I have not been very good about updating this blog. This will be a new goal for me; I think it'll help to relieve a lot of frustrations and keep my thoughts organized which is proving to be difficult now at 33 weeks pregnant!
Well, the holidays were fun. Thanksgiving was, anyway. We got to spend time with my mom's side of the family & say goodbye to them before leaving for Germany. I was 22 weeks pregnant then & still was very sick so the actual Thanksgiving meal was mostly a no-go for me. I did not eat any turkey. Mainly just mashed potatoes & gravy with scalloped corn. And I managed to keep down some pie too :)
We flew out about 3 weeks after Thanksgiving. I've never been so tired in my entire life. When we finally got to our hotel after over 24 hours of traveling we slept for about 18 hours! I was soooo swollen from traveling even though I followed the doctors orders & invested in a lovely pair of compression stalkings; the ones that go from toe to rump lol.
We live in a quaint little town about 10 minutes or so outside of base. We live in the upper level of a house & our landlords live below. They are super nice couple probably in their 50's maybe 60's. Their English is so-so which proves to be a fun challenge sometimes when we have questions.
I am really enjoying the prenatal care here. It is far better than any that I received back home in the states by military doctors. Here if you're pregnant you're seen off post on the German economy. There are no hospitals on base. The thing I really enjoy the most are the ultrasounds. Germans do them at every appointment! Our little guy though is not cooperative. Never fails that every time the doctor starts trying to get face shots he rolls over or throws his hands over his face! He's quite the stinker already... definitely his father's personality ;)
Next week though it's back to the states for me! Nathan was originally NOT supposed to deploy. His commander said their numbers were already filled when we arrived. However about 2 weeks ago he came home with the news that he has to go. Well, I guess a soldier got into some trouble & is getting chaptered out of the Army so Nathan was asked if he would deploy. If he didn't go this year he would just be going next year after this group returns. So, I guess it's really a good thing he's going now before John is old enough to feel the stresses of a deployment. It would break my heart to have to hear "Where is daddy?" every day for a year.
Anyway, Nathan wasn't supposed to deploy until May/June timeframe but last week he came home with the news that he's going out with an early group around John's due date! After doing some research we found out it would take 10-15 weeks to get John's birth certificate, passports (no-fee [government issued for living overseas] and a tourist) along with his social security card. Well, that puts me out in Germany alone for approximately 4 months. I'm going to need help after Nathan leaves so after talking with my parents we all decided it'd be best for me to give birth in the states. No extra paperwork & a lot less stress! Nathan has 2 weeks of leave before deployment so he will fly out a few weeks after me for the birth. I'll be induced at 38 weeks so that Nathan can spend as much time with John as possible before leaving.
Luckily we get to keep our apartment so we won't be needing to move our stuff into storage. It will be hard but best in the end. I'll have the help and support from my family & we will be saving a lot of money this way. We should be completely debt free by the end of deployment! That's a very exciting feeling!
Hopefully my next post will have pictures of Germany; I haven't uploaded them to my MacBook yet.
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