Baby Update

It's October....OCTOBER!!! You know what that means, a special baby delivery will be happening this month! 9 months (well, really 10) can both fly by and feel like it can last forever. It's crazy to think that I am now on maternity leave, me, on maternity leave. I guess this means I'm about to be a mom! The reaction of my maternity leave is two-sided here in Austria. On one hand, Austrians were wondering why I was working so close to my due date. Here, it's a law to stop working at least 8 weeks before your due date. Then you get at least a year maternity leave. They think I'm crazy for going back to work in January. On the other hand back home, I would be working up to the day I go into labor so that I could use my short time off as much as possible after the baby is born. In Seattle I would receive 6 weeks maternity leave (that is from my saved-up sick days) and here I get 13 paid weeks, but am taking 15 that includes the winter break. I also have banked sick days to use later in the year too.
Andrew and I find ourselves looking at each other with both excitement and disbelief. We keep wondering what the baby will look like, boy or girl, how is this possible? Things are becoming much more apparent in the mid-section of my body. The baby decided to really take-off and grow in the past month or so. I have been blessed with a smooth pregnacy and have enjoyed just about every bit of it. I've got to count my blessings now because I hear it's not always the case from one child to the next. I feel quite "normal" and don't have any real horror stories to share and honestly, I love my big belly. Our lives here consist of a lot of movement. Not having a car helps us walk a lot, and not having an elevator to our flat helps us climb 62 stairs everytime we come home. My school is a workout on it's own. I first start by walking a substantial hill to get there with my classroom of course being the top-most room in the entire place. There are no elevators at school either so it's a stair-master haven. I hope that this will all come in handy when I am ready to go! For now, I will be going back to school 2 afternoons per week to continue tutoring and checking in with my class.
We had 2 check-ups last week. One with our midwife and one with our doctor. Yes, I get a midwife too! We did a heart-rate and some final checks and things are looking good, "perfect" is what my doctor likes to say. The baby is engaged so his/her head is down in my pelvis. Crazy to think that even engaged, he/she could be moving and stretched out as much as it is. I swear sometimes that the baby is in the downward dog position and every other position that requires stretching all limbs out in opposite directions at once. I know they really can't tell, but they say the baby is anywhere from 3-3.5 kilos. That's a big difference. Everything is done by kilos and centimeters, I like it when it comes to taking my own weight. It doesn't seem so bad.
So for now, the next time I shall meet with my doctor and midwife is either on labor day or on my due date, whichever one comes first. If I don't deliver by October 16th, then we'll meet just to do a heart rate check and make sure everything is going ok. There are many great things about having a midwife, but during times when I think I may be starting labor, I call Ulli and she will come to my house and assess my situation before heading to the hospital. She is going to be great after the baby is born and comes to the house to make sure everything is going well then too.
Recently I have started to feel more pressure and can notice that things are starting to happen. Sleeping is much more challenging. Andrew has been a sweet dad and has been reading books to our little one, taking care of me, and yesterday I found him trying on the Mobywrap, trying to figure out how it works. Perhaps the next time we blog about a baby update, the baby will be the update. For now, we will be working on "projects," (Andrew makes fun of all the lists I make), getting out around town, and visiting with friends, oh, and napping.

We're excited for Baba and Grandpa to visit on the 13th, and my mom, Marissa, and Mike are coming on the 22nd. Until then...

Berlin

Check-Point Charlie

August 2010
After settling back in Vienna and taking some time to recover from jetlag, we decided to take a trip to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary, and to getaway once again before baby. We headed to Berlin, Germany's capital. We stayed in the center of the city in a flat-like hotel. Our "room" was bigger than our flat in Vienna with a nice sized living room, kitchen, and glorious king-sized bed. In a quilted robe, Ciara melted away in the big plush pillows and down bedding. Our hotel was close to Gendarmenmarkt, a historical square bounded by twin churches and a concert hall that hosts outdoor cafes. We ate lunch in a symmetrical surrounding and watched people as they hopped on-and-off tour busses and walked by snapping photos of the charming square.
In the days that followed we explored unique, fascinating, and disturbing sights, historical landmarks, museums, and neighborhoods. We walked down Unter den Linden which was one of Eastern Berlin's grand boulevards that was lined with a thousand linden trees of Prussian Berlin that lead up to the Brandenburg Door. The historic Brandenburg Gate, crowned by a 4-horse chariot and Goddness of Peace, has undergone years of survival. It is the center of old Berlin and the backdrop of the happy day in 1989 when the wall started to fall. Close to the Brandenberg Gate is the Reichstag, the German Parliament building with its huge glass dome. We checked out the Haupbahnhof, the main train station made of all glass, a known engineering feat.

Check-Point Charlie

In much of which is walking distance we made our way to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews-a Holocaust memorial consisting of 2,711 gravestone-like pillars. The Topograhpy of Terror, the site of Hitlter's Gestapo and S.S. The museum telling the cruel history and of its victims during Hitler's era. And to the Jewish Museum that portrays more celebration of Jewish life and some of the holocaust.

Brandenburg Gate

In other parts of the "cheery" city, we explored Potsdamer Platz, the "Times Square" of old Berlin, Alexander Platz, a commerical shopping area and square, Kaufhas des Westens (KaDeWe)  the biggest (and very swanky) department store in Europe, and went to a trendly and lively neighborhood called Prenzlauer Berg. From the Berlin Cathedral, the Rathaus, and to the stretches of the wall that are still standing, we made the most of our time and of course made sure to indulge along the way. We went out to a fun Cuban dinner, a nice anniversary dinner along the canal, and found our way into some of the chocolatier shops in the city.

Jewish Memorial

"Fallen Leaves" at the Jewish Museum

Part of the remaining Berlin Wall

This marked the end of an amazing summer before it was back to the grind! We are blessed to have had this much time off together, something that would not have happened if we didn't take this leap in our lives. Everyday we walked around together since the beginning of summer, we would stop and think how lucky we are to have this time.