I was blessed with an amazing, relatively pain-free natural birth with Isaac here in Austria!
I stayed three nights in a private room at the hospital following his birth. Brian stayed with me. (The only way for him to stay with me was to get a private room - the normal rooms have two moms staying in them and you can stay 4-5 nights). I wanted to stay only two nights, because there was really nothing for the doctors to check on for me since everything was natural. (No one pressed on my stomach for the dreaded 'massage' - and my uterus shrank down to normal size in record time!) However, there were certain check-ups for Isaac - eyes, ears, hips - that had to wait until Monday morning (like most places in Austria, the bare minimum is open on Sunday).
The view out my hospital window.
Dinner! (Lunch is their big meal of the day). Luckily the day I got a plate of cheese for dinner, our friend brought us J's American burgers and fries :)
Monday morning, Isaac's 3 days old and ready to go home!
In Gaming, it's common for people to hang banners announcing a birth, a big birthday, graduation, etc!
Rough translation: Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Isaac Joseph is here! The stork brought him to us and we are so happy. All is good!
My midwife visited us a few days later when Isaac was 8 days old. Here she is measuring him! He is a great eater and is above his birth weight. I had a few issues nursing on one side. I think I may have had a mild case of mastitis, for which I was thinking my midwife may want to prescribe me something. But instead, she recommended the very Austrian approach - of applying "topfen" to the sore area. Topfen is basically cream cheese - you apply it to yourself and as it dries it is believed to draw toxins from the affected area, relieving heat, inflammation, and swelling. Well, despite being a bit skeptical, I tried it - and it seemed to work!
One of our amazing student helpers came and took pictures of our family when Isaac was 5 days old! (The semester ended the following day and we are missing everyone!!)
My mom is in town (or should I say, country) until Sunday...and we are all going to miss her so much when she goes!
Brian, Isaac, and I went to the U.S. Embassy in Vienna yesterday and applied for his passport. Assuming everything comes in on time, we'll be ready to fly to the States mid-June! Our first big travel plans as a family of 5 -- can't wait :)
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