or much of anything else until Pauline woke up around 6. (I think there may have been a middle-of-the-night feeding in there, but I slept through it.) Monday morning we packed, got breakfast, and headed out. Our angel was great on the ride home, just to cap off a wonderful weekend.

Birth story

For those who haven't heard it, here's all the news about how Pauline came into the world.

Tim and I went in on Thursday, March 26 - our due date according to the German way of calculation, or one week past due according to the American way - and started with a half-hour on the fetal monitor. We then went in for our check-up - at which point our doctor tried to tell us that there was no pressing need to induce labor, we could really go a few more weeks. What?! We'd agreed with him months earlier that if Pauline hadn't come by her due date, we would induce. We discussed this with him and he agreed to begin induction, noting that her large size and my gestational diabetes gave two pretty good reasons to induce. So, off we went with our midwife Katrin to a labor/delivery suite, where I was given a quarter-dose of Cytotec, which is a drug developed to treat stomach ulcers. Because it's a synthetic form of prostaglandin, obstetricians have been using it more and more to induce labor, though this is an "off-label" use of the drug. Well, an hour on the monitor, and the quarter-dose wasn't doing too much, so Katrin sent us off to register in the hospital and get some lunch, with a long walk to try to get things going. I was feeling contractions, but they weren't really anything to get excited about yet. So, Tim and I took a nice, long walk to a restaurant for lunch (want to freak out a waitress? Walk into a restaurant 9 months pregnant, and when asked "When's the baby coming?" answer her: "Today, but not for a few more hours." We made up for it with a large tip.) We checked into the "family room" we'd be staying in - basically, a double hospital room where Tim got the second bed. We then went back to the labor/delivery suite, and Katrin gave me a larger dose of the medication. This really got things going - regular, productive contractions, and I began dilating much more quickly. Yay! Another hour on the monitor, then Tim went to get Mom while I took myself for a walk around the hospital. (Stairs: good to keep labor going, but make sure there's a handrail - hard to manage while in hard contractions!) We strolled around a bit more once Tim and Mom were back, then it was time to head back to the labor/delivery room. At this point, around 5 or 6 PM, contractions were getting harder but still very manageable. We labored for a while on the bed, trying a few different positions, then decided to take Katrin's recommendation and move to the huge tub/pool in the room. The warm water and change in position really helped me get through another hour or so, but by the end of that time, the contractions were very hard and nearly constant - no break from one to the next. I told Katrin maybe it was time to talk about an epidural; she called and learned that the on-staff anesthesiologist was in surgery and couldn't come to us for at least half an hour. OK, so we waited... breathe, breathe, breathe...

Once the anesthesiologist arrived, Tim and Mom were asked to leave so I could get the epidural. She tried 3 times, but couldn't get the needle into the right space. She determined that she needed a longer needle, but there wasn't one available at our hospital; it had to be brought from elsewhere. This took another hour or so, by which time there had been a shift change. The new anesthesiologist, with the longer needle, finally got there and got the epidural in on his first try. Yay! More than 2 hours after I asked for it, pain relief! (Because I'm a sick puppy, I asked to see the needles, though not until after the epidural was in. They're long. As in, they mark the length in centimeters along the needle. Yikes!)

Now it's late in the evening, we're at about 7-8 cm dilated, and labor's progressing well. I felt enough relief to close my eyes between contractions, at least for a few seconds. My water broke - which unfortunately meant less pressure on the cervix, so we went from 9 cm back to 7. But all was going fairly well. I was given another dose of the epidural, but it was apparently a little too much, as contractions slowed. So they finally began an IV drip of Pitocin. Meanwhile, regular exams were showing that Pauline seemed to be turned upside-down - head-first, but face up instead of face down. It's not necessarily a problem, but it's not the ideal position. Katrin hoped that with the harder contractions from the Pitocin, Pauline might turn herself the right way around.

Now it's 2 AM. I don't feel pain, but I do feel extreme pressure and an increasing urge to push. But the baby was still too high up, and hadn't turned. Katrin decided that if we hadn't made any further progress by 3 AM, she'd call in the obstetrician... who came in around 3:20, examined me, and concurred that the baby was too high up for an instrument-assisted delivery (forceps, vacuum, etc.). Since we weren't progressing, he decided Pauline would need to be born via C-section.

All of a sudden, a flurry of motion! The almost silent delivery area burst into activity, as a full surgical team was assembled within half an hour. Tim was given scrubs, I was moved into the operating room in the delivery area and prepped for surgery, they checked to make sure the epidural was working well, and hung screens so I couldn't see what they were doing below my neck.

And then, at 4:01 AM, after feeling a sense of being scooped clean like a melon, we heard a hoarse little cry, and saw a very red little baby. Moments later, Pauline was handed to her daddy for the first time, and we got to stare in awe at our baby while the doctors stitched me up. Katrin took her across the hall to our labor/delivery room to check her out and weigh her, which Mom got to see. And about 20-30 minutes later, I was wheeled back across the hall, belly deflated like a balloon, and got to hold Pauline for the first time.

Our experience in the hospital was... very, very different from what we would have experienced in the US. Maybe the best illustration of this was how they approached pain management: my epidural was removed just a few hours after the surgery, and I was given my daily medication - 5 doses of ibuprofen, to space through the day. The equivalent of about 3 Advil tablets per dose. I don't know about you, but that's about what I take for a headache - not for major surgery! But that was what I was allowed to take. We had some language-barrier issues with the nursing staff; we were given no guidance on breastfeeding, which resulted in a very rocky first few weeks that we're just starting to get over, 3 weeks into it, thanks to help from a specialist at another hospital. But we got through it, as did Pauline, who roomed in with us 24 hours a day from the time she was born until we were finally discharged, the following Tuesday.

All in all, we can't say we would recommend our hospital to other first-time parents, but the important thing is that all 3 of us are healthy. Pauline is more awe-inspiring every day, and although we're exhausted right now, we're learning more about her needs and her schedule and learning to fit our sleep and the rest of our lives around her. I think this is part of becoming parents... that, and the indescribable feelings of joy, wonder, and love we feel when she looks into our eyes. Tired as we are, and hard as it was to bring her into the world, we wouldn't give this up for anything.

The Wait is Over!!!!

Pauline Elizabeth Stevens Klitz joined us in this existence at 4.01am Berlin time, Friday, March 27. She weighed in a 3.85 kilograms and is 21 inches long. After dealing with 18 hours of labor, Ruth Anne underwent a C-section to bring Pauline into this world. It was an incredibly long day; Mommy, Daddy, baby and Grandma Carol spent about 26 consecutive hours awake. We all finally got some rest last night. We will be in hospital for the next few days. Once we are back home, we will post pictures, call and email folks, etc.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of the new baby.

We're off!

Today's the big day! Tim and I have a doctor's appointment at 9:20 this morning, then we'll check-in at the hospital and start working to get this baby born already! My mom arrived yesterday, so once we know where we'll be laboring, he'll leave me in our midwife's capable hands for a few minutes to pick Mom up and bring her to the hospital. Please keep your fingers crossed - today should be a long, but very exciting day.

Just to record for posterity (aka Pauline, and my scrapbook I suppose), we took some pictures last night of the enormous belly. Here are two favorites. (The "cross-hairs" on the black-and-white picture just show where the seam from my pants intersected with the line on my tummy. Almost, but not quite, a bull's eye to my belly button.) The side view really shows how big we've gotten:

Love, Ruth Anne, Tim, and Pauline

Photo at 40 weeks

We had our friends David and Christy over for dinner on Wednesday. They're also expecting (about 14 weeks along), so had lots of questions for us. It was fun to talk about baby stuff.

We took advantage of having an extra pair of hands to take a photo of the three of us. This is from the day before our American due date, or 8 days before our German due date. It was getting dark out, so we needed the flash - the pictures without flash are too blurry to post. We'll get a last belly pic (in profile) this week, but this is probably our last family photo before Pauline is born.

Almost there...

Speck seems to be increasingly eager to come out and play. We went on Monday afternoon to the oral surgeon referred to us by our dentist for a consultation for Tim. (I went along because one never knows how much English people might speak... happily, the surgeon speaks great English, but seemed happy to be able to explain a few things in German.) Tim will be going in to have a dental implant next week; the receptionist tried to give him a Thursday appointment, but found some time on Wednesday when I pointed out that Thursday was "absolutely impossible - I'm going in on Thursday to deliver the baby." When someone who looks as pregnant as I do right now says this, it does seem to have a way of magically making other times available on a calendar!

Then yesterday we had our weekly check-up with the doctor, and sometime between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, Speck decided to move downward. Even further than she already is. Her growth is fine, judging from the ultrasound, and her heartrate indicates that she's perfectly OK where she is, but she's moving lower and lower as I have more and more contractions. The doctor said he didn't think she'll come this week, but that she might not wait until Thursday the 26th, which is when we're scheduled to induce her. All the fun things I've been doing with the midwives to get ready to deliver - the acupuncture, the herbal teas, etc. - seem to be doing what they're supposed to: I'm about 30% effaced and beginning to dilate. So... either she comes a bit earlier than expected, or Thursday next week we go to the hospital for our weekly check-up (the doctor couldn't squeeze us in on Tuesday - and the magic pregnant woman effect on rescheduling is much less effective on obstetricians!) and then stay there to have a baby.

With the baby's head so low, I'm now waddling in earnest. It's gotten hard to walk - especially during the contractions, when I really feel her head pressing down. And since my hip joints have become so relaxed at this point, walking is about as uncomfortable as sleeping has become (sigh.) But, I should be able to finish up this week - though today will be a very short day; I'm congested and sore and cranky, and only planning to spend a few hours in the office. And we're keeping our fingers crossed that Pauline waits until next Thursday. We have a few things left to do, not to mention that my mom arrives on Wednesday (and Tim has his surgery appointment, which we'd like to be able to keep!)

The mail has been bringing us a nearly constant stream of baby things, courtesy of Tim's family. This will be one well-dressed little girl! It's kind of like a baby shower that goes on and on - it's been a lot of fun. Thank you to everyone!

Week 39 and Home Leave!

Yesterday marked the start of Week 39 - 2 weeks left, since we're going to Week 41. And we got a lovely baby present from the State Department: we've been granted an exemption to the policy that caps home leave at 25 days when coming from an overseas post to a domestic assignment. We weren't asking for much - 8 extra days - but even so, it took a lot of paperwork and long-winded explanations to make it happen. Home leave is paid vacation time that we're entitled to after serving overseas; in addition to some of the summer plans we've been trying to make, we also wanted to use it to stretch out the summer just a bit before I have to go back to work. I'll work for a month in Berlin after Pauline's born and before we transfer; but I wanted a few more months over the summer before I start full-time back in Washington.

So now we can start making our plans! We're planning to spend about 2 weeks in Cleveland, about 2 weeks in Omaha (the "about" has a lot to do with the fact that we'll be driving from Ohio to Nebraska, and with Pauline in tow, that's going to take longer than it used to!), and then head down to Washington to start moving into the house we're still trying to find. It'll give us about 3 weeks in Washington before I go back to work. It'll be busy, but hopefully we'll have enough time to receive our shipments, paint walls, set up Pauline's room, shop for some essential furniture; find a pediatrician; learn our way around our new neighborhood (shopping, library, and such essentials); and generally get settled. We've never moved all our things into housing in the States before - it should be an interesting challenge! And having the baby will make it even more interesting. But the extra 2 weeks will really help us get everything done.

Week 38 check-up

Yesterday was a busy day for the baby! She had her doctor's appointment - these will now be once a week, since we're almost to week 39. The Embassy nurse-practitioner, Jackie, mentioned to me that she was meeting with our doctor just before our appointment, so I invited her to sit in; it's always useful for her to see how actual check-ups go, and I think she was very happy to observe. Our doctor has also worked with quite a few other Embassy families, so it's useful for the Embassy health unit to know how that works out. Anyway, Pauline continues to grow right on schedule - her head is now measuring just under 10 cm in diameter, which is enough to make me a bit nervous although the doctor says it's perfectly normal. Her abdomen and femur measurements were also perfectly normal. And although she's growing right on schedule, I haven't gained any weight in the last 2 months, which means our efforts to control the gestational diabetes through diet and exercise seem to be working very well. We then spent a good 40 minutes on the fetal monitor - she was a little too active at first, and they wanted to get a full cycle of active and asleep. The doctor says no eminent risk of going into labor... which is a relief, since we really don't want to go too early, though it does mean I have 15 more days of pregnancy.

After lunch at the hospital cafeteria (really pretty decent), Tim and I went to the midwife's office for Round 2 of acupuncture. (Round one was last week.) There are a few reasons for this: first and foremost, it relaxes me and the baby. Secondly, it's supposed to help my body get ready for labor. We're planning to induce labor, but the closer we can get to being ready at that point, the easier it should go for both the baby and me. And as we learned yesterday, some of the acupuncture points can also help encourage my body to drain some of the excess fluid I'm now schlepping around in my legs and ankles. (Not quite cankles, but they're a lot puffier than usual these days...) Our first acupuncture session was wonderful. I don't know how much it may have helped with the labor thing, but boy, it sure worked to relax me. Yesterday's session was also wonderful, though I managed to stay awake through treatment and after returning to work when it was over. Our midwife's partner is actually the one who does the treatments, so we chat in German, but it's fun (and Tim says he can understand a lot of what we're saying, which is great.) She estimates that Pauline is now around 3.6 kilos, which is about 8 pounds. Given that Tim and I were both big babies, this is no surprise.

German health care practitioners are big believers in homeopathic and herbal remedies, and our midwives are no exception. Starting a week or two ago, I've been "prescribed" raspberry leaf tea to drink - it helps stimulate contractions. Getting the pharmacy to sell it to us was a bit of a chore! but we managed to get it. Yesterday, the midwife added green oat tea to my daily regimen. It looks and smells like hay, though the tea itself tastes a bit more like green tea. This is supposed to help with drainage; we'll see how it goes.

Not Quite a Nursery

We're not setting up a nursery for Pauline here in Berlin. Though every baby magazine we've seen and every website I've browsed suggests this makes us unfit parents right out of the gate, it just doesn't make sense for us, since we'll be moving again when she's just 3 months old.

That said, Tim's done a few things to make the small bedroom where she'll spend her first few months a bit more receptive to baby. We had the twin bed that used to be in here removed to make room for Pauline's bassinet, which is all set up and ready for her (but for now, it makes a great place to store diapers and extra sheets.) Tim also spent some time last week turning her bedroom from "random place for Mommy to store stuff" into a more inviting space. The books she's received so far (from us and from others) are in her bookends. The Classic Pooh letters I just had to get for her nursery are already unpacked, though we didn't have anywhere besides our video bookcase to put them. Pauline's growing collection of golden retrievers is now perched on top of the same bookcase, including the two fuzzy ones on the left that she got for Christmas from godmother Beth. I cleared out most of the space in her dresser to make room for her clothes, which I've begun to wash.

I know it's geeky of me, but since Tim rearranged things in there, I seem to find excuses to spend time in this room. Folding clothes, sorting things... it's fun to do it when I can turn my head and see the bassinet where she'll be sleeping in just a few weeks. (Or at least, where I hope she's sleeping from time to time...)

By the way, the framed piece of art next to her bed is a Christmas present Pauline and I received from Tim this year. It's an incredible black-and-white photo Tim took at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris of a little boy, face illuminated by a stand of votive candles. All around the photo, Tim wrote out one of my favorite Bible verses, which fits perfectly with the photo:

You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. (Matthew 5:14-16)

I love that Pauline will get to see that every day.

Baby shower pictures

Here are a few pictures from our baby shower on Sunday:

This is most of the adults in the group in Pam and John DeVolder's living room. Clockwise from the enormous pregnant woman on the sofa: Betty, Martha, Jeff, John, Pam, Mia, Dave, Christy, and Kari.

Betty and Martha are flipping through the pregnancy scrapbook I've been keeping for Speck. I haven't put it in a book yet, but have been working on the pages as we go.

Meanwhile, Thorsten, Paul, Thomas, and Pawel are exploring the playroom. It was so much fun to have the kids around for the shower!

Baby shower!

We had our very first baby shower last weekend. Friends of ours here in Berlin got together for a lovely event - at our request, it was a mixed affair, not only for the ladies, since Speck is Tim's baby, too! Many of those who came have small kids, who seemed to enjoy the play date with one another. Having them included also felt very appropriate - a sort of sneak-peek of life with munchkins. Tim took a few pictures, which we'll post. Pauline got some more clothes, a few other baby essentials, and - best of all - the breast pump I'd registered for. OK, maybe it's more for me than it is for her, but it'll allow me to continue breastfeeding her when I go back to work. And even if we had settled on a different arrangement - both of us working, me staying home and Tim working, whatever - I think I'd still want to pump once Pauline and I have figured out how to nurse, so Tim can also be involved in feeding her. I can't imagine what it'll be like to breastfeed, but I know how much I enjoyed giving bottles to my niece Allie when she was younger - there's this incredible feeling as the baby stares up at you that I just love. I wouldn't want Tim to miss out on that bonding experience.

We've also been doing a few more things to get ready. We installed Pauline's car seat - it's an infant carrier that fits into a base and onto a stroller. I love these because if the baby falls asleep in the car (we're hoping she does, taking after Minka's example), you can lift her out when you get wherever you're going, without unstrapping her. You can then plunk her on the stroller, without unstrapping her. We wanted to put it in the car early so Minka (our dog) can get used to the concept of sharing the back seat with this contraption. She seems to be adapting fairly well, though it's an adjustment for her. Wait until that car seat has an occupant!

Tim rearranged things in Pauline's room to make a bit more space, and generally get the room ready for the baby. We're not setting up a nursery for her here, but we did need to have a little more room in there, and it looks a lot more welcoming now. I also spent some time last weekend rearranging things in the dresser in that room, getting her clothes ready to be washed for the first time (clipping tags, etc.), and so on. Now I just need to move some of my piles of scrapbook materials out of the way...

Speaking of clothes, we got a very special box in the mail today. There's a craft store in Armenia that specializes in machine-knit, hand-finished clothing. It's part of an assistance program (training and employing women) that's been around since I was in Yerevan. This little shop used to be one of the only places to get baby gifts; when friends at the Embassy would have showers, all the guests would clean out the baby-sized items in the shop! Anyway, it's still in business, and my friend Adela, who is now posted there, was kind enough to go shopping on my behalf. (She and her husband also included a few other items as gifts from them.) And the box they sent came today! I am so, so happy to have some of these beautiful clothes for Pauline.

Warm-up exercises, take one

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!

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!

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!

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!