The Bump

Week 20

 

Week 21

 

Week 25

 

Week 25

 

Week 25

 

Week 29

Week 30

 

Week 32

 

Week 32

 

Week 34

 

Week 34

 

Week 34

 

Week 34

Sssshhh, I'm sleeping...

This 3D picture is freaky but cool at the same time.

Tschüß,
Brushy.

Sixteen weeks and counting

Here are 2 scans from Wk 16, just in case you are interested.  We could have found out the gender that week, but:

1. We don't want to know; and
2. It didn't want to play along, and refused to show us anything other than its bum and back.

Upside down, with a clear view of the spine.

Still upside down, with what I think are two arms either side of the body.

We still have some scans from Wk 12 and some newer ones to scan in and put up here, so stay tuned!

Tschüß,
Brushy.

Wish I had have been there...

Last weekend a group of artists performed a piece in Berlin symbolising the reunification of East and West Germany with massive puppets. Wish I had have been there to see it, but you get a pretty good feel for what it was like by checking out the pictures here.

Picture is Copyright PHILIPP GUELLAND/AFP/Getty Images.

Tschüß,

Brushy

Mein Doppelgänger?

A guy who I was working with at an interop event in Berlin a few weeks ago snapped this picture of a billboard in the capital. It is an ad for an energy company that was sponsoring the athletics world championships that were taking place in Berlin around the time of our visit.
Looks scarily like me, huh?

Tschüß und Grüße aus der Hauptstadt,
Brushy.

09/09/09

Today is the 9th of the 9th 2009. which is cool, but it is also the 252 day of the year, and 2+5+2=9. spooky
I saw online that this is the last time there will be single digits in the day, month and year for 1001 years, but that cannot be right, it must be for 902 years... surely in 1001 years it will be 3010...

B

German pregnany vocab

So every new experience brings with it a new set of vocab we need to learn, and the vocab related to pregnancy has some funny ones...

Mutterkuchen - Mothercake - placenta
Muttermund - Mothermouth - cervix
Fruchtwasser - Fruitwater - amniotic fluid
Fruchtblase - Fruitbladder - amniotic sack
Fruchtbar - Fruitable - fertile

Entbindung - unbind - delivery/birth

Wehe - pains - contractions (that one is actually more honest)

Wann ist der Termin? - when is the appointment? - When are you due?
Ein Braten im Ofen - A roast in the oven - A bun in the oven (we haven't found an equivalent for Brush's favorite - 'up the duf')


A few weeks ago one of Brush's workmate, who knew I was pregnant, commented to Brush that my diet must be bad/lacking since I was so tired... When Brush told me this I got really mad, and told Brush that he had to go back and tell this guy that I was baking a Mothercake and it takes a lot of energy to heat an oven... I am not sure Brush passed on the message though

Being pregnant... in Germany

So the system here for having babies works differently than in Aus. I had had some of it explained to me by a friend here but I was still quite confused. I knew that the doctor isn't in the birth with you, you have a midwife that accompanies you through the process and is at the birth, and does the at home follow up. I didn't think this sounded too bad, but we still didn't really know what we needed to do. So at some stage between our monthly doctor apts we started to worry that we were leaving it too late to organise things, as we know from the experience of friends in Aus that you miss out on good hospital spots etc if you book to late... So after a panicked call from Brett one day that he was getting very stressed that we had no hospital organised so after some googling I discovered that the following week our local hospital was having a birth info evening, so we went along. The inf session was great, the hospital set up is really nice, their philosophy is nice, Brush likes it because he already knows 5 or 6 different ways there depending on traffic, and its close - so we decided that that would be where we would go... but this decision is apparently very early in the German system - according to the staff there we can (if we want) register 4-6 weeks before the birth that we want to give birth there, so that they have my medical info and dietary requirements ahead of time - but we don't have to register... we can rock up when I am in labour without ever having registered... so we relaxed a little :)

Being pregnant...

So in answer to the general questions... I have been doing well so far. I only had a few weeks of morning/day sickness, and as Brush reported on facebook one spew - a few more near misses though. At the time the few weeks seemed to drag on forever - but looking back i can say _only_. Brett was great the whole time(when he was actually home) and was very sweet when I chuck - held my hair and only laughed a little (which is fine - I have never seen him spew but I imagine its hilarious). I have also had the other the normal things of needing to pee ALL THE TIME, indigestion (a new and not so fun experiences), bloating (not so new), overactive sense of smell, metallic taste in my mouth, Brush's favourite - rapidly expanding boobs (though sadly quite sore), and being TIRED (that word cannot be emphasised enough - one of our friends here who knew I was pregnant I think though I was being a little melodramatic, but is also now pregnant and is SHOCKED at how tired she is - I think she believes me now :) ). Most of the things I was feeling I assumed I was imagining just because I was so conscious of my own bdy, but once I started reading up I realised I was basically checking off the list of symptoms...

So we knew basically right from the beginning thanks to an at home early detection test as Brush was scheduled to fly to South Africa, and I was scheduled to fly to the Philippines, and we wanted to know before we were both on work trips... I had assumed knowing would not effect the trip as such, but after the positive result I called a few Women's doctors to get an appointment to check things out. The receptionist at the first place told me they had no apts before I flew, but that I should not fly as it would be against doctor recommendations. I thought this was a bit silly, and was a bit annoyed... I got an apt at another Doc, who told me the same thing... apparently they worry about the extra radiation exposure that you get at the altitude that long haul flights fly at... Initially I thought it was completely ridiculous, but after a day or so thinking about it the fact that more than one doc had said it got to me and I cancelled my trip. In the end it was good though as the few weeks I was quite sick would have all been while I was away, and that was not so much fun at home, but during project visits I think it would be even less enjoyable... I told my immediate boss why I was cancelling the trip, and she was great - she was so excited for me. She said as soon as I closed the door to talk to her she hoped I was going to say I was pregnant. I told the department head in the last few weeks (when he and my immediate boss got back form summer holidays) and the following day he announced it under the list of staff news in our team meeting - very embarrassing, but great because everyone knew all at once.

I haven't been coping at all with the heat, so I am happy that Autumn seems to be coming. Our office has no aircon, so I have suffered. I am SOOOO happy I am at the start, rather the the end, of the 9 months in summer. I did have a bit of a near falling down/passing out incident when we were at the Grand Prix. The weather report suggested it would be cool and cloudy, so I went dressed appropriately, but in the end the prediction was not so accurate, and I got really warm. I decided I would go for a little wander to find some shade and a cool breeze, and a cold drink, which initially helped, but the line for drinks then wasn't getting the nice cool breeze, so I started to get a bit dizzy, and as I got to 2nd or 3rd I must have looked awful because one of the guys who was working at the bar asked me what I wanted. Then things started to go a bit black to I decided to sit down, under the bar. I had assumed I was being served because I was next, but they bought me my drink (on the ground) and I didn't have to pay, and they offered to go and find my friends (which was really nice of them) but after the cold water, and a bit of a sit down with my head between my knees I was ok... After that Brush decided I wasn't allowed to wander off without my mobile.

At my doctors apt the next weeks she wasn't at all happy with my blood pressure (which is always lowish, but was really low) and she said if I had another incident I would have to go on meds for my blood pressure. She suggested that in the meantime I drink some coffee, and that I should warm/cold shower. As most of you probably know I am a tea drinker/addict (though in preparation for pregnancy I had cut down from 10 a day to 1 to 2 - SO PROUD) but I have started having some coffee most days, and doing the warm cold showering, which I now enjoy. Initially I was just turning the shower on to cold and standing under it, which was shocking (!!!) but after talking to a couple of girls at work who happen to do the warm/cold shower I now have a better method. We have one of those very European shower-heads on a hose, and you are meant to make the water cold and then do one leg after the other (from the foot up), then the arms (from the hand up), back, tummy and upwards, then I do face and hair (meant to be great against bags and wrinkles, and make your hair shiny). I do that twice - once after shampooing and once at the end, and it is very invigorating :) And, my blood pressure is much improved... still low but better.

Sorry about the long post, and the lack of posts in general. As I have been so wiped out I haven't been blogging (or doing ANYTHING for that matter) and Brush has had to do EVERYTHING so he hasn't had time either. The last week or 2 I have been feeling a bit better so have been doing some things around the house, so the posting has started again. We will also post about some other things too for the non baby crazy among you:-)

B