The Big Day

Late Monday evening we spent a super fun time exploring the Berlin Zoo. We walked around and explored the heck out of that place. We were exhausted when it came time to go home. Jeremy didn't even grab a late dinner; he went straight upstairs and crashed. With Abby in bed, Denna and I read and played on the internet until about 9.

I had just said goodnight and was walking upstairs when my water broke. UGH. I couldn't believe it. I was induced with Abby and never got the joy of the unexpected slash. At first I thought I had peed my pants, but I've managed to get that under control in the past 31 years so I was pretty certain something was up.

I knew Jeremy needed some serious sleep so I went about my business and waited for the contractions to come. I finished up all my packing, read the final chapters in my birthing book and notified all the appropriate people. Then it got pretty boring. Eventually I woke up Jeremy and we went to the hospital to check things out.

The nurse could see I was having contractions, but wasn't so sure my water broke since I wasn't dilated at all. Luckily, I managed to convince her and we were sent to this super awesome birthing room.

It looks like we were having fun, but we showed up about 15 minutes before the lady next door delivered her child naturally. Let's just say there were thin walls and it was a little traumatizing. It reconfirmed my original plan to get an epidural as SOON as possible.

Flash forward to six in the morning. My contractions were coming super close together, I could no longer Facebook and I was shouting loudly for the anesthesiologist. Unfortunately, I wasn't even half way dilated and no where near pushing Ollie out. They took pity on me and started the numbing process.

They tried, and tried, and tried, and TRIED to put the epidural in but couldn't find the spot. HOW CAN YOU NOT FIND THE SPOT? Do I need to draw you an X somewhere? They second epidural lady didn't have a much better go at it. At this point I was pretty upset and in a ton of pain. Not only was I having a ton of super painful contractions super close together but now my back is seriously jacked up and NOTHING is numb. Nothing except my ability to think clearly and/or the ability to control my bad attitude.

That's when the real fun started. All of a sudden nurses were coming in letting us know that something was up and they had called in the doctor to talk to us. This was all in German, of course. Jeremy was getting a super quick lesson in German birthing vocab 1o1 and I was looking around like a lost dog trying to find some relief and comfort.

The doctor tried to explain that the baby was stressed out and they needed to do a C-Section to get him out. They didn't know why Ollie was having problems but having him naturally was going to be a no go.

So Jeremy went to go get his super sexy scrubs on while I went for my spinal block. I was way more nervous to get the spinal block than I was for the C-section. It's pretty much an epidural and we all know how awesome and easy getting one of those can be....

I don't remember too much at this point. Jeremy let me know later that they made a small incision but since Ollie was wrapped around his body, neck and head with the umbilical cord they had to do some unraveling of the cord on the inside of my uterus in order to pull him out. It took longer than expected and they ended up ripping my incision quite a bit longer on both sides.

This is what they found inside:

The German midwives dress, change and bath your baby while you are in the hospital. I love the cute little outfits they bring him back in.

I love his hair crusties....

Being in the hospital with Ollie is fun, but I sure miss the spunk and excitement that comes with my Abby. I was so happy to see her.

She immediately jumped into the big sister role and began to pamper and primp her little brother.

The first hug...
Ollie pretended to be asleep the whole time, but he let us know how he really felt about the whole situation...

One proud papa...

Having a boy is so much fun. I couldn't stop snuggling him.

Welcome, Oliver Thomas.

Abby Meets Ollie

Less Than a Week...

Things here are rapidly starting to wind down. Denna and I just finished the baby's room, everything is sterilized and I've stockpiled all the entertainment (motivation!) I'm going to need to stay awake during those late night feedings. I've posted what I have below and would LOVE any recommendations you have for books or movies.

We got word that our shipment should follow right after the baby (Aug 9th), and I'm really excited to get those creature comforts out of their boxes and into my home. The timing is a little inconvenient, but that's just life.

I ate my last box of otter pops today. That makes nine boxes and one bag of sodalicious pops in three weeks. I'm getting a little nervous that the baby might come out looking green, red, purple, orange or pink. We're totally going for seconds at the military base after the baby arrives.

I'll let you all know when the screaming and pushing starts. Bring on the joy.


Books in waiting:
Children of the Promise 3-5
What the Dog Saw
A Little Princess
The Prince and the Pauper
Uncle Tom's Cabin
The Scarlet Letter
Black Beauty
Cinderella
The Hidden Children
Little Lord Fauntleroy
The Great Gatsby
The Sweet Far Thing
The Robe
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Christlike Parenting
Drowning Ruth
The Diary of A Young Girl (Anne Frank)
The Grapes of Wrath
The Left Behind Series 1-3
The Alchemist
The Book Thief
The Mermaid Chair
The Heretic's Daughter
The Friday Night Knitting Club
Mothering With Spiritual Power
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
Forever Lily:An Unexpected Mother's Journey to Adoption in China
World War II for Dummies
Water for Elephants
The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

TV shows I've stockpiled on my laptop:
Army Wives - Season 3
Glee - Season One
Mad Men - Season Three
The Good Wife - Season One
Parenthood - Season One
Friday Night Lights - Seasons 1-4
Legend of the Seeker - Season 2
Lost - Season 6
Felicity - Seasons 2-4
Pushing Daisies - Seasons 1 and 2

Fun With Grandma

It has been such a treat Grandma here. I've gotten pretty used to doing most everything by myself while living overseas, but it sure is nice to not have to! Just knowing I can get in a quick nap or have an extra set of hands to help out with some last-minute projects -- putting together the babies room! -- has been a great blessing. It's also so wonderful to see Abby relish in the all the extra joy and excitement a grandma brings.

Having a two-and-a-half years old has it's thrills and challenges, but I'm really grateful Abby is old enough now to really understand and appreciate who these visitors are and why we are so happy to see them. She follows grandma around like a puppy and prefers her attention to ours. I am so happy they are soaking up every minute together. How precious these few weeks are to all of us!

Here are some of those best-of moments:

Abby and Grandma playing outside in the rain.

Gardening with grandma.

Bowling in the living room.

Singing (and dancing) to primary songs in matching yellow shirts.

The dogs are also thrilled for the extra attention. Gracie got her winter fur brushed out and Beth got a much needed bath.

First Things First

We had Denna roaming the city from the moment she stepped off the plane. There is so much to do here and we wanted her to see as much as she could before the new baby arrived.

First we took her to the Zhelendorf subway station to get some fresh fruit and local German pastries.
We also wanted her to get some of the families we love in our ward. We threw a BBQ, of course!

We went to Ikea - just like we do nearly ever other week.
We did two days of all-or-nothing tourist attractions.

Abby showed off her magic tricks and mad skills.

We ate at the international food festival. We pounded Russian dumplings, Thai spring rolls, Turkish spinach wraps with tzatziki, Middle Eastern feta and falafel pitas, German sausages, Irish baked potatoes with herbed butter, Italian gelato, etc. Needless to say, I think I overdid the recommended pregnancy weight gain for this week.

Denna shopped at the international market.

We came home and teched-up our afternoon.

We even went and swam in the lake with some church friends later in the week. It's pretty obvious that this is my REGULAR (not maternity) swim suit from about 5o pounds ago. It was not very comfortable to wear.

More BBQing....

The dogs can barely stand the action. At the end of the day they are pooped!

Museum Island

Today's adventures lead us to Museum Island. We didn't have the time to go inside, but the buildings are so beautiful that it's a treat just to explore their gardens and architecture.

Abby loved to run up and down in the gardens. They have little stone pathways so I guess it is allowed. I live by the rule - they can't tell you no if you don't ask.

Abby claims to "love" this merman and spent a rather long time hugging him. He is pretty manly for a statue.

It's fun to revisit different monuments and check out the details I previously missed. At Humbolt University I walked right by (or over) these shinny gold plaques in their lane way that lists important students or professors that were killed during the Holocaust. So many intellectual minds ruined!

I wasn't sure that this big open plaza represented the first time we visit, but it is actually the spot where all the large book burning rallies were held. There is a glass floor in the middle of the plaza -- I totally didn't notice before -- that looks down a long corridor of empty book shelves. Finally a memorial that I understand!

Abby loves to join the tour groups. She's has no fear.

This was from St. Hedwig's Cathedral.

Grandma and Abby have so much energy that they need to run everywhere. It's fun to see them laughing and playing as we stroll about the city. I love to waddle behind and watch.

This is Elizabeth. She is Abby's super cute babysitter. She is such a dream hire and Abby just adores her. She has the cutest South African accent. I love to hear her talk about Africa and it makes me want to go back and visit every time I see her.

We took our "adult time" at a Thai restaurant near my house. It was fun to get away and relax without the kiddo.

Denna, Jeremy and I ate like kings. I was a huge fan of the duck, spring rolls and deep fried bananas. If you come to visit, just know this is where we are taking you :)