Still waiting...

For those stopping by for baby news: I'm still waiting!

I think after all the working I did, my baby decided it is quite nice & peaceful inside of me now and she wants to stay a little longer. I'm trying to not get too grumpy over that, but of course it is getting time for her to come out and her staying inside means I'm booked into hospital for a couple of exams to see if everything is still working the way it should and those exams mean quite some extra Dollars, which I'm obviously not happy about!

By the way, I do have insurance through my employer now... but I don't really know, if you want to call an annual premium of $1.250 for outpatient care and $2.000 for emergency care "insurance". It's a joke!!! That's like one blood test and one time opening your mouth for the doctor and listening to your heart beat and the premium will be used up. So it's obviously not paying for the exams I have to get done.

I was encouraged by my health care professionals to apply for Medicaid once more, now that I'm off work, just in case if this pregnancy will end up being delivered in hospital due to the length of it etc., so wish me luck that it'll be successful this time round.

Will keep everyone updated & if I don't get a chance before then: A MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU!

Happy Due Date!

Today is my due date and although there's no sign of the little Miss yet, I am surprisingly patient. Normal term is considered up to 42 weeks, so I might be looking at a Xmas baby. We'll see!

Here's my due date bumpage from front and side angle:

Still more on the tiny and neat side, but with having a long torso and only having gained 7 lbs, it's no surprise. I'll seriously be in trouble after birth, as a lot of my clothes will be too big and I won't have time to go shopping and all money is being spend on baby. Guess I'll be doing the baggy hiphop style for a while :).

Enjoying my days off now. It's getting a little cold again starting Monday, so I'm glad I was in Germany last December and came back with my winter jacket! At least I won't be freezing!

Heute ist mein ET und obwohl es noch keine Anzeichen fuer eine baldige Ankunft der kleinen Madame gibt, bin ich ueberraschender Weise sehr geduldig. Termingeboren gilt sie ja noch bis 42 Wochen und wer weiss, vielleicht moechte sie ja ein Weihnachtsgeschenk werden. Wir werden sehen!

Oben seht ihr also mein ET-Baeuchlein von vorne und seitlich. Befinde mich nach wie vor auf der eher kleinen Schwangeren-Bauchseite, aber mit langem Oberkoerper und einer Zunahme von nur etwas ueber 3 kg, ist das ja auch kein Wunder. Werde nach der Geburt echte Probleme haben: Viele meiner Klamotten werden einfach zu gross sein, aber ich werde ja keine Zeit zum Shoppen haben und geldmaessig geht ja alles fuer die Kleine drauf. Ich denke mal, dann wird hier eine Weile der schlabberige HipHop Look angesagt sein ;).

Nun geniesse ich meine freien Tage. Ab Montag wird es wieder kalt und ich bin froh, dass ich im Dezember letzten Jahres in Deutschland war und mit meiner Winterjacke zurueck kam. So werde ich wenigstens nicht frieren!

Maternity.... WHAT!???

"Maternity Leave??? Paid??? How long??? Government-paid child benefit??? Parenting benefit??? Now why again did you move over here!?"

Yes, I know... it's been a while again... almost a month, to be exact, that I've been quiet, but as you can imagine things are different over in the USA and so I'm not sitting on the couch with my feet up, enjoying my last couple of weeks of pregnancy, but still working full-time and listening to the above questions almost daily.

Yes, in Germany, by law, as an employee you must be given maternity leave with 34 weeks, 6 weeks prior to your due date and you will be paid during this time off and also for another 8 weeks postpartum. Yes, after the child is born, the government will pay you a monthly child benefit up until the child finishes some form of education that will get him into a profession and yes, there's also the option to stay home longer and get paid a parenting benefit of I believe now 67% of your last salary (with minimums and maximums) for a maximum of 14 months after giving birth.

Here in the States that's all significantly different. First of, every state has it's own laws in regards to maternity leave and I guess with Florida, I chose to be in one of the States with the least "benefits" in this regard. Want a child? Have a child! But do it yourself!

So while in Germany, I would be relaxing right now, getting ready for Baby E, here I'm still on my feet working full time at 37 weeks and 1 day. My due date is 20 days away. With all the (physical) working, I don't know if I'll make it that far and I'd be quite happy for her to come out now as she is considered full term, but I sure know that I better not go overdue! Really, who wants to still be working past their due date??????? Since I haven't been with my employer for at least 12 months, I don't get any form of maternity leave. Not paid, not unpaid, not under "short-term disability" like my pregnant manager who's one week ahead of me, not under the FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act)... All I can take is up to 4 weeks of personal leave through my employee benefits. Sounds great, doesn't it!? Dropping my 4 week old baby off somewhere, so I can go back to work is not really something I want to think about, but that is the reality over here for my situation and I do understand why people ask me why I moved over here or why I didn't move back to Germany, where I would have had way better prospects. Well, one answer to the latter is: I have a Greencard. If my baby is born in Germany, my baby will not have a Greencard and things will be rather complicated to get her legal resident status for the USA. Plus, I would have to start over again. Indeed, I'll have to start over here again soon as well, but it's less of a new start than it would be in Germany. At least I have a car, some furniture, a job...

Although the news from the job and the last month make me want to move on once again: management is not really considerate. Past 34 weeks pregnancy (while I would already be off work in Germany), I had to work a 17 (!!!) hour shift and several 12+ hour shifts. Only this week it looks like I'll be able to "relax" a little more.

I also had another "nice" incident at work. While fellow greencard-winners bicycles in Miami were stolen, I was stolen from at work... by a coworker! I had helped out another coworker and for the first time in this business & the 1 3/4 years, put my server book out of my hand. It only took 2 minutes to realize I had left it at one of the computer stations in the back of the house (10 feet away from a manager expediting food), but when I came back, it was already gone... and with it $400.-, as of course Murphy's Law has always been my "friend" and on the one day, that I put my server book down, all but one table had paid in cash (usually everybody pays with credit cards) and a thief is around. Needless to say, pregnancy hormones took over and I was in quite a state and cried for an hour while management tried to find evidence and pinpoint suspects. At the end of the night, after sorting out all the paperwork with a manager for 1 1/2 hours, it was clear that $300.- of that money were my employers and I would have to pay that back over time. AWESOME!!!!!!!! Management "knows" you took it (and so does everybody else), but unfortunately the ultimate proof was missing, so that person is still working with me. Talking about uncomfortable... try working with someone that you believe stole from you, knowing your story of being pregnant and single and all... It's definitely not a great feeling!

Besides work, I really haven't done anything. Still lots of stuff to prepare for when Baby gets here, but unfortunately my days don't have 48 hours in them and I'm not having the energy to solely work on my "To-Do-List" on my days off.

I am however very excited now and can't wait for my baby to get here... one reason might also be that I'll finally get to stay home for a little longer than one day at a time... :)

Wish me luck with everything!!! :)

The Appearance of the Bump

Only 97 days until Baby E is supposed to say hello to the world and still she is hiding inside of me instead of pushing out and letting everyone know her mommy is pregnant and didn't just have a couple of doughnuts too many!

Well, with 26 weeks and 1 day gestation, I finally went shopping for some maternity work pants today, as so far, due to the lack of bump, I was still wearing all of my pre-pregnancy clothes. While trying some pants on, I was also messing around with some random shirts I had picked out when strolling through the aisles.... and hey, all of a sudden I noticed that in that one outfit, (and by pulling the shirt back) a mini bump was visible! Of course I had to take a picture as proof! :)

Apologies for the randomness of this picture inside of a changing room, but moments like that need to be captured :)

Das Erscheinen der Kugel

Nur noch 97 Tage bis Baby E der Welt "Hallo" sagen soll, aber nach wie vor versteckt sie sich in mir, anstelle sich herauszudruecken um der Welt schon jetzt mitzuteilen, dass Mami schwanger ist und nicht nur ein paar Donuts zuviel gefuttert hat!

Nun war ich heute mit 26 Wochen und 1 Tag Schwangerschaft endlich mal shoppen um mir Umstandshosen fuer die Arbeit zu besorgen. Bislang war ja die Kugel nicht vorhanden, so dass ich weiterhin meine Vor-Schwangerschaftskleidung tragen konnte. Waehrend ich ein paar Hosen anprobierte, hantierte ich gleichzeitig mit ein paar Shirts rum, die ich so beim Laufen durch die Gaenge eingesackt hatte.... und hey, bei einem Outfit (und nach hinten ziehen des Shirts) wurde eine Mini-Kugel sichtbar! Natuerlich musste ich davon ein Beweisfoto machen!

Entschuldigt die Wahllosigkeit des Bildes innerhalb der Umkleide, aber solche Momente muessen festgehalten werden! :)