EuroLife: Day 60

Hello again! Sorry that we abandoned the blog for a few days, things have been pretty crazy. The short version of the story is that everything seems to be OK, but I'm on bed-rest in the Frauenklinik for another couple of days or so. I had some bleeding, but they have been doing regular ultrasounds and the baby appears to be perfectly fine. The heart-rate is perfectly normal, and the size is exactly what it should be. (He/she also resembles a Gummy Bear, as the ultrasound tech pointed out to me this afternoon. I laughed out loud, she was exactly right! Well, except for the ears.) I also feel fine, apart from being tired and a bit bored. I've been tired for weeks, so that's nothing new, and the boredom was helped significantly when Michael brought me this laptop and a stack of DVDs with American TV shows.

I thought I would do a quick post on how different hospitals are here. I first suspected a difference a few weeks ago, when reading a brochure about giving birth in Germany. If you have the baby in the hospital, the first 7 nights are free. Yes, you read that correctly, 7 nights. After that, you have to pay 10 Euros a night. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's a bit more expensive at home :) My stay here shouldn't cost us anything at all. Here in the Frauenklinic, the atmosphere is incredibly laid-back. Michael comes and goes as he pleases, as does my roommate's husband. I imagine they would eventually kick them out, but there aren't any real visiting hours. When he first came to see me, he tried to check in and they said "yes, hello, she's in her room" and that was it.

There are upsides and downsides to my being in Germany right now. I would never be held overnight in the hospital for this in the States, certainly not for several days. It seems I would be told to rest, take it easy, and maybe told to stay in bed for a few days. Here, I am (so far) only allowed out of bed to go down the hall to the bathroom or (and I'm only mostly sure this is OK) to take a shower. They bring me my meals in bed. I think, starting tomorrow, I'll be allowed to walk around the hospital some. If all goes well, I hope to be able to home the next day. All of this can make my condition feel more serious than it actually is. There is one glorious upside though--they do ultrasounds here all the time. I had one the night I came in (Saturday) and one today. I think they will be daily during the week, and then I see my doctor on Friday (a visit we had already scheduled) and she will do one as well. Apparently, they do them routinely for the first 12 weeks. It is an incredible comfort to see that little baby with its tiny beating heart.

Well, I suppose I'll watch another Law and Order. We will be our regular blogging-selves in a few days again! (Michael has very generously offered to let me keep the laptop, our only access to the internet, here with me. Otherwise, he would be writing!) In the meantime, we really appreciate all of the prayers that our friends and family have been offering for our tiny baby. I was really very moved yesterday while praying for our child; it occurred to me at once just how many people I knew to be praying for this unborn child and it was was a real comfort.

Ok, since we've never had a post without a photo before, it seems I should include one. Given the somewhat heavy nature of today's post, I have chosen my favorite picture from Girls Week 2007...I know Karen and Steph won't mind. We had just seen the most recent Harry Potter movie at an IMAX theater in 3d. It was extremely cool. The 3D glasses were not.