I remember going to a Cargill dinner with Andy, when I was pregnant with Beckett, and talked to a co-worker's wife about living abroad. When she told me that she moved overseas with a three month old, and then had two more kids abroad, my mind was BLOWN. I seriously could not get my mind wrapped around giving birth in another country. It was literally the first thing out of my mouth when we got in the car after dinner. Almost 6 years later, there we were, pregnant in Poland, and delivering our own baby in a foreign country. I was mostly calm about delivering in Poland, but that's not to say that there wasn't a lot of worry, sleepless nights thinking about the actual delivery and stress.
Prenatal Care
Within a week of finding out that we were pregnant, I called the American Clinic and asked when I needed to be seen. In the US, I would have waited until 12 weeks before being seen for the first time. The receptionist asked me to come in right away. After two cancelled appointments with one doctor - one due to another delivery and one due to a vacation - I made an appointment with another doctor, Dr. Ciebiera.
The first time I met with Dr. Wiesław Ciebiera, I was a bit nervous. I had no idea what to expect. I had delivered with the same midwife in the US with both Beckett and Reese (who also delivered my niece and one of my nephews) and I knew the drill with her. I knew when I would be seen, what would be covered at each appointment, etc. This was new territory. One of the first questions I was asked at my first appointment was, "Are you a positive person?" His question caught me off guard. "Yes, I would consider myself a positive person. Why?" He then went on to explain that most of his patients either are in to see him every week because they think their baby had passed away, or they had unrealistic expectations and would want to find out the gender two days after they conceived. I told him that I am neither of those and usually have pretty easy pregnancies. :) He sighed with relief. Ha!
I thought it would be easiest to bullet point various notes and/or differences (from the US) on my prenatal care and events at Szpital Medicover in Poland below - here we go!
-The hospital I delivered at, Szpital Medicover, is a private hospital. Poland has a publicly funded health care system called the National Health Fund, which is free for most Polish citizens. Since I was going to deliver at a private hospital, I needed to pick a package for my delivery and sign a contract, stating that I would pay for my package cost, even if I did not deliver at that hospital. There were three main packages (costs shown are if we paid out of pocket). If we paid through our insurance, the cost went up by 10k PLN. We chose Childbirth with a Doctor (midwife included) and signed the contract at about 38 weeks (the hospital requests that you sign it as close to 32 weeks as possible), but due to some miscommunication, we didn't end up signing it until close to the end.
Childbirth With midwife 6,000.00 PLNChildbirth With a Doctor 8,890.00 PLNChildbirth VIP 16,000.00 PLN
-We took a tour of the hospital while my sister was visiting in September 2017.
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| The delivery bed |
-Once I signed the contract, I received the below information - some interesting information on them - including what to bring for the baby and myself for delivery. I had to bring my own gown to deliver in. And my own swaddle for the baby! Also, I found the name section interesting.
-I had appointments pretty frequently - 11 weeks, 13 weeks (to be seen before leaving for the US), two appointments in the US, 25 weeks, 29 weeks, 32 weeks, 35 weeks, 36 weeks, 37 weeks and 38 weeks.
-Starting at 36 weeks, I had to be monitored with a KTG (CTG in English) each week for 20-60 minutes to monitor the baby's heart rate, my heart rate and contractions.
-I had multiple ultrasounds with an specific ultrasound doctor at weeks 12, 30 and 38. I also had my 20 week ultrasound at my old clinic while in the US.
-At our week 12 ultrasound, we brought the kids with (as the appointment was on a Saturday), and when our name was called to enter the room, we were told that the kids couldn't come into the room, as they would be a distraction, and would have to wait in the waiting area. Therefore, Andy couldn't come into the room either, as we couldn't leave our three and four year old in the waiting room by themselves. Awesome! So I went in by myself and had the ultrasound. As she was going through the various body parts, she said, "There is the lower leg, there is the upper leg and oh, you are having a boy." Completely matter of fact. What!?! Did she just tell me the gender of our baby while my husband wasn't present. And at this point, we were leaning towards not finding out the gender. There was no asking us if we wanted to find out the gender, she just blurted it out. I was in shock! And could she really even tell the gender this early!?! I was hoping that Andy would pop his head in to see the baby on the big screen, but he wasn't able to. When I went out to tell him to come in, while the doctor was printing out paperwork, she again nonchalantly told him, "Congrats, your having a boy." Andy, wide-eyed, looked over to me and I slowly shook my head and gave him a look like, "Yep, she told us the gender." Then I got pissed. How did she take away our decision to find out the gender of our child!?! After doing some research, talking to my doctor and talking to others, apparently most parents in Poland (and Europe) find out the gender of the chid before birth. My doctor was upset that she even said anything that early on. We then determined that we would most likely find out the gender while in the US. :)
8 week ultrasound
20 week ultrasound
30 week ultrasound
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| Profile pic |
38 week ultrasound
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| Top image shoes a front view of her face - you can see her nose. Bottom image is of her head. |
-I also had ultrasounds at each of my appointments with my doctor on a machine in the exam room. He usually just checked out the face of the baby and we watched her move around for a bit. He did not listen to the heartbeat or measure my belly to check my progress, which was different than the US.
-The doctor also wanted to do a cervical check at every appointment. After the first two appointments, I told him that I would prefer he didn't check my cervix until at least 36 weeks. He gave me a weird look, but agreed. :)
-Pregnancy Book - I had to bring a book to each prenatal appointment - also all in Polish - to keep track of my blood pressure, weight, etc. This is how they tracked all of my info instead of keeping in their computer system...very different than the US where the doctors bring in their laptops to each appt. You better believe I forgot it on more than one occasion!
-Breast pump - After confirming that our insurance would cover a breast pump (mine didn't work with the European voltage), I asked my doctor to write a prescription for it, for insurance purposes. He thought it was extremely funny and confirmed three times what I was asking of him. He laughed through the entire conversation. :) He said it was a first for him!
-Caesarian Section Rate - When we toured the hospital in September, the hospital coordinator was going through statistics with us and proudly said that they had a 70% c-section rate. I think my jaw hit the floor. After two vaginal births, I was hoping to continue on that trend and not have a c-section. My doctor discussed this with me at almost every appointment and I reminded him each time that I did not want a c-section, if I could help it. He is a pro at c-sections and a lot of his patients come to him for that specific procedure.
Overall, my pregnancy was pretty easy! My placenta was attached towards my back this time (it was attached in the front towards my stomach for both B & R), so I could feel this baby moving a couple weeks earlier. I did have a lot of rib pain at the end of my 2nd trimester and beginning of my 3rd trimester, but other than that, I felt pretty good! Elsie was breech until 38 weeks - little stinker! I think it was the inversions that I did off the side of the couch and the good ol' hanging upside down on the ironing board again (this time I didn't break it), that finally got her to flip! The one thing about the pregnancy was that it seemed to last FOREVER!!! I don't quite know why - maybe that the pace of life here is so much slower or the fact that we found out we were pregnant in the spring, went to the US for the summer while being pregnant and then didn't deliver until December...all normal timing, but I felt like it just kept going and going! Ha! Or maybe that I am getting older and the pregnancies wear on me more. Who knows, but boy am I glad that I am no longer pregnant! Ha!
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| Hanging upside down on the ironing board - ha! |
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| Put an icepack at the top of my belly in hopes that she would move her head away from the cold. |
-Our friends in Poland found out that we were expecting pretty early on in the pregnancy! When the girl who always has a beer or a glass of wine while out at dinner, suddenly stops, it is pretty obvious why! :) Most of my close friends found out at coffee date and the rest found out at a Pokeno night at the Blackburns!
-My parents, Nana and Papa, were the next to find out as they visited us at the end of April 2017. After greeting them in the driveway, the kids gave them these notes that Beckett wrote - he had no idea what he was writing as we hadn't told them yet. Ha! Such a fun surprise for my parents!
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| Note that Beckett wrote for Nana and Papa! |
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| My mom and I on Mother's Day 2017. |
-We held off on telling Beckett and Reese for a while as we didn't want them to slip and tell family back home during FaceTime. I was trying to find a fun way to tell them, but our resources are limited in Poland on some items, so we didn't really have anything planned. One night, sitting around the dinner table, Reese asked what the MamaRoo (that I bought from a friend) was for and I told her it was for a baby. She instantly went into mama mode and talked about putting her baby dolls in it. Andy and I exchanged a look and I asked if we could just tell them that we were having a baby - it just felt right - and he agreed. We told them that the MamaRoo was for a baby that we will be adding to our family and that I had a baby in my belly. Their eyes widened and smiles broke out on their little faces - it was perfect! They started asking a lot of questions and couldn't stop smiling!
US Pregnancy Announcements
Since we were only 13 weeks when we arrived in the US for the summer, we thought it would be fun to tell everyone in person. We definitely got a mix of reactions when I walked up to friends and family! Some noticed, but weren't sure if I had one too many Polish pivos/beers (ha!) and so they held eye contact, without looking down, until I announced it. Others screamed, some predicted that we would be pregnant, a couple were slightly disappointed that they didn't know sooner (as I looked like I was 25 weeks pregnant and they couldn't believed I had waited to tell them for that long), and others cried. It was a fun surprise to share with those that we love!!!
-We told my sister and family the day we arrived at my parents house. :) The cousins cheered that they would have another cousin and Eva requested a girl, of course!
-The next day we headed over to the Pearsons' to have dinner. Sarah knew right away when she saw me!!! Check out the pic below where I am using Emilia as my shield to hide the growing belly! :)
-Andy's parents and grandma (Mormor) arrived to Minneapolis two days later, so we got to tell them right away as well! The kids wore these adorable shirts and it took a moment, as they saw Beckett first and he was already technically a Big Brother! The kids ran up to them so fast that I didn't get any pictures!
-Uncle E and Shannon joined in on the fun the following day and we were able to tell them the exciting news at a family brunch at Jensens, which was funny as we also told them that we were pregnant with Reese at a family brunch too!
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| Headed to see Cars 3 after the family brunch! |
**Slowly we shared the news with friends as we saw them! We didn't get pics with everyone, but below are some fun memories from the Summer of 2017!
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| Leeder wedding on June 17! |
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| Fun to tell Katie and Jeff that night too! |
*The lovely ladies below found out at a couples' get together soon after arriving! Gosh did I miss this crew!!!
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| Fourth of July parade |
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| Brunch date with Katie and Gina to share the fun news! |
*Towards the end of our trip, we visited the Knightlys in Nebraska!
*This lady, my good friend, Erin, found out we were pregnant at a dinner date earlier in our trip, but it was so fun to see her again at their house and have Andy take a pic of us!
*It was fun to tell my Aunt Carolyn that we were expecting when she came out to my parents for a visit! Loved seeing her again right before we left!
*Fialapalooza is a weekend that we spend each year at the Fiala cabin with the Nelsons and the Tholes. Over the years, we have had many pregnancies at the cabin, between the three of us girls, and it is so fun to look back at our annual dock jumping pics at the various bellies!!
*We got together with our old neighborhood crew too! SO great to see this group and get the kids back together!
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| Griffin, Lucia and Beckett |
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| The girl table! |
*Facebook Announcement
Let the craziness begin...I mean, continue!!! 
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We also had a quick pregnancy photo session before we found out the gender, with the talented Melissa Tapper!
Gender Reveal
We were excited to have our 20 week appointment in the US and be able to share the gender reveal with family in person! We had our appointment a couple days before we headed back to Poland, so we planned a fun dinner with family and gave both boy and girl items to my friend, Sarah! She has helped with the gender reveals for the other two as well. And I love that she is the one that has known the gender of our babies before anyone else! :)
We planned two boxes, one for each kid to open, to avoid any tears at the reveal. Ha! This isn't our first rodeo. Andy and I both thought boy (maybe because of the 12 week appointment prediction or because we always thought we would have all boys) and both of the kids wanted a sister!
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| PINK!!! |
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| Luckily both of the kids wanted a sister! |
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| Andy's parents were on FaceTime for the reveal! |
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| Another girl!!! Never thought we would have TWO girls! |
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| My friend, Sarah, knew the gender of all of our babies before anyone else did! |
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| Envelope and post-it from our ultrasound appointment! |
Nursery
One of the projects that I started right before we left for the US this summer was transitioning the guest bedroom into the nursery. I put the crib together, moved around the furniture and installed shelving for books. I then was able to have a good idea of items that I wanted to find over the summer for the nursery! While searching Pinterest one afternoon during naptime, I saw a travel themed nursery and I was sold! It fit our adventure to Poland and phase in life! And the planning began - cue many more hours on Pinterest!
Here is the final result -
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| Bows galore! |
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| Upper left picture is of Warsaw graffiti. The coordinates in pink are for our home in Poland. I made the hot air balloon string art. |
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| You are so loved artwork from Reese's nursery! Sunshine luggage is from our trip to Stockholm. Red bird symbolism our family in St. Louis (Andy's parents and Mormor). |
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| A fun little project - crazy to not have the US visible! |
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| Black and white image from a Polish artist from my friends in Poland. Little house with rain cloud symbolizes our family in Seattle (Andy's brother, wife and baby on the way). |
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| Felt elephant from our trip to Gdansk, Poland with my sister. I made the MN string art - boy do we miss MN! |
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| Bunny rabbit and owl from our trip to Stockholm. Cactus to symbolize our family in Mesa, AZ (my parents in the winter). |
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| We love displaying the books on these shelves. Only wish we had the wall space to put up more. The felt bird hanging at the bottom was from our trip to Gdansk, Poland with my sister. Clocks indicate Seattle, AZ, Minneapolis/St. Louis times. |
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| LOVE these gold dots - the pic doesn't do it justice. I have added more and moved around a couple since I took this pic - OCD problems! Little images are of London, Vienna and Paris from an artist on Etsy. |
Sprinkle with Friends
My sweet friends in Poland threw me a little sprinkle for Baby Joehl! Such a fun morning with these ladies! So thankful for their friendships that help make this crazy adventure more enjoyable!
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| A walker from the ladies! |
Other fun pregnancy pics
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| Baseball with Beckett in the US! |
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| Father's Day 2017 |
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| Brewery Night Out towards the end of our US time... gotta love black - I barely look pregnant! ;) |
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| The bump in Stockholm, Sweden |
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| 24 weeks - felt like 32! Ha! |
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| Rome with the Roslanskys |
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| Met up with these newlyweds in Rome as well! |
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| Sister visit in September 2017 |
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| Gdansk - September 2017 |
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| Pisa with the Pearsons |
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| This belly got us to the front of the line |
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| Florence - October 2017 |
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| Beckett's 5th Birthday Party |
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| Halloween 2017 |
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| Thank goodness for baggy sweatshirts! |
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| Thanksgiving 2017 |
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| 38 weeks! Elsie had flipped and was finally head down! |
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| December 11, 2017 - the day before we went into the hospital! Walk around the neighborhood trying to get things started! |
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| December 12 - right before we headed to the hospital! We would be a family of FIVE when we returned! |
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| Last picture as a family of four! |
Delivery and Hospital Stay
Just like Reese, my contractions with Elsie started a days before she was born, and only occurred during the night. With Elsie, my contractions started on Friday, December 9 and were strong enough to wake me up at night. As I had been through it before, I was in a rush to get checked out and as I thought, I had no contractions Saturday during the day. This pattern continued until Tuesday morning when I finally went in to get checked out. Andy came with me, while the kids were at school, and of course, I didn't have a single contraction during the 45/60 mins that I was attached to the KTG machine. So I had him drop me off at my weekly coffee date with the ladies and he went home to work. The contractions did pick up throughout the day on Tuesday, but nothing consistent. That evening, the contractions were becoming more painful, so we called our babysitter, Justyna, and asked her to come over so we could head in to get checked out again. My contractions were painful enough that I had to pause, stop talking and breath threw each one. We got to the hospital around 8:30. I did have multiple contractions this time during the monitoring, but my doctor said they were nothing big. Ha! Famous last words to say to a pregnant lady in pain! ;) We went back and forth in our discussion, but decided to be admitted and hang out in a room to see if the contractions picked up, like they did during the night. My doctor said he was going to head home, but asked us to text/call if they contractions picked up. If they didn't, he would stop by in the morning.
Andy headed to the car to get the bags and my pillow and I got cozy in Room #6. I had no monitoring devices for the baby or myself on, I was literally just hanging out in the room. It was about 9:15. Sure enough, my contractions did start to pick up in frequency and in intensity. My already painful contractions (that were registering as little contractions on the KTG), became even more painful - like grip the side bar of the bed painful. Andy sent a text to our doctor that my contractions were picking up and that I was interested in getting the epidural (we later found out that my doctor didn't get the text until after he was back in the hospital). Some time went by and we hadn't heard back from my doctor (as he didn't get the text), so Andy went out to tell the nurse that my contractions were picking up and ask for a fan as I was HOT! We already had the window open as far as it would go (in the middle of December) and I was sweating. The non-English speaking midwife came in to tell me that it was normal to get hot as I was in labor - ha! She quickly left the room and came back in rolling a gas tank. Through some back and forth and gesturing, we figured out that she brought in laughing gas. Seriously! At this point, I was in SO much pain - I think I expressed my thoughts of dying around that time - so I was ready to try any remedy to make the pain go away. I don't think I have ever had laughing gas, so I wasn't sure if I was supposed to just take a couple deep breaths at the beginning of my contraction, or suck it in the entire time! Plus, we didn't know if it was safe for the baby. I told Andy I didn't want to take it until I knew it was safe for the baby. But before he finished pulling up the first article on it, he looked over and I had the mask to my face and was inhaling away! Ha! Another contraction had started. I was taking in some pretty deep breaths during each contraction, and although it was taking the pain away, I was getting light headed, which I didn't like. Finally, Andy called my doctor, as he hadn't responded to our text, and he luckily picked up pretty quickly. He could hear me moaning in the background and said he would hurry back to the hospital! Thank God!!!
Things started happening pretty quickly after that phone call. The doctor has to approve the epidural at Medicover (a tip I received from a friend) and he must have called the anesthesiologist immediately after our call because she was in our room within two minutes and moved me to the delivery room.
I have had an epidural with both Beckett and Reese and I knew the glory it brought to the birthing experience for me, so I was all about it for Elsie too! The anesthesia team at Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis is AMAZING! A person is stationed at your head as you are getting the epidural to help you through contractions and calm you (I had Annie both times at Abbott and she was incredible), but there was no such person at Medicover. I knew the process, so I bent forward on my own, held still during the worst contractions and the anesthesiologist poked me maybe 6-8 times with no success. Andy is not a fan of needles, so he was out of the room for a bit and then in the little waiting area of the room for the rest of it. After the first couple tries I started asking questions and let me just say, there is nothing worse than asking if everything is okay and if something is wrong, with a room full of nurses and doctors, and no one answers you. Such a horrible feeling. She finally laid me on my side and poked me a couple more times before finally getting it in the right spot. Ugh! This was at 11:30pm on December 12.
Luckily, I react extremely well (and quickly) to the epidural medicine. The pain was gone!!! My doctor and Andy came into the room and all was good in the world! The anesthesiologist hung out for a bit to make sure it continued to work, and work evenly, and as she left, she said that I was on the lowest dose and to let her know if I started feeling pain as she would then increase the dosage.
Soon after the epidural, my contractions slowed down a bit, so the doctor started pitocin around midnight. After each contraction, with no increase in pain, my doctor increased the pitocin. At some point during this process, I had one contraction where the baby's heard rate dropped lower than he wanted it to. It was brought to our attention, but it didn't happen again thankfully. Note - my doctor didn't leave the room. There was no, "I will be back in an hour to check in on you." He was right there in the room the entire time. Also, I had no catheter in. I inquired about how I would go to the bathroom during this process and I am not sure if it was lost in translation or if they would have let me get up, but my doctor told me that I could get up and walk into the bathroom.
At 1:10am on December 13th, my doctor broke my water. When my doctor saw that there was meconium in my water (green in color - meant that the baby had pooped inside of me), he got a panicked look on his face. This wasn't anything new to me - same with Beckett and Reese - so I didn't think anything of it, but the look on his face worried me. He then expressed concern that this could mean that the baby was in stress and we really needed to speed things up or get ready for a c-section. I told him that I was not worried, and told him how it was handled in the US, but it was game time for him. He had me move to the end of the bed, sit up, and again increased my pitocin.
At 1:35am, the doctor and midwife checked me again for about two minutes, speaking only Polish to each other, and told me I was at about a 7 or 8cm, but the baby's head was still high. I could feel the pressure and feel her drop with each contraction, but it wasn't fast enough for the doctor. They put the catheter in at 1:44am, which emptied my bladder and allowed the baby to drop even more. This is when they got handsy - really handsy (sorry, TMI)!! And I could feel pain. Over and over I told the doctor that I could feel pain and was uncomfortable, but boy was he focused. He asked me to start pushing, not paying attention to my increased pain level, and at the end of one push, I opened my eyes and saw his head, resting on my stomach, literally shimming our baby out of me! I looked over at Andy, got a head nod from him that he couldn't believe what was going on, and I soon went into another contraction. What was going on!?! No laboring down going on with this delivery! And I was in so much pain again at this point. The room quickly filled with nurses and doctors, Andy moved behind me on my right, and after about 10 minutes of pushing (and shimming by the doctor), our little girl was born at 2am! It happened all so fast, not because I was progressing quickly, but because he went up and retrieved her. It was crazy!
What happened next was all a blur to me as I was in a lot of pain again. I could feel it all and it took everything in me to not lose my mind. I continued to tell my doctor that I could feel everything he was doing and asked for the epidural to be increased. A couple minutes passed and he looked at me and said, "Is this painful?" He clearly was focused on what he was doing and didn't hear my cries for help. The anesthesiologist came in to increase my epidural and I was feeling great again!
What I do recall is that Elsie cried pretty quickly after birth and that Andy cut the cord (after refusing to do so the first two requests from the doctor). She also had her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, which most likely caused the drop in her heart rate earlier on. I am assuming that they held her up for me to see once she was out, but then immediately took her away to suck out her lungs from the meconium. I do remember asking Andy to go and take pics of her while they cleaned her up.
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| She was our biggest baby weighing 3770grams (8lb, 5 oz). |
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| She clearly was excited to be here!!! Ha! |
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| She got a 10 out of 10 on her Apgar score. |
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| Perfectly round head - no time to get a cone head! |
When they did bring her back to me, I was amazed by how much she looked like Beckett - darker skin tone, dark hair, darkish eyes - they looked blue gray - but definitely not light blue like Reese's. I couldn't believe she was here! What an incredible gift we were being given!
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| Blue toes that eventually pinked up! |
Going into Elsie's delivery, we hadn't decided on a name for her. Our top names were Tessa, Molly and Elsie - with Elsie as the front runner. When the nurses brought her to me, Andy asked me right away what we should name her. I told him I needed a little bit to just look at her and see if she looked like an Elsie. Over and over he asked as he wanted a name to tell our families. After taking her in for a couple minutes, we decided on Elsie Annabelle! We chose Annabelle for a middle name as my mom, Andy's mom, my sister and Andy's grandma, Mormor, all have Ann as their middle name. We admire these ladies and hope that Elsie is blessed with their strength, determination and love!
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| Introducing Elsie to our families in the US! |
On December 13, at 2:00 am, our family welcomed Elsie Annabelle Joehl! 
💕She weighed 3770 grams (8lbs, 5oz) and 56 cm long (22in). She has dark hair, darker eyes and has a back covered with dark peach fuzz (just like her brother)!
💕She weighed 3770 grams (8lbs, 5oz) and 56 cm long (22in). She has dark hair, darker eyes and has a back covered with dark peach fuzz (just like her brother)!
Having a baby in another country was quite the experience, but we are so glad she is finally here! We are excited for Beckett and Reese to meet her later today or tomorrow. 👦🏻👧🏼👶🏼
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#ourlittlepolandbaby #joehlfamilyof5 #december13inPoland #december12intheUS #funbirthfact #beyondblessed — with Andy Joehl.
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| The view of our delivery room as we waited to be transferred. |
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| Still checking her out and soaking her all in! |
The kids were so excited to meet their new baby sister!! For so long it had been Beckett & Reese only - since Beckett was 18 months old. It was an interesting feeling adding another child to our crew! And we weren't sure how the kids would react to a new baby. Thankfully they both wanted to hold her, love on her and we have been no signs of jealousy!
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| Coming up in the elevator to our room |
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| First picture with her baby sister |
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| Boy, had I missed these two |
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| All smiles! |
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| And the baby got Beckett & Reese presents - brownie points from the beginning! |
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| Trying to calm Elsie |
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| A little too much! :) |
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| The first picture of our family of FIVE! |
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| One last hug before leaving! |
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| We fed Elsie formula, before my milk came in, and holy cow, she was an eater! We had to call up to the nursery to request the milk...and when she drank all of that milk... we had to call for more! |
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| Elsie getting ready for her first bath! |
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| We also had to bring our own towels for the baby |
The care we received at the hospital was incredible! Most of our nurses thankfully spoke a little bit of English or brought someone with them that could translate. I continued to be amazed that they were able to communicate and deliver a baby for an only English speaking mom. That would be like me helping someone who spoke Chinese. Yikes! They are definitely great at their jobs. I was off all monitoring and IV within 15 minutes after Elsie was born, and they did not monitor us at night - they let us get a good night sleep each night. It was great!
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| These lovely ladies visited us in the hospital! |
The two bigs had their Christmas concert on December 14, and with a solo by Beckett and a first ballet performance for Reese, there was no way that I was going to miss it! We had hoped that Elsie would come early and that we would be home before their concert, but that was not the case. Since I had a pretty good delivery and felt great, we tried to get discharged from the hospital after one night of being there - she was born at 2am on Wednesday, so we had all day Wednesday, Wednesday night and then all day Thursday before the concert. The doctors and nurses looked at us like we were crazy and would not discharge Elsie. We brainstormed for a while, and even considered watching the performance via FaceTime, but I just had to be there. The nurses said we could leave Elsie there and come back after the performance - perfect! And my goodness, I was SO happy that I went! The kids did such an amazing job!
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| The owners of the hospital pay for a photographer to come and take a newborn picture of each baby! |
The food at the hospital was interesting. Breakfasts and dinners consisted of sandwiches (meat, bread, lettuce and tomato), a yogurt and fruit. There was no selecting options - sandwiches were the only option. Lunch on the other hand had a menu with various options - this is typically the largest meal of the day for most Poles.
Also, in the US, we are given large water jugs to make sure we were drinking plenty of water. In Poland, they only had water bottles, and we had to request them. Interesting difference.
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| Lunch in the hospital |
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| Breakfast/Dinner in the hospital |
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| Another lunch |
Getting ready to head home! We checked into the hospital on Tuesday, December 12 and checked out on Friday, December 15. We were all happy to go home! Andy stayed with me the first night and then stayed at home with the kids the second night.
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| Waiting to be checked out |
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| Got a laugh out of his use for a burp cloth. |
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| All ready!!! |
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| Last view of our hospital room. |
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| The hospital where Elsie was born. |
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| The doors leading into the delivery and postpartum area - yes I take pics of all of it! Except the room number - I forgot the room sign - we were in Room 6. |
Family of Five!!!
Elsie has been a wonderful addition to our family! The kids cannot get enough of her, and luckily we have not seen any jealousy from them. Beckett and Reese are very patient when it comes to Elsie and her needs. They simply just want to love on her whenever she is around them!
I have enjoyed Elsie as a baby, more than I did with the other two. Beckett was our first and everything was so new and sleep deprivation was at an all time high back then. Ha! First time mom issues! When Reese was born, Beckett was only 18 months, so we very much still had two babies to care for. Life with Elsie is much more relaxed and low key, and I feel like I am able to take in the little moments and milestones more. I often find myself staring at her, and feeling complete happiness that she is ours!
Andy on the other hand isn't the biggest fan of the infant stage and is ready for another wrestling buddy! :)
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| The kids requested a cake to celebrate Elsie's birthday! The agreed to frosted donuts! |
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| Reese stepping into the big sister role nicely! |
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| Our little blessing! |
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| We received the hospital photo a couple months after she was born - great keepsake! |
