Rainy Days

This was me today, riding my bike in the rain. This is not a rare occurrence here, in fact, many would say it's the norm. The Dutch have their system down of checking the radar (like the one below)

 and then making a mad dash for it, in between rain showers. Unfortunately for us, the map is rarely ever this empty. This morning you could not even see the green on it, as all of Northern Europe was under clouds. This can make for a long, cold, wet ride.

All this week I have been babysitting a 3.5 month old little Italian boy named Pepe. Today I showed him a youtube video of pepe le peu, the french skunk. That's what I think of whenever I say his name so I thought I'd culture him a little bit. :) Anyways, this family lives about 5 miles away from my city so it's about a 25 minute bike ride on a windy day. Normally, it's a pleasant ride, but on mornings like this, it's downright miserable. I started the morning off poorly by not being able to find any of my rain gear. I couldn't find my rain pants or my awesome blue poncho.

These are necessity items in this country. So I did the best I could and put on two pairs of leggins, a waterproof winter coat, and a hood thing that made me look like a robber. I was pretty wet by the time I reached my destination but thanks to smart thinking on my part, I had brought along a change of clothes.

It's days like these that I miss the luxury of having a car for every day use.  Of course, I could always get one of these and that might solve most of my problems.

Things I've learned so far during this pregnancy

I will be 14 weeks tomorrow and starting my second trimester!yea!! Hopefully this brings the end of morning sickness, a baby bump, and finding out the sex of our baby! I just thought I would share some things I've learned so far, which isn't much.

1. Morning sickness is really a lie. Your sickness is not confined to the morning. You may have to make a run for the bathroom in the afternoon, evening, or morning. Don't be fooled and think you are in the clear just because it's after noon. It's really kind of a mean trick that you don't learn about until after you are pregnant.
2. Dreams. Ohhh the dreams. I have been having crazy, intense, vivid dreams. They seem so real and lifelike. They are typically very long and I can jump back into them even after waking up. Some nights they are so real that I don't want to go back to sleep. In fact, after a long night of these kinds of dreams, I wake up feeling more exhausted. I hope this doesn't last the entire time.
3. If you are experiencing "morning" sickness, you should always be prepared when you leave the house. This means bringing along a plastic bag, some wet wipes or paper towels and preferably a bottle of water. I had my first incident of vomiting in public the other day while out shopping with a friend. I was not prepared and had to make a run for the outside of the store, throwing my coat off onto the ground and ridding myself of my banana that I had for lunch.
4.Also, don't wear cowel neck shirts if you think you might be sick. They just get in the way (as experienced in #3).
5. Your husband could possibly end up starving during this time or else gaining a bunch of weight because he just eats junk when you don't cook good meals. Rarely have I had a desire to eat anything substantial and most nights we eat sandwiches (me just a cheese sandwich), a simple pasta, or if I'm really sick and have no appetite, Dan might grab a bag of chips and some Reese's peanut butter cups. I really do try to object and steer him towards something healthier but I think he likes the excuse to eat junk.
6. The Dutch see pregnancy as a natural event, not a medical event. This means that you don't get all the typical tests we have back in the US. They did do a blood test on me, in which I asked them to check my iron levels and thyroid. They did neither, but hey, I found out I'm AB+ and don't have HIV so that's helpful. . .not.
7. We went to look at strollers or "prams" as they call them here. They are super cute and super expensive! We did find out how they operate though, which is a plus.
8. I have discovered that they like to give pregnant women a lot of free stuff here! Most of the drug stores allow you to sign up to receive a baby box full of all kinds of things for the baby! It's pretty exciting and I can't wait to get my first box.
9.We heard the heartbeat last week in the midwife's office, on the doppler (not an ultrasound). It was amazing! So crazy to hear it and hear how fast it was beating! She was able to find my uterus right away (which is also weird that you can now begin to feel it just by pushing on my stomach a bit). I also found out I lost nearly 5 lbs in a week. So I guess there is one good thing about being sick.
10. Finally,  the most recent thing I've learned is that it is common here that once you deliver(in a hospital) they move you into a giant room with up to 6 other women and their babies and families, etc. until you are ready for discharge--which will occur within a few hours after giving birth if there were no complications and it's not super late at night.

This is going to be an interesting 6 more months!!