Our neighbours have been treated to an extra dose of daily screams lately – courtesy of the Munchkin. Whenever she’s lying on her belly, she pulls her legs towards her belly, pushes her little butt up in the air and sort of pushes or slides forward a tiny bit. This technique does not yet quite seem to yield the required results, so our Munchkin gets annoyed quickly and voices her displeasure. I know this is all part of the learning process, but I still find it a bit sad that she’s trying so hard and not quite managing to get anywhere. Anyway, I am assuming she will get a handle on the crawling business soon enough. Which reminds me that we need to start baby proofing the apartment – a tremendously tedious task in our tiny and cluttered living space.

Tomorrow we’ll have our U5 examination (the six to seven months general examination). I’m always a bit anxious before these appointments, feeling like a test could potentially be failed – can Munchkin do everything she’s supposed to be doing at her age? Is she properly developed? She’s also supposed to get the next round of shots in the course of this appointment, but I am not so sure it’s going to happen. Her temperature has been relatively high for the last few weeks and we haven’t really been able determine the cause of that. The last doctor we went to said it’s possible that she just generally has a higher core temperature, but he said it needed to be checked out – as soon as she’ll have a temperature of over 38 degrees Celsius for three days in a row, we’ll be back at his practice to check her blood and urine.

By the end of her sixth month, Munchkin will try solid food for the first time. I really want to cook for her myself – I think parsnips will be the veg of choice. I am reading a very good book on baby nutrition and hope I’ll do everything right in that department. I might be overthinking things sometimes, but I’d rather be overly obsessing about these things than to make the wrong decisions right from the start.

Geez, time is flying by so incredibly fast – I can’t believe our Munchkin is six months old already! Next year in August, she will be attending a creche, a situation I am very much struggling with. If money did not dictate my decision there, I would not yet give my little girl into childcare. I just can’t imagine not to have my Munchkin around me all the time – ever since she was born, she’s been with me. The Laddie has taken her for a walk without me once or twice so far and I could never fully relax when he did. I just really want to be with her, no matter how stressful things can be sometimes. Soon enough, she won’t want to be around me all the time, so while I can, I must take advantage of the fact that so far she can’t even crawl away from me and my hugs, cuddles and kisses.

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As you have no doubt been able to deduce from our lack of posts, we have not yet organized ourselves any better since our last blogging appearance. I seriously don’t know when, if ever, we will get back to any sort of routine in our daily life. Things like that today aren’t as important as they used to seem, though – it’s just so amazing to see our Munchkin grow and learn more every day. She will be 5 months and 3 weeks old tomorrow and she’s SO adorable! She rolls from her belly onto her back and the other way round now, she smiles a lot and even sometimes graciously bestows a laugh upon her humble parents. Here are some new pictures for you!

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Apart from our Munchkin, things around here still are a mess, to be frank. The Laddie and I are struggling in many areas and can’t seem to clear our heads quite long enough to sort anything out properly. Something has to change, as we both very clearly feel the strain of it all take its toll on our happiness and general wellbeing. First things first, though – the Munchkin and I are battling a viral infection. I am worried about my baby girl, as she hasn’t been quite well for a little while now. I’ll go and take her to the doc again as soon as possible. Also, I will definetely try to get back to blogging on a hopefully regular basis. I hope you’re all doing good out there!

About a year ago, we purchased a bed from a company called Dolphin Furniture (based in Denmark). Fantastic wood and great workmanship…or so it seemed.

This is something really hard to describe, so bear with me.

The bed can be “configured” into other uses. A junior bed, to a full cot, to something that resembles a baby balcony. We thought we would put it into baby balcony mode and go go gadget screw driver, the masterpiece was complete. I then placed the standard thickness mattress into the bed and watched in confusion, as the protective bar was just a little too high. How high? Well, let me put it this way: Munchkin would not get over it, or under it. But if she were to slip her hands or feet in, they could easily get stuck at the knee or elbow. If she pushed hard enough, I am sure she could trap her head and it would hurt! Rather than take the risk, I remove said bar, which so happens to also obstruct the baby’s route to mommy heaven. The bar is out and there are four screws that kept it in place (two at the headboard and two at the footboard). I remove the footboard without much fuss. But the headboard is a different story. The screws are not really standard hardware store kit, one half of the screw is made for wood, the other half is like a screw for a nut or bolt. What happens is that the wood half goes into the headboard and the bolt half has a strange metal cap that screws in and allows for the bar to lock into place.

So I start turning the cap and thus the screw – the cap falls off, leaving the screw in the wood. Oh crap, the screw is stuck. I try and put the cap back in and tighten it more (making the screw and all go deeper into the wood), but the cap is too lose to the screw and will not come out. After about a minute of tightening and seeing it does not work, suddenly the cap comes lose, taking the bolt with it and the other half of the screw is stuck in the wood.

Yes, by hand, I twisted a metal rod to break in half. Hulk strong, but damn! So the wooden part of the screw has this dangerous sharp bit still sticking out, that is completely round and too small to get with the pliers or to get it out a different way. Did I mention that the screw below it is also stuck?

We contacted both the seller and Dolphin for help in the matter, as it is plain to see that we’re dealing with a failure in the parts here. You should be able to configure the bed…I mean, tha’s why we bought it.

The reply was less than helpful! In short: Your fault! We won’t replace and anyways, we don’t make that bed anymore.

SO MUCH FOR THE FREAKING GUARANTEE!!!!!!!!!! Lifetime, my arse!

We have recruited our fleet of lawyers to write a nice letter, explaining to them in more precise terms that the bed simply failed to do its job.

It’s a fine line though, because I broke it…but was it really my fault?

Yes, folks and friends, breastfeeding is awesome! People might wonder how one can get so enthusiastic about something like this, but I gotta say, getting our Munchkin back to nursing properly has changed a lot around here. I can go places with her without worrying about what to take with me, I always know I can feed her whenever she needs it. Feeding her this way has enabled me to socialize again, too, which I really needed at this point. I am currently trying to find bilingual playgroups that I could go to with our Munchkin, but it’s proving difficult.

The baby fella and I are slowly building up a routine now – I can’t believe how long it’s taken me to get organized. Now other things need to be taken care of. For example, I thought we could stay in our little one bedroom apartment for a while longer, but now I really don’t see how. There is just so little space, it’s crazy – even just doing the laundry on a regular basis has become a problem. I just don’t know how that’s supposed to work in winter, when I won’t be able to hang our washing on the balcony any more. The only problem we’re facing now are high rents for two bedroom apartments. Well, something’s gotta change, so I’ll just keep looking. Honestly though, I find it extremely sad that we’re unable to afford a decent apartment, even with the Laddie’s full-time job.

I want to try and blog on a more regular basis again, too – bear with me, I am still trying to get back to my usual organized self. I’ll leave you with a few new pictures today.

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She’ll only sleep on her belly! I am so unsure how to deal with that. Our little girl has not been properly sleeping in her cot for a very long time now. Because a friend of mine suggested it, I tried putting her in her bed on her tummy after she’d fallen asleep. What can I say? She’s been happily sleeping in there for the last two hours!! Every two minutes I poke her to see if she’s still breathing – that’s how afraid I am of the SIDS. I really don’t know what to do about this…the poor Laddie has been taking care of housework and cooking as well as working his butt off for SO long now – because Munchkin refuses to be left alone or to sleep in her own bed (when lying on her back). Nothing gets done here otherwise. It can’t continue like this, there are things that need done. But at the same time, how can I allow my baby to sleep on her tummy if that’s a contributing factor to cot death? We have a doctor’s appointment coming up soon, I’ll need to ask about that…

Hey there!

For the first time in a looooong while, our baby fella has decided to actually fall asleep in her cot, so I decided to hurry up and write an ickle post while I have the chance.

Nursing issues have been resolved – hooray!! For the last eight weeks, my little one and I have been struggling. A few days ago then, my baby girl decided she wanted to nurse like there is no tomorrow – no ‘tools’ needed anymore! This development makes me very, very happy. And it’s all so handy, too. When she wants food, I can just sit down and nurse my baby. No more fussing with bottles and all that jazz.

Other than that, Sophie is growing and developing very nicely. We just had the U3 this Monday – the required checkups for children are ‘Us’ over here. U stands for ‘Untersuchung’, which means examination. So anyway, we’ve had the hip screening and everything and our Munchkin is totally healthy. She is now about 56,5 cm /22.4 in tall and weighs 5440 grams/ 12 lbs.

Finally, the biggest news for today: We got our very first conscious smile from our baby fella yesterday! She’s 8 weeks old now and we were soooo waiting for it. Today, she smiles quite often when I talk to her – my heart just melts every time.

Here are some more pics of our little one and also a little video – ignore my German babbling, I took the video for my sister.

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When I got pregnant, I was aware that breastfeeding had been an issue for the women in my family for generations. Unfortunately, in most cases there is no way for me to find out why most of the babies in my family have been bottle-fed. Only my aunt was able to enlighten me as far as her own story goes – her first child was very ill, so he was taken away straight after the birth and fed formula while apart from his mother. My aunt tried to feed both of her daughters when they were born, but to no avail – no milk would come. I was told that my mother also was unable to breastfeed my sister and me, but I never really found out any details about that. So during this first pregnancy, I was aware that I might not be able to nurse my child at all – I wanted to, mind you, but I told myself I would not beat myself up overly much if it did not work out for some reason.

So, up until the birth of my little girl, I felt quite confident that I would be able to arrange myself with formula feeding, if that’s what it had to be. Well, what can I say? I seem to have underestimated my subconscious grossly.

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In any case, after a long period of intense emotional struggle, my little baby and I now seem to have come to an agreement of sorts. I get to nurse her as long as she will tolerate it. When she is too tired to continue trying, she gets the bottle.

Phew…now that I am coming to terms with this chapter of raising my baby, I am focusing on having her close to me – I recently acquired a Sling and am now getting an advisor in for that as well, as I seem to struggle with the concept of binding it properly. Since I know it’s really good for my fella, though, I will keep trying. Pictures to follow, if success sets in

Hey there!

I am terribly sorry for the long silence – things have been incredibly strange and hectic around here lately, not only because of our little baby girl, but also certain other developments, which I will hopefully be able to elaborate on soon. Right now, I can never really be sure of how much longer our fella will be asleep, so I need to be quick. Also, long overdue, here are some pictures of our firstborn for you.

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Her birth was quite an experience for us both, I daresay. Our Munchkin was remarkably unimpressed by the induced labor and refused to scoot down properly – so, after almost an entire (very warm) day filled with contractions, power walking, pill taking and devoid of either water of food (since they thought they might to potentially have to put me under general anesthesia later on, they did not want to take the risk a full belly might pose), it was decided at 4 pm that Munchkin would have to be brought into this world via c-section.

I was incredibly scared of the operation itself, the PDA and the time after, so I indulged in a good cry for a little while after I got the news. After that, everything moved extremely quickly. Putting the PDA into place actually hurt more than I thought. The resulting numbness of my lower half was scary, to say the least – I felt utterly out of control and was mortified, as the team of nurses had to lift me off the birthing bed that I was lying on and onto the contraption which you apparently need to be on to get a c-section done.

I started shaking uncontrollably and felt sick to my stomach very soon – I threw up about 8 times between this point and the end of the surgery. I was told that both the shaking and the sickness were common side effects of the stuff running through the nice little tube sticking in my back. The Laddie was with me all the way – I can’t express what it means to me that he was just there, calmly talking to me about the things we’d already prepared for our fella and what it’d be like once she’d be with us, all the while discreetly wiping away at my mouth to keep me comfortable when I’d thrown up yet again.

My doctor then proved my midwife right – she had said to me before that he takes only one minute to get to the baby after the initial cutting at a c-section. Amazingly, so he did. I’d barely ‘felt’ the cutting when I heard a loud cry and my baby girl was held up for me to see. My wrinkly little baby…she looked thoroughly displeased. Our Munchkin was born on 13th of May, 2008 at 5:30 pm.

I managed to convince the Laddie to leave my side and go be with Munchkin while she was getting her initial check up – just a minute later she was brought back in and I could give her a kiss. Cute blue eyes were looking at me slightly confusedly before my baby was taken away again to get dressed.

After I had gotten stitched up, I was monitored close to the operating theatre for quite a while, but was able to hold my child for the very first time. The situation itself was a little bit awkward, as I had to try not to pull any of my cables or tubes out while holding her, but the Laddie and I were so fascinated with our baby that this was not much of an issue for long.

Later I was eventually moved to my room, where things would develop not so very perfectly over the next few days – but that’s a story for yet another entry.

There is a load of things I want to tell you all about, but for the time being, I will have to go and try to get some rest while I can. I hope you’re all doing wonderful out there!

Our baby girl is here now with us. Born on the 13th of May at 5:30pm. Sophie is 3210grams and 51cm.

We will get more information as soon as possible!

Geez, things have been crazy busy around here lately! We’re still trying to get everything ready for the baby, but it’s not that easy, seeing as how little space we actually have available. So I have decided to just focus on getting the place organized and have given up on vainly trying to create more space. The Laddie and I will start looking at new apartments once our fella will be about 6 months old.

I unexpectedly had to go into the hospital last week, because Munchkin had decided to squeeze some of my organs quite uncomfortably – I could not walk upright, so bad was the pain. They took all kinds of tests and in the end I was just given painkillers, as unfortunately there is nothing else that can be done when the fella swishes around like that. In any case, the doctor obviously wrote a report and, as I found out only later, stated in it that I was suffering from pregnancy diabetes and that the size of our baby’s belly was three weeks ahead of what it should be, while everything else was developed normally. I was quite shocked, as my own doctor said before that my blood sugar was fine. I was really worried and went to speak to my midwife on the next day, when we attended a birth prep class she was giving.

Talking to my midwife, it was suggested that I get monitored for gestosis from now on and that I go to get my regular check ups once a week as well (it’d been once every two weeks before that) to catch any potential complications early on. She said all that because I’ve also started to gain weight rather rapidly, although I have not changed my eating habits and had only lost weight until a few weeks ago. By the time of the following check up, I had gained 2.5 kg/5.5 lbs in two weeks! Obviously I was really worried about all this, but the midwife said it’d be fine for me to get checked out properly during the next regular check up, so long as my blood pressure was ok.

The birth prep class was fine, btw. I still feel very uncomfortable about the whole PDA business, but I suppose I will try to keep an open mind for it. There is not much else out there to relieve the pain for a little while which won’t affect the baby in the process, so…I am just worried they will do more harm than good because I am so freaking overweight. My midwife said that it would be good to be open to it and that she’s only extremely rarely seen anything go wrong (and none of it involved paralysis), so I am really trying to be calm about it. In the end, nothing will be done that I don’t consent to, anyway.

I found out today that a girl who also was in our prep class and who had exactly the same due date as I do is already in hospital giving birth to her baby boy. Scary, that…things are getting very real now. I will only be able to give birth at my desired clinic starting with the 24th of April, so I am hoping our little girl decides to stay in my belly a little while longer.

Last week then, I finally had the first check up in my pregnancy where I felt actually taken seriously and reassured. I told my doc about the hospital worries and what the doctor there had written in her report. He took quite a while explaining things to me and measuring our baby’s belly, etc. – right when he looked at the belly he said everything looks just fine, but that he would measure things to make sure. He showed me how he did it and said that our baby is perfectly fine – her belly and all. Such a relief!! He even said that some babies just do have different parts of their bodies developed differently – just like everyone does not look like everyone else. It wouldn’t necessarily have to mean anything bad if the belly had been bigger – besides, he said the important thing here is to trust my other doctor. This doctor sees me on a regular basis and if he says that there is nothing to worry about with regard to my blood sugar levels, I should trust him.

Other than that, The Laddie and I are due to get a CD with new pictures of our little fella – I went and got some Baby TV done privately, as we haven’t gotten any new pics since week 22 of the pregnancy. Unfortunately, the new pics aren’t that great – I am just too far along in the pregnancy to get proper pics any more, but I wanted to try anyway. We also got another CTG scan done and the Laddie was able to hear our fella! It was all eally exciting and touching – even though our little girl on that day chose to kick and make waves in my belly quite wildly, making the midwife laugh, we could hear her fast little heartbeat.

I’ll be back at the doc’s on Thursday – I wonder if Sophie is getting ready to move out yet…