End of Summer Update

I have not been able to keep up with this blog nearly as easily as I imagined when starting it. I also did not anticipate how exhausted I would be throughout Pregnancy #2. No one told me how much harder this part was going to be while chasing a toddler around. My typical day consists of waking up around 6am (that is if I slept at all the night before because I can't get comfortable or have the worst heartburn imaginable all the time), getting Calvin set up for the day and ready for daycare, taking him to school coming back and getting myself situated for the day, working for 4-5 hours, trying to get laundry and housework done, and then picking Calvin up. By the time we pick him up around 4pm I am toast and unfortunately I still have the three and half hours until his bedtime which on any given day can seem utterly impossible to get through. Not to mention the guilt I feel because that is time I typically cherish with him. Some days are just really hard.

Cue the Terrible Two's to make everything that much more enjoyable at this stage! We have been dealing with tantrum after tantrum lately. It has been tough to manage and I am learning a lot but I also know it is developmentally healthy and appropriate at his age for this to be happening and not a reflection of my parenting. It doesn't make it any easier when it happens in public, the embarrassment is real y'all! Also, I swear German children are as well behaved and stoic as their parents in public. It is so rare to see other children having tantrums and I would be lying if I said I didn't smile inside or secretly high five my husband when we do see another child giving their parents a run for their money. It makes us feel less alone, although they are probably also not from around here.

So what are we up to? We are fully moved into our apartment and I know I owe pictures of that however, there are still some areas we need to finalize and move around given the office is now going to be a nursery. We at least got our nursery furniture in and assembled so now it's moving anything out that doesn't belong and finding a space for it...hello Peloton bike in the living room. It is coming together and once everything is situated in the next week or two then I will take some pictures of the space. It feels good to have a home here and one that we really love.

We have had a few setbacks over the last month that have created challenges for us. The first being a cancelled trip home. Aaron's company pays for one trip home a year for us and we were supposed to go mid-August to mid-September. It would be our only trip home for awhile especially given the arrival of new baby. Thanks to Covid-19 and the Delta variant cases rising rapidly, we had to make the tough decision to back out of our trip. It was extremely sad as we not only missed a friend's wedding and countless other plans with friends we had already made but most importantly we missed my brother Ryan's wedding. Those festivities were the impetus for us coming home just four months after arriving in Germany. While Aaron and I are both vaccinated Calvin is not and can't be yet. Also, even though we have both gotten the vaccine, we are still considered high risk for the Delta variant because I am pregnant and he is on immunosuppressants. It seemed to risky to do all the travel and put ourselves in a potentially really bad situation, especially when I am this far along in my pregnancy and was already flying at the international cutoff timing wise for pregnant women. It was a lot of money down the drain to add insult to injury but our safety and wellbeing was more important. The wedding looked beautiful and seemed to go off without a hitch and I am so happy for my brother and new sister in law!

On top of that, because Calvin is back in daycare full time he is getting all the sicknesses one can muster. I think these German virus's are extra strong and resilient too. We had two back to back illnesses that were pretty scary (high fevers, poor sleep, and days at home with mom) and only two weeks apart. While Cal seems to be on the mend, I am rattled as I had forgotten what having a sick child was like and don't know how I am going to manage it with two but I guess you just do! Knock on wood but Aaron and I had both managed to stay healthy during these bouts of illness which is a blessing as at least one of us if not both typically fall ill shortly after.

I guess the last "exciting" thing to happen is I registered at the hospital here where I will be giving birth. It is a huge hospital in the middle of Eppendorf and also happens to be a teaching hospital. The inside felt nice and modern and the "Geburtshilfe und Prantalmedizin" or Obstetrics and Prenatal ward was surprisingly easy to get to. I got to meet with the head doctor of the department who was extremely nice and spoke wonderful English. He talked to me about my options without being pushy one way or another. Currently baby girl is breech. This is karma I am sure for what I did to my mother. We talked about ECV where they try and manually turn the baby, delivering breech, or possible C-section. I felt very informed as well as confident that I will get to make my own choice when it comes down to it. After that I spoke to a midwife. The midwives there do all of the deliveries except for the C-sections. We found out some pretty surprising news. They have what they call "Family Rooms" which are basically private rooms. Because everyone in Germany has healthcare and most people have public healthcare, they still have rooms that are shared unlike many hospitals in the US these days. The trade off is, you really have no bills outside of your insurance. I paid a few thousand dollars after having Calvin in an Atlanta hospital and I had already hit my deductible prior to going into labor. In Germany I could go have a C-section, stay in the hospital for 5-7 days and most likely wont pay a dime extra. If you want a Family room however you pay an additional $133 a night out of pocket. I believe you can only reserve that for 2 nights and it is still a first come first serve basis depending on when you check into the hospital whether or not a room is available.

This seems like the smallest price to pay to have some comfort being alone as a family for a night or two and so we let them know we definitely wanted the family room. If we can't get one because it is exceptionally busy with deliveries, etc. then here is the kicker. Because of Covid the hospital has had to shift its policies around visitors. If we get a Family room, Aaron can stay with me as long as we have it but he just can't leave the hospital. If we do not, he can be there during the birth and I believe for the entire time we are in the delivery room (up to 2 hours afterward). Then he has to go home and he can only come back 1 hour a day! My jaw hit the floor because I was essentially being told I will be on my own completely without the family room. Calvin can't come to the hospital at all and neither can my mom who is planning on being here during that time. I am so happy this is my second time around so I know what to expect from the baby. If I have a C-section it presents some challenges as I will be there alone for longer when I need more help essentially but guessing the nursing staff steps up a bit to help. I am hoping it all works out to the best case scenario but know I really do not have much control over the situation and will have to just get through it one way or another. I can tell you I will be dying to get home as soon as possible regardless as my anxiety over leaving Calvin for days is steadily rising.

So other than possibly facing a major surgery in a foreign country alone there isn't much else to report back on haha! We are just going to try and finish getting the nursery and home in order for baby girls arrival. We are eagerly anticipating my mom's arrival on October 19th, just in time to celebrate Calvin's 2nd birthday! The plan is to then have this baby before hunkering down for the holidays. My mom will be here through Thanksgiving. Aaron's parents are planning on joining us in Mid-December for about a month which will be nice, especially to have family here over Christmas. Finally, once we get through all of that we will be planning some massive trips. We already have one on the books for Italy in May so we are getting excited to see the world again!

I added some random photos in below

Sick Days

Belly Update- 33 Weeks

Calvin living his best life