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Warning: This is a long post. Here’s the short version: It was long. It hurt. Joseph was born. We’re very happy.
Just a few weeks is enough to start altering the memory, but here I will recall as best as I can the story of Joseph’s birth.
In the weeks leading up to the birth the baby occupied little of my mind. I was frantically studying for the Goethe German C1 test that I’d failed to back out of in time and I thought I had at least a week after all my obligations were finished to focus on getting ready for Baby. I’m very grateful now that I still made a point of getting enough rest each night despite studying so intensely. Of course because I’d dropped everything to study my German, after the test I had to cram in practice for the harp piece I was playing for Cornelia’s wedding the day after the test finished. We all had a lovely time at the wedding and thought we did well by leaving early and in time to get home by midnight. I relaxed into bed thinking I could now finally take it easy and finish the preparations for the birth. All the major stuff was done, but there were still plenty of nesting tasks I wanted to complete.
Joseph is eating like crazy (which is great because I have a lot of milk for him) and starting to plump up. Today he found his thumb, though often it means an index finger in the eye as well, poor guy.
Recovery is slow but steady. I've been on a few walks and can get a bit of work done during the day. It's amazing how much time and energy a little baby needs! It's all paying off, though - he gets cuter every day!
There's new life for this blog!
For an introduction and photo see this blog post by my wonderfully supportive husband.
Here I am, 8 days before my due date at my sister-in-law's wedding. What a great celebration! Little did I know that the next morning at 4:30 my water would break and I'd be off to the races! Well, the endurance races, because Little Guy didn't arrive until the following morning, but this post is about bellies and not yet babies . . .
Only about six more weeks until we're visibly a family of three! Stephan took and posted a picture of me on Monday after we went for a swim at the outdoor pool on the hill behind us. It feels so lovely to swim! It's sometimes cold at first (the first time I went it was below 60 degrees!) but I always feel energized afterwards.
My oh my there's a lot to do before baby comes!!!
. . . Baby! Just one, and "es" is alive and kicking. "Es" let us see many details in the ultra sound, but was modest with those private parts. We couldn't have asked for better cooperation. The doctor said the exam should have been used for an ultra sound class because everything necessary was clearly and easily visible and in perfect condition. Go Baby! The placenta is also nicely at the top of the uterus. That means no more ultra sounds are necessary and if Baby turns/stays head down we can go to the midwife center for the birth. Thank you for all your prayers for this first step. God blessed us through them! And now the moment you've been waiting for: the top one shows two cute feet and the bottom one shows two arms and curled hands snuggling a head that is in the darkness. You'll have to wait to see what our baby's face looks like!
(click to see larger image)
Yesterday we took some belly pictures and this was hubby's choice for the blog. I don't stay in this position always, but I do tend to reflect and "hold" my baby when I feel "es" moving. I shouldn't mix by German and English, but it is terribly convenient that "das Baby" in German is not masculine or feminine so one can use the pronoun "es" without implying anything - neither sex nor non-human status. We're at 22 or 23 weeks, depending on how you count.
We’d been thinking about it for quite some time, but we finally acted and we couldn’t be happier. Take a look at our new baby! (More)
