Austria

I've lost count as to what country we are on. We've been doing this for almost 2 years now.  Anyways, we are on to Austria.  Quite similar to Germany, and yet still unique.  They were both delicious in their own right.

Fun Facts About Austria:

• When the mayor of f**king, Austria was asked if he would change the town’s name, he replied: “everyone here knows what it means in English, but for us f**king is f**king and it’s going to stay f**king.”
• Austria acquired around 15 fighter jets but can’t afford to run them, nor employ enough pilots.
•  Over 300 incidents of child murder occurred in the 1700s in Austria and Germany due to incidents of “suicide by proxy”. Religious people were killing young children in order to have the government execute them so they could get into heaven. 
• In 1938 Mexico was the only country to protest against the German annexation of Austria. 
• Emperor I Ferdinand of Austria had 20 seizures per day, and could not speak coherently. The only intelligible sentence he ever spoke during his 13-year reign was: “I am the emperor, and I want dumplings!”
• Erwin Rommel did not want Hitler to be assassinated, fearing he would become a martyr, and that it would spark a civil war in Austria and Germany. Instead, he wanted him tried for his crimes. 
• A flock of birds in Austria got drunk off fermented berries and caused a freeway pileup by dive-bombing cars
•  On their very first day of school children in Austria are given a cardboard cone (“Schultüte”) filled with toys and sweets.
• Before Austria-Hungary divided and separated, their motto was “Indivisible and Inseparable”.
• Austria, despite being landlocked, had a naval squadron until 2006. The squadron consisted of two boats, patrolling the Danube river.
• When the von Trapp family (popularized in the movie ‘The Sound of Music’) left Austria after disagreeing with Nazi ideologies, the Nazis made use of their abandoned home as Heinrich Himmler’s headquarters.
•  In 1750, a fully automated scale-model clockwork town was built in Austria, with 200 moving figures all replicating the activities of various townspeople and it’s still working today, over 260 years later.
• A park called Gruner See in Austria turns into a lake during the summer when the snow from the mountains melts and forms a body of water.
•  During 1939-1940, a Chinese diplomat in Vienna named Ho Feng Shan risked his life and career and acting against the orders of his superior, issued visas to any Jews that requested one. Because of his action, thousands of Jews were able to escape out of Austria during WWII.
• In 1945, The Holy Crown of Hungary was recovered in Austria and sent to Fort Knox in the United States for safekeeping from the Russian Army. It was later returned by the President Jimmy Carter in 1978. Kings have been crowned with it since the twelfth century. 
• Sigmund Freud was permitted to leave Austria by the Gestapo if he signed a document that stated that he had been treated well. Freud signed the document and added a postscript saying ” I can highly recommend the Gestapo to everyone. 
• Austrian Empress Maria Theresa’s decision to have her children inoculated changed Austrian physicians’ negative view of inoculation.The empress inaugurated inoculation in Austria by hosting a dinner for the first 65 inoculated children in Schönbrunn Palace, waiting for the children herself.”
• Over 1% of Austria’s GDP is from Redbull. 
• New York City had so much trouble finding math and science teachers in 1998 that they hired 24 of them from Austria which had a surplus of teachers. 
• Maria Altmann fought the Austrian court for several years to get a series of 5 paintings back, stolen by the Nazis, that had been hanging in museums in Austria, only to sell them for 325 million USD to private dealers. 
• 600 years old Medieval bras were discovered in Austria in 2008. 
•  In 2006, Austria issued a stamp containing 0.03g of genuine dust from a 42-pound meteorite. This was the world’s first stamp to contain actual traces of a meteorite. –
• The town of Hallstatt, Austria is so loved by Chinese tourists, they built a replica in China.
•  In Austria, when someone is graduating with a doctoral degree, it is traditional for colleagues to decorate their mortarboard cap with a diorama of miniature objects representing their work. 
• Although many people believe that Edelweiss is an Austrian folk song, it was actually written for The Sound of Music and is hardly known in Austria.

For dinner we had basically cucumbers in a dill vinaigrette, Austrian potato salad, Wiener schnitzel, and an apple strudel for dessert.  We were able to find plenty of Austrian goodies at World Market so that is always a fun bonus. :)

Baby P, 12 weeks

• During week 8, your baby’s intestines were infringing on umbilical cord space. But now they’re all set to move back into her abdomen, which they'll start to do in the next week.
• Your baby's pituitary gland at the base of the brain has begun producing hormones, meaning she'll be able to have babies of her own one day.
• Your baby’s bone marrow is making white blood cells, so she’ll be able to fight off all those germs passed around the playground.
• This week marks a turning point for your baby. At 12 weeks pregnant, the Herculean task of developing new bodily structures is nearing an end, as most of your baby's systems are fully formed – though there's still plenty of maturing to do. Now comes the maintenance phase, during which your fetus' systems continue to evolve for the next 28 weeks and the organs get to work. For one thing, the fetal digestive system is beginning to flex its muscles — literally — as it starts practicing contraction movements, a skill your little peanut will need after birth to push food through the digestive tract. The bone marrow is busy making white blood cells — weapons that will one day help your baby fight infection (including all those germs passed around the play group) once he's out of your safe haven. And the pituitary gland at the base of the brain has started producing the hormones that'll enable him to make babies of his own in a few decades or so.

I feel pretty good as of now.  Slowly getting more energy and my illness is all but gone. :)

The Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch on opening day- it was Louis' company party.  Great idea. Anyways- the pictures are better late than never. :)

dinner time

The Tales of Baby P, II

I went to my 12 week appointment on Thursday.  It went really well. This appointment was with the actual doctor and we discussed our realistic birthing options.

I would like to do a VBAC and it looks like it hopefully will be an option.  My doctor has to get the operative report from my c-section with Zoe to ensure the uterine suturing was done properly.  She's sure it was a lower transverse cut since it was a scheduled choice rather than emergency and they had time to properly do everything- but she wants to be sure, so we will wait to be sure.  The other stipulations are that she will not induce me for a VBAC and wants the entirety of my laboring to be done in hospital so they can monitor the baby as well as myself to watch for signs of uterine rupture. Of course, if anything starts to look even the slightest bit risky, she will just do another c-section.

I will be delivering at St.Lukes downtown so the Ped's hospital is right there as well in the event, God forbid, anything were to need to be done with the baby.

We went over my lab results from last visit.  Everything looks really good except for the fact that I'm now borderline anemic.  Not the end of the world or really even uncommon in pregnant women.  Hoping it will clear up by next appointment- if not, we just add an additional iron supplement and that generally does the trick.

She was ok with my weight, but I need to start catching up.  The way this weekend has been going- that shouldn't be a problem. :)

We also did the Harmony test. Eek!!! Super excited. So it tests for the three most common chromosomal abnormalities. trisomy 23- down syndrome, trisomy 13 and trisomy 18.  It also tells us the sex of the baby.  We should have results they said in generally about 10 days.  She didn't specify business days, but I'm optimistically hoping that maybe by the end of the week we know!!!

Other than that all is well with the baby.  As soon as we learn more, we will let you all know! :)

Baby P is 11 weeks

• Your baby-to-be’s ears have migrated closer to their final destination on either side of his cute little head.
• Your baby’s head accounts for about half of his body length. Wow!
• Bye-bye, webbed hands and feet. Your LO's fingers and toes are separating and looking like real baby parts, and fingernail and toenail beds are beginning to develop.

Slightly more than one-and-a-half inches long now and weighing about a quarter of an ounce, your baby has been pretty busy growing this week. While you can't tell this baby's gender by its cover yet, ovaries are developing if it's a girl. And by week 11 of pregnancy, baby has distinct human characteristics: hands and feet in front of her body, ears nearly in their final shape, open nasal passages on the tip of her tiny nose, a tongue and palate in the mouth and visible nipples. Hair follicles are forming on the crown (as well as over the rest of the body). What else makes your baby look human? Those hands and feet have individual fingers and toes (meaning goodbye to those frog-like webbed hands and feet). Meanwhile, fingernail and toenail beds begin to develop this week; in the next few weeks, the nails themselves will start to grow (so don't forget to add a baby nail clipper to your to-buy list).

At the same time, your baby's body is straightening and her torso is lengthening (sounds like a yoga pose, doesn't it?). Other poses your baby can assume now: stretches, somersaults and forward rolls.

How I'm doing:

• Nausea and vomiting have almost completely gone away.  I did have 2 bouts of gagging today, but I believe those were induced by stress rather than morning sickness- so Im super grateful for that.
• My energy seems to be increasing a small amount. Im still pretty tired most days, but am not taking quite as many naps.
• My appetite has increased, but Im still having trouble with my weight gain.  Not to put my business out there, but the reality of it is Im having a struggle maintaining 115 lbs.  I was only 112 lbs this morning and have been struggling to gain any more weight.  My doctor wanted me at 115 lbs starting off, which I wasn't, so I've been trying to play catch up- Im stoked for the holidays to come so that I can stuff my face and get pleasantly plump!
• That all being said- my belly is getting bigger as I've already said, so my jeans-while they still button, are not comfortable, so I wear them unbuttoned with a belly band. I bought a pair of maternity jeans the other day and they just fall off, so they are going to have to go in the closet for a bit. Maternity shirts are starting to work though, so at least that is going in my favor!

Baby P, 10 weeks

• While baby-to-be’s pearly whites won’t appear until he's about 6 months old, teeny tooth buds are now developing under the gums.
• This week, the stomach is producing digestive juices and the kidneys are making larger quantities of urine.
• Bones and cartilage are forming this week, knees and ankles are starting to take shape and tiny elbows are already working!
• Congratulations! Your baby has officially graduated this week from embryo to fetus, and with that change are a whole bunch of others happening in her development.

Symptoms so far:

• Vomiting has eased up slightly. I'm back to mostly just vomiting in the morning once or twice and I even went a whole day yesterday without vomiting once! Woohoo!!
• Still pretty tired- ready for more energy one of these days
• Hormones are making my skin go crazy.  I have a massive growth on my face as we speak that Im considering getting an exorcism for.

9 weeks

• This week, tiny muscles are starting to form, but it will be at least another month or two before you'll be able to feel those little punches.
• While it's too early to feel any kicks yet, it's not too early to hear something — your baby's heartbeat might be audible on a Doppler device at your doctor's appointment this week!
• The spinal cord "tail" at your baby-to-be's rump has all but disappeared! He's looking more and more like a tiny human.

Would you believe your baby is only an embryo for one more week and is already developing into a fetus? She's now about one inch long, the size of a medium green olive (but no martinis, please). The head has straightened out and is more fully developed and the ears are continuing to grow, making baby look more human. Plus, toes are visible, and all of baby's essential organs (heart, brain, kidneys, liver and lungs) have begun to develop. Your soon-to-be-fetus is also making spontaneous movements of her arms and legs now that minuscule muscles are beginning to develop, though you won't feel your tiny dancer for at least another month or two.

My symptoms thus far:

• Pretty bad morning sickness. Worse than with the girls.  Im sick all day long, and it even wakes me up at night. I'm over 9 weeks along and so far have only lost weight.  My OB gave me a prescription for promethazine, but I try to take those only on rare occasions. 
• Extreme exhaustion.  So tired. All. The. Time. I can not get enough sleep.

Cuba Datenight

Cuba was anticlimactic in the fact that we just did Belize and Cuba isn't all that far off as far as cuisine goes.  Typical with a lot of the islands of course- this wasn't our first go 'round with rice and beans. Fortunately, I love both rice and beans, so it doesn't hurt my feelings.  We had traditional rope vieja, rice and beans and a guava pastry for dessert. It was all pretty tasty.

Cuba is a Caribbean island nation under communist rule. It has sugar-white beaches and is dotted with tobacco fields, which play a part in the production of the country's legendary cigars. The capital, Havana, is lined with pastel houses, 1950s-era cars and Spanish-colonial architecture in the 16th-century core, Old Havana. Salsa music plays in the dance clubs and cabaret shows are performed at the famed Tropicana.

• Cuba is the 17th largest island in the World by land area and holds a population of 11.3 million people.
• Cuba has a literacy rate of 99.8%.
• In 1886, after 350 years, Cuba becomes the second to last country in the Americas to abolish slavery.
• From 1991-1994, with a few years to follow, Cuba underwent a ‘Special Period’ in which the citizens of the country were put on a ration system and every day conveniences disappeared overnight.
• The Daiquiri was invented in the now very popular, La Floridita bar in Old Havana. Ernest Hemingway is said to have helped in dreaming up the now popular concoction.
• Cuba has 70,000 qualified doctors. The whole of Africa has only 50,000.
•  Approximately 2% of Cuba’s arable land is given over to coffee production and the industry supports a workforce of 265,000 workers.
• An average of at least 150,000 licensed US travelers visit Cuba legally each year.
• An average of at least 50,000 illegal US tourists visit Cuba each year.
• On March 12, 1857, it snowed in Cuba. It is the only time in history that the island has seen snow.
• The United States pays Cuba $4,085 each month for rent of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Cuba has never cashed the checks. It is rumored Fidel Castro kept them in his top desk drawer
• John F. Kennedy bought 1,200 Cuban cigars just hours before he ordered the US trade embargo that is still in place today.
• There is a statue of John Lennon in Havana’s John Lennon Park. The glasses have been stolen so many times that there is now a guard to hold them. They only get placed when tourists arrive for photos.
• Cuba did not officially recognize Christmas as a holiday until 1997.
• Cuba has over 200 bays and 250 beaches to explore, making it arguably the best beach destination in the Caribbean.
• Bacardi Rum was originally manufactured in Cuba, however production was moved to Puerto Rico after Fidel Castro took power.
• Until 2011, there was an import ban on cars in Cuba. Until this time and even still today, a majority of the cars on the road are classic cars from the 1950’s.
• There are no animals or plants in Cuba that are poisonous or lethal to humans.
• Cubans were not allowed to own a cell phone until 2008, when the ban was lifted by President Raul Castro’s government.
• Out of the 38,000 miles of roadways in Cuba, half are unpaved.
• Voting in Cuba is legally mandatory.
• The world smallest frog and smallest hummingbird are found in Cuba.
• 90% of Cubans have homes under their ownership.

Meet the Baby

We had our first ultrasound appointment on Tuesday.  We got to see and hear the babies heart for the first time.  It was really cool.  We have our 12 week appointment the end of October which is when they will do the Harmony test.  Long story short- we will know, with 100% accuracy because it is a chromosomal test, what the sex of the baby is by about 13-14 weeks. Super excited for that!

So that little peanut in the middle there is the baby.  Yes, just one baby!! woohoo! Heart was beating nice and healthy at 167 bpm.  According to the size of the baby our date was one day off, it calculated the due date at May 10, but doc says our LMP is more accurate so we will keep it at May 9, 2019.

and here is the audio clip of the babies heart just beatin' a mile a minute!