Gestating in Germany- Is this baby ever going to come out?!?

So, I have to apologize to the family and friends without Facebook, I guess the major amount of disappointment at the lack of progress has affected my blog writing enthusiasm.

I had a Dr.'s appointment on Monday afternoon. The goods news is that... Everything was basically the same as the last time - which means both mom and baby are healthy... although, apparently permanently fused together into one convenient package (except that its not that convenient: especially for me :(  LOL )

So here are the stats: My blood pressure is 125/75, I actually lost weight at this last weigh in, I was having contractions on the Contract-O-Meter (but they were not labor contractions), The baby's heart-rate was great, the level of amniotic fluid was good, and the baby is still measuring around 7 lbs.

So here is the really invasive and disappointing information. This needs to be prefaced with the fact that Forrest didn't make it to the previous appointment and I completely rely on him to be my memory, to ask valid questions, and help me with accuracy of my recount of the events. So... that being said, I was very disappointed when after my internal exam the doctor announced "It is the same" and then proceeded tell us "the cervix is gone (effaced) and a little dilation".  Forrest in his infinite wisdom asked "so... not even a centimeter?" and the doc. confirmed.
         -Here you may be a little confused, since if you read my previous post I had said I was 2-3 centimeters dilated (In my defense all the MD did last time was give me a visual of an OK hand sign to indicate the dilation and apparently I am awful at gauging distance visually. Wishful thinking I guess.) So... a little disappointed? So was I. I have to admit, I had the urge to cry a little right there in the office :(  So I have been demoted from an imagined 2-3 centimeters to not even 1 and even though I was never really 2-3 centimeters (apparently) I feel like I am not just, not progressing, but actually moving backwards away from labor :( Its hard not to feel a bit defeated!!!

Well, fast forward to last night (Tuesday) I started having contractions while cooking dinner. I know false labor happens (I was really hoping, however, that this far into the pregnancy that my body wouldn't be that mean to play a trick on me this late in the game) and I was cautiously excited about any kind of action happening so I went to bed knowing that no one sleeps through active labor so I figured it was better that I get some rest (just in case). Forrest woke me up, before he went to work, to ask if I was still having contractions and truthfully I hadn't really noticed. I thought I just had a tummy ache, but then I woke up and realized that I was having contractions about 20 minutes apart (still nothing to write home about), but I was still pretty optimistic since it had lasted this long. And about mid-day the contractions just STOPPED. :(

I have not been "contraction-free" since then, but nothing quite as consistent as this morning. Hopefully it is a sign that things will start to get moving pretty soon. :)

Tomorrow is my next appointment and that will be 40 weeks + 10 days. Maybe I will go into labor before then ;) LOL! My doctor leaves for a convention tomorrow evening so he said that if I make it to Thursday's appointment then he will make me an appointment at the hospital. (I'm not sure if he meant so that I can continue to be monitored or that he will be scheduling an induction). I really would rather not have an induction so I would appreciate any prayers that this little man start moving and shaking on his own before then. Either way, I should have a bouncing baby boy to hold (with more than my abdominal cavity) by the end of this weekend. :)

I will update as soon as I have any new info. Whether it be labor :) or a date for induction :(

We love you all!! And hope everyone is well!!!

Sam and Forrest

Gestating in Germany- still not here :(

Hello all!!!

So, I went to the OB again yesterday, and here is the update. The baby's heart rate is great. My blood pressure is still good. And when they hooked me up to the Contract-O-Meter it was sadly inactive :(  Again my doc seemed strangely anxious to ask when I was going to be ready to schedule an induction. I again said I was willing to keep waiting. However he did say he wanted to do an internal exam (which I also wanted because I was curious if this guys was planning on staying in there FOREVER).

So before he did the exam he said he could do something (a sweep) to help get this ball rolling. However once he did the exam he didn't even mention it. He started by saying that the difference between last week and this week was drastic enough that he wasn't concerned with "Helping" anything along. In paraphrase because I can't remember his exact words, "the cervix is almost gone" (so almost 100% effacement) and I am 2-3 centimeters dilated. What he did say was "it is like for the start of labor".

We went ahead and made an appointment for Monday, but my Doc had me go ahead and pay because he thinks little man will make his appearance this weekend. So, still no news yet... and no real activity today, but maybe it will come on fast...?

Anyway, we had some maternity pictures made by a friend who does photography. Here are some of the pics

These are just the ones she put on Facebook for us to see but here is a link to the rest:

pictures: http://cjsnapshots.zenfolio.com/carverfamily

slideshow: http://cjsnapshots.zenfolio.com/carverfamily/slideshow

password to see the pics- rufio

Gestating in Germany- Due date come and gone :(

Ok so as of yesterday this little guy is "past due" I am at the official 40 weeks mark (and 1 day) and  even though I know its just a day picked out by the docs I kind of hoped that something would happen. LOL

So I had a MD appointment yesterday at 5:00 to find out that... nothing was happening. In fact like I said my last appointment was the first one where they saw any activity on the "Contract-O-Meter", but this time literally nothing on the monitor :(. The baby's heart rate was good. The doc did an ultrasound this time to see the blood-flow at the umbilical cord and said that all of that looked really good, then he checked the amniotic fluid level and said that it was "less". "Less" than what?... I am not sure. But he said it was "ok".  All I have to say is that this baby is now so big the doc can't get measurements of little man and he is definitely the "boniest" (is that a word?) little dude ever!!! this ultrasound was downright uncomfortable every time doc dug the wand passed the wand over my belly I could feel each of his little bones being ground into my stomach!! :(

Like I told you guys in Germany they seem more or less content to let these things just pan out and see how long the little guy wants to hang around. :) But honestly my doc started seeming a little antsy about "So... when do you want to have the baby? How long do you want to wait...?" Maybe its because he has so many American patients. Truthfully his anxiety feels like it is contagious and I am starting to think "ok is this baby ever going to get this party started?"

I know that before the invention of modern medicine that babies were born (on there own time tables) and that it all turned out ok. And I am super glad that he is healthy. So maybe too much info is not always good for a person and I just need to return to my nesting and stop thinking and over analyzing.  :( Anyways... at least until next Thursday when (if I haven't had this baby by then) I go back to the doctor for another update.

We love you guys and hope you are having a great week I will update as soon as I know more!!

Gestating in Germany continued

So I had my last official doctor's appointment of this pregnancy on Thursday afternoon. I say last official because my due date is technically Monday the 14th of January, but we still scheduled a "just in case junior decides to postpone his entrance" appointment for Monday.  So if he hasn't arrived by then you can expect another update.

Wednesday morning I woke up at about 4:30 with cramps and the general PMS feelings and thought to myself maybe I wouldn't make it to this doctor's appointment. I stayed in bed, thinking I should get as much rest as possible and tried to sleep. I know that there are so many of these "stop-start" kind of things leading up to the days before labor so I kept my symptoms to myself thinking if it got any worse I would tell Forrest and start timing contractions. So Forrest went to work and sure enough, by noon the symptoms were long gone. So it turns out I did make my doctor visit after all :)

At my doc's appointment they hooked me up to the fetal heart rate monitor for the standard 20 minutes. Up until now, every time I have been given the "baby's heart rate looks good, no contractions." This time I got "baby's heart rate looks good, and I see some contractions" (I didn't really feel any, but I'll take the doc's and his machine's word for it :-) ) He said not labor just Braxton Hicks contractions (I imagine I will know when those get here and probably won't need a machine to tell me. LOL)

Then he did an internal exam and checked the cervix. He said the baby's head is very low down in the pelvis and that the cervix is soft, but not dilated yet. So he said baby boy could come this weekend or he could hang out and come a week late. He said since the baby's heart rate is good and that my kidneys are good that they could let it go on for a while after the due date. The norm in Germany is to wait 10 days past the due date and then they induce.

So, as of now, all of my bags are packed and ready (except for those last minute items. Now the only big thing we have to do is install that car seat :) Hmmm... thats probably pretty important LOL. Forrest and I are super excited and anxiously awaiting the arrival of this already well loved little boy.

BTW in Germany they give an ultrasound at each appointment (which to me is a lot better than only 3 times the whole pregnancy- standard in the US) So these are the ultrasound pics from August until now.  Enjoy!!! :)

"The Thinker"

Facing downward -head on the left, bum on the right -he still looks a little like a jellybean at this point LOL

big head on the right, body /stomach on the left

Thumbs up!!

sucking his thumb :)

face

face shot (he might be sucking his thumb?)

another face shot

profile of my beautiful boy's face

doc says this is proof he's a boy... I am not sure I see it... It just looks like blobs to me :)

hiding his face behind his hand

Hope you enjoyed the ultrasounds they are the last we will see before we have real pictures to share!!!!!! :) SO EXCITING!!!! 

Gestating in Germany

OK so I'll admit I stink really stink at this whole blog thing :( I am terrible at sitting down to the computer to do anything  (other than maybe Pinterest) And nowadays my time is spent cleaning, organizing, decorating the baby room and did I mention cleaning? Nesting is real and it has really hit me hard. 

So now I am 38 weeks and 3 days preggo and up until this week I probably could have gone on being pregnant forever and have not minded terribly (other than missing my Thursday night Trojas Margaritas.) I now know that this outlook is not common, most of the other girlies I have come across in the same condition are so ready for pregnancy to be over, between all the possible uncomfortable side-effects of pregnancy such as swelling, back pain, and acne (plus gasp... feet growing which I know is Kerry's nightmare LOL) much less the inevitable gigantic-ness that accompanies preggo-hood. Luckily for me I have not experienced much of that at all. My biggest complaint up until now has been rib pain and I have to say that I feel like I have gotten off pretty easy. (Of course that doesn't count the first 3 months of queasiness and the inability to be within 100 feet of chicken) Forrest has dubbed me a pregnancy "unicorn." But I think I am starting to feel the eviction notice coming on for this little man. 

This week I have gotten my first stretch marks, I fell down the stairs because I couldn't see my feet (I caught myself on the rail so we are fine), and I haven't been able to put on my own socks for weeks. For me, I am finally getting to the place where my anxiety to see this beautiful little boy out-weighs my fear of labor (and that is saying something, since I am a wimp).

Anyways... I think I owe you all some more baby bump pics. I know I haven't posted one since 23 weeks (and that has been a while ago). Sadly I have not taken them as often as I should have, but here's what I've got :)

Hope you guys enjoyed this post. If track record says anything you won't get another one for a few months :) 

-Just kidding... 

I hope 

We love you guys and appreciate all the thoughts and prayers!! 

Hello from Germany!!!

Halo from Germany!!!

So this is my maiden post into the blogging world. Hello to all!

We have now been in Germany for 4 months and  I will attempt to recap all of the significant changes/events in our life since then:

in that time we lived in the SI-Suites for the first 2 months. It was a long time to stay in a hotel, but the accomodations and staff were great and made it a much less painful experience than it could have been. Luckily (since we also didn't have a car for the first month) there was a train station right across from the hotel which made exploring and house hunting possible.

SI-Suites

While we were there we were there we were able to explore Stuttgart's main square, explore the Ritter Sport Museum, go to a Kurbis "Pumpkin" Festival, and (once our car was delivered) visit the nearby Castle Lichtenstein, and Strasbourg, France. Here are a few pictures to prove it :)

Downtown Stuttgart- there was a Kinderfest going on the weekend we made it to the town square. There were vendors everywhere, a volunteer soccer game, and mini concert stage. It made for a really fun afternoon of festivities.

Castle Lichtenstein- this was beautiful castle we visited on a day trip (only a 2 hour drive) We took a tour of the castle, the inside was the usual coat of arms, paintings, and tapestries, but the castle grounds were what was really breathtaking. The Castle is built right on the edge of a cliff overlooking a valley. We had a blast exploring and taking pictures. 

Strasbourg, France 
This was a weekend trip. 
We spent most of our time 
exploring"La Petit France," 
an idyllic section of town.

The cutest little candy shop that we found, while waiting for the cathedral concert and light show. 

Strasbourg FOOD!!

We basically ate our way through Strasbourg :) We went to a cute little restaurant in "La Petit France" (sadly I don't remember the name) and enjoyed the BEST meal. I forget what Forrest had but I had the quintessential "Coq au Riesling" (normally known as Coq au Vin but the region is well known for its Reisling) with Spaetzle (seen on bottom right - a kind of rustic noodle that is very regional)  AMAZING!! For lunch the next day we had Chicken Cordon Bleu with french fries and veggies and of course we had to have some French Onion  Soup :) DELICIOUS!! Notice that I was unable to get the camera out in time to capture the creme brulee (on bottom left) or the profiteroles (center) before they disappeared :) I would totally go back just to eat everything again. I now totally get why people rave about French food!!

We haven't done a ton of traveling since (except our visit back to the states) and are finally getting a chance to be settled into our new rental home in Waldenbuch (pictures to come). We have been keeping busy assembling baby gear and "nesting". Sadly we are not completely ready to un-veil the house. There is still temporary furniture scattered throughout the house (and I want you to see the best side of our accommodations), but it will be gone soon and I will post pics then. Until then Auf Wiedersehen! :)