Nicole's Adventures

Just a few short days after my last post, we had an early arrival! Before I forget the wild ride that was Luke's birthday and entrance into the world, I wanted to document those crazy hours! As I mentioned in the previous post, our local hospital was not allowing the father to attend the birth or enter the hospital at all, so we had been researching any alternative within an hours driving distance. We found a private hospital but had to have an appointment there if there were to let us deliver there. We woke up early on March 28th to arrive there for our 9am appointment. It was north of Porto so about an hours drive from our house. As we were getting in the car, I jokingly told Joel to grab my hospital bags, because you never know what might happen! And the nurses in our birth prep class also said you should always be prepared starting around 37 weeks! Entering the hospital, we were questioned to be sure we don't have Corona virus, then given masks. Joel was allowed into...

Before I start on this wild Corona virus, let's talk about the final part of Luke's journey inside the womb! I can't remember if we already had a name in my last post, but baby Luke is cooking, growing and moving constantly!   Tomorrow I will be 37 weeks pregnant, which I guess equates to like 8.5 months? As I discussed in the last post, I never know what to say because 40 weeks is not equal to 9 months! Anyways, at 37 weeks Luke can come on out and could be perfectly fine on his own. Of course, each week he gets a little stronger inside of the womb and gains a bit more weight. I was told around week 28 that my cervix was measuring short which meant I was at risk for early delivery and had to stop doing as much as I could. I was told to walk as little as possible and not do any lifting or activity. Normally our doctor is very nonchalant and casual and not worried with much.. however after he made this measurement Joel had a bit of a scare because he seemed very worried. ...

After Cape Verde... hmm gosh what did we do? Cristina, Ricardo, Maria Joao, Pedro, and Joao Pedro came to visit Aveiro! We were so lucky that it was a beautiful, but chilly day to show them around our little city. We hit all the hot spots. From the beginning of November until the first weekend in December there were only a handful of days where it didn't rain, and usually there was some point in the day to get Mel out to exercise but it was so dark and gray out! We also had two tropical depressions come through and bring crazy sideways blowing wind and lots of rain in a short time. It also got much colder earlier than it has in past years. Climate change is real friends. :( I finished out my semester as a volunteer teacher with SPEAK, and we threw a little Christmas party where all of the students had put money together to get TimTam some adorable clothing and also brought me tons of diapers and wipes in a variety of sizes which is so great! It was such a different experi...

WOW! I cannot believe it's already half over, it feels like I have been pregnant for years and years now! As I write this I am heading into week 21 and despite most people believing/being told pregnancy is 9 months, it is actually 40 weeks! And sorry if this is TMI, but I want to remember my experience raw and real. So heads up and maybe apologies in advanced! Joel and I found out when I was 2/3 weeks pregnant. Joel was convinced I was and I was not thinking I was at all. He was very right! I felt pretty normal with some usual aches and pains until about week 8. Besides being really tired, I would finish classes and take a nap in the afternoon and then go to bed super early in the evening. From weeks 8-17 I had all sorts of things going on. Nausea, heart burn, vomiting, struggling to choke down my huge prenatal vitamin, loss of appetite, aversion to any kind of healthy food. I went through different phases but ate lots of McDonalds for a few weeks as it was the only protein I ...

Another trip, means another blog post! :) Joel and I found a good deal on direct flights to Cape Verde and couldn't resist a short trip to escape the cold and use up those last holidays for 2019!  We booked the trip in July and decided as we usually do not to pay extra for the refundable tickets... which later we regretted because we found out in August that I am pregnant! My obstetrician had no problems with me going, but we were concerned as Cape Verde had cases of Zika in the past. After much research, and speaking with the travel doctor, we decided the risk was very low and to still go for the trip. There hadn't been cases of Zika for 2 years, and the island of Sal (where we stayed 4 nights) never had any reported cases of Zika. So we just had 4 days of extra caution with mosquitoes. When we visited conditions were very windy and dry! So we only saw maybe one mosquito the whole time and neither of us had any bites. YAY.  We arrived on the island of Santiago, and the cap...