-
Directories
München on Tuesday
We’re going to be in München on Tuesday (Sept 4) to report Oliver’s birth at the consulate. Let me know if any of you Müncheners want to get together for lunch afterwards. Bis dann!
If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Interview with a Canadian Expat
Lynn is a Canadian expat that I made friends with in Potsdam who has since moved to Australia. When I met her, she had an almost two year old daughter and was six months pregnant. I’d been opening up more to the idea of being a mom, but getting to know her and seeing her relationship with her daughter was what finally convinced me that I could do it. I thought her German birthing experience would be especially interesting to folks because she had her first child in Canada and her second in Germany, so she could compare and contrast the differences in her experiences, so I decided to ask her about her thoughts:
What were the biggest differences in your prenatal care between Germany and Canada?
There were no fundamental differences between the prenatal care I received in Germany and Canada. I scouted out an English speaking Frauenartz and I was lucky enough to find him only a few blocks from where I lived! In Canada, I hired a doula, took prenatal yoga classes, and also took the prenatal birth classes. Had my German been better, I probably still wouldn’t have taken yoga or participated in the birth classes as this pregnancy was my second one anyway. In Germany, I had an English speaking midwife who gave me acupuncture during the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy.
Were you surprised by anything?
The biggest surprise for me was the lack of a paper skirt at the doctor’s office. Had this been my first pregnancy, I might have been horrified and completely embarrassed but since it was my second pregnancy - I was already accustomed to being ‘on display’ so it wasn’t that bad. But still - it was odd and I had to get used to it.
Did you find anything disappointing? Was there anything you wish you could have changed?
What I found most disappointing about my birth experience in Germany was the lack of compassion from the midwives at the hospital. My regular midwife (who was wonderful) wasn’t on staff that morning so I had another one. They were very severe and harsh. I came into the hospital with really hard contractions and 30 minutes after I got there I was already in transition - the baby was coming. I felt like they thought that I was just being a wimp with all my moaning and groaning. It still irritates me to think about it. Anyway, the birth was hard and fast and I was given an episiotomy without any anaesthetic. So, after the baby was born and I was lying down, I asked another midwife for some paracetamol with codeine and she scoffed at me. I was rather taken aback by that since I just gave birth with NO epidural, and an episiotomy so I was pretty darn sore and swollen. The attitude was - ‘why do you need that?!.
In Canada, the nurses on staff were much more compassionate and understanding of the trauma your body goes through after birth. So, I had Tylenol 3s on a regular schedule.
However, in Canada they expect you to only stay one night and leave the next day for a normal vaginal delivery. I liked the fact that you stay in the hospital longer in Germany - especially if this is your second child - it gives you time to rest and recover from the birth and get to know your new baby. In Canada, a public health nurse comes to your house to see if everything is going well with you and the baby, but in Germany, your midwife visits you at least once a week for 6 weeks. I really appreciated all the help and advice I received from my midwife.
How well do you speak German? Did you have any problems you’d attribute to language in your experience in Germany?
Well, my German isn’t that great. I can get by and can understand and speak in simple sentences - thankfully most medical staff can speak some English. Honestly, I can’t attribute any problems I had to language difficulties - it was probably more cultural differences than anything.
Is there any advice you’d give to expat women giving birth in Germany?
If you aren’t fluent in German, then I would recommend seeking out an English speaking doctor and midwife. If my doctor didn’t speak English, I would have had a very difficult time expressing any concerns I had or asking questions about tests, pregnancy, and the birth. The same goes for my midwife. However, on that note - when you do give birth - I don’t’ think language is an issue. Nature takes its course, and if you have the baby. There is a good website that I found that I gave you the link to.. do you remember it? Perhaps you can post it for others - I found it very helpful.
Links Lynn shared with me:
- http://www.howtogermany.com/pages/medical.html
- http://www.hebammensuche.de/ - to help you find a Hebamme in your area (you can also search for English speaking Hebammen in this search engine)
- http://www.babycenter.com/ - There is also a German site too. You can sign up for weekly newsletters about each stage of your pregnancy - it has lots of good information here.
Some of my thoughts on her experience: the Hebammen (midwives) I had were all great (well, except the first one, but she didn’t have too much to do with me since I wasn’t having contractions during her shift. I could imagine the Hebamme who led the birthing class I attended being the way Lynn describes, however. I think it’s funny that they seemed to think she was making a lot of fuss about nothing. I don’t remember it, but Rainer told me the other day that when I was doing my shot putter grunts, the more senior doctor told me not to be so crazy (I don’t remember the exact wording he told me, but she said something like, “Spiel mal nicht so verrückt.”). But then she was impressed with my “Bärenstark” pushing, so I guess I had the last laugh there!
Latest Oliver video
Here’s Oliver in his playpen oohing and aahing. I’m still working on getting him smiling on camera and will post that when I manage it. For more see: Oliver videos on YouTube and my photos on FlickR.
I’m a little behind on emails, so if you’re waiting for a reply from me, I’m not ignoring you, I’ll get to them (hopefully) soon!
Where’s Christina?
What have I been up to? Breastfeeding, basically! (It’s going better, just so you know, but I’ve got a hungry little barracuda on my hands).
In a little over a month, Oliver has already cried his first tears, learned to hold his head up pretty steadily (for at least a little while), raised his head and shoulders up when on his tummy, and this morning he gave me his first on-purpose smile, which I have not yet been able to capture on camera (something they don’t tell you, is that babies often smile when they sleep, pass gas and poop, and oh yeah, babies pass gas A LOT).
Life has been easier with my aunt here, not to mention I have someone around to socialize with all day (Charlie and Oliver are lovely company, but are not very good at providing stimulating conversation). I’ll be sad to see her go on Saturday, and I’m very nervous that next week Rainer is taking his first business trip post-baby. He’ll be gone from Wednesday through Saturday (Sept 5-8) and I’m stressing about being on my own for the first time. I’m considering sending Charlie to the Tierpension (kennel) during this period to make things easier, but he’s really not that much trouble. I do have a stockpile of frozen veggie lasagna and lentil soup to keep me nourished and maybe I’ll invite some friends over to keep me company.
Oh, and we’re getting a housekeeper starting next week. Yay!
Call for submissions
But since I’ve found that I have pretty much no time for blogging, I came up with an idea. Guest blogging! If you’re interested, submit a post to me by email: christina_geyer[at]yahoo[dot]com, and I will consider posting it here on my blog. The post should have something to do with Germany. Want to write something up about your German pregnancy/birth/motherhood experience, but don’t have a blog (or it just wouldn’t fit with the theme of your blog)? Great! Submit it here!
Or you can write about anything Germany-related. You can use this opportunity to advertise your blog here - submit a favorite blog entry of yours and get a link from me (and possibly a reprint of the article). I have acquired quite a large readership, so use it to your advantage!
I can’t promise you I’ll use your stuff - so don’t hate me if I don’t think it really fits with the feel of my blog. I think my readers have come to expect a certain style from me and I don’t want to stray too far from that. I generally try to keep things positive, so non-stop complaint posts probably won’t make it on here. Please give me a few lines about you to use as an introduction as well.
I hear a fussy baby in the next room, so I’ll end things here. I look forward to getting submissions (hopefully I’ll get at least one!). Cheers!
Germanify me, baby!
Rainer is on his way to München right now to pick up my aunt, who is currently on her way from LA, so Oliver will be meeting his first extended family member today! She’s staying with us for the next two weeks, so that should be fun. It’s too bad that we don’t live anywhere near any of our relatives. Rainer’s family is way on the other side of Germany; we’ll be making a tour of their homes in late September. And finally, Oliver will be meeting the rest of my family over Christmas. I’m excited to go back for a visit, but what I am most proud of is that I didn’t ask my aunt to bring me any food! I would say that I asked her not to bring anything, but it’s not exactly true, since I asked her to get me a can opener - one of the ones that punches holes in cans. The ones I’ve seen in the stores here are too small for using on condensed milk cans, it takes forever to pour the milk. I’m sure you can get the bigger ones here, but she was coming anyway and I didn’t feel like doing a search. Oh, almost forgot, she’s bringing a couple swaddling blankets I ordered and had shipped to her to save on the international shipping charge too. But I guess I’ve managed one more step towards Germanification. So, is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Anyways, gotta go put sheets on the futon. Peace out!
Asking for Questions
I’ve gotten some emails asking about the prenatal and postnatal care and the birth process in Germany. I’ve decided the best thing to do is make a post answering all the questions, so if you have any questions about the procedures, ask in the comments, and I’ll do my best to answer them in an upcoming post. Also, if you have written up a birth story for your German birth, give me the address and I will add a link to it in the upcoming post (I know Blythe and Maria have birth story posts).
Questions I’ve been asked so far:
- When and how do you choose a Hebamme?
- Has your Hebamme been helpful?
- Are there lactation consultants in Germany?
- Why do you need to take a passport and a marriage certificate to the clinic/hospital?
- What is a Mutterpass?
So what else would you like to know about? If I can’t answer your question, I’m sure that my readers can!
Christina’s Rockin’ Lentil Stew
In looking for healthy, hearty, easy to make recipes, I came across a Curried Red Lentil and Swiss Chard Stew With Garbanzo Beans recipe. I had to make some adjustments: no chard available, Rainer requires meat in his meals - hence the sausage, and we both dig garlic and I thought it should be in there. I think my version turned out pretty darn yummy. For a vegetarian dish, just leave out the sausage. Now, without further ado, I present my version…
ingredients
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, sliced
4 medium Mettwürstchen, sliced (or sausage of your choice)
8 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4.5 liters vegetable broth
200 grams spinach, chopped
1 kg red lentils
2 15-ounce cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
preparation
Heat oil in heavy large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, sausage and celery; sauté until golden, about 13 minutes. Mix in curry and cayenne. Add broth and spinach. Increase heat; bring to boil. Add lentils and garbanzos; reduce heat to medium.
Cover; simmer until lentils are tender, stirring twice, about 10 minutes.
-
Subscribe to AmiExpat
creativecommons License
Blog under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License.
