Kraamzorg service

In Holland, as part of the Dutch Social System, everyone is entitled to Kraamzorg service upon having a baby. Kraamzorg in Dutch means maternity care. Insurance will pay to have a maternity nurse come to a new family's home to help them, typically for 6 hours a day over the course of 8 days. The service not only helps new parents get acclimated, but it frees up space in the hospitals and lowers the cost of care for hospitals and insurance companies. The nice thing about this service is you have a nurse that helps answer questions about breastfeeding, healing, the baby's health, etc. and not only that, they also do light housework, like cleaning the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry all in the safety and comfort of your own home! I sound like an advertisement- but it's a fantastic service. At first when our nurse came through the door, I didn't know what to think. She was typically Dutch, very tall with long brown hair and a very calm demeanor. She obviously just had a smoke outside and didn't look any older than me, so I wondered abour her experience. Her English was pretty decent as well, and we quickly learned she had spent time growing up in the UK so it wasn't an issue. Her name was Dineke (Deen-a-ka) and that took the longest time for me to get down. Bryce seemed to get it right away with no issue, but I was constantly calling her different names like Dan-ika, Din-ika, sometimes just Dee something. It was awful. Thank God she had a great sense of humor so we laughed a lot. She had trouble with Bryce's name and would call him Brian, Brant, Brandon.. it was pretty funny. She took to Carolyn right away and gave Bryce and I much needed rest and advice. I never thought that having a little baby could be so overwhelming! The whole first week while the nurse was here I was suffering from night sweats and nightmares everytime I went to lay down, so it made it much more difficult to feel caught up. I'm happy though that we could learn what we needed to in the comfort of home and also receive doctor visits at home as well to check on the baby and my own healing. Wish they had this in the States!

Delivery Day!

After 3 weeks of discomfort, and what felt like the longest wait, my water broke on Friday morning, October 2 at 3:15am. I wasn't sure what happened, but in my sleep I just thought I had to go to the bathroom and that's when I discovered our baby was soon to arrive! I woke up Bryce and we were both so excited and nervous. We called the hospital to let them know. I felt great, so no contractions yet, but they asked for us to come in to check the baby's heart rate and see that everything was okay. We got there at 4am and were brought into a room where they set me up on a monitor for the baby's heart rate and my contractions. After monitoring me for a couple of hours, they decided to send us home to get some rest. We got home at 7am and went back to sleep. By 8:30 though, I was awake with the start of contractions. By 10:30 they got pretty unbearable, so I called the hospital back and they told us to come back in. From there, things really got started. We arrived at the hospital a little after 11:15 and got settled into a room. A midwife and nurse checked in with us and we learned that it was already a busy time in the maternity ward at OLVG that day. They had 6 beds and already most were full so we were glad to have come when we did. At 12:30, I was 3 cm dialated and the pain was more intense, so of course I was asking for the epidural - and they took us down to anesthesiology to have it administered. It took the better part of an hour to get it and feel the effects of it, but what was really surprising was it numbed my legs and stomach, but did nothing for the back labor I was experiencing. I told the nurse that it wasn't working and something needed to be done, so they gave me more of it, but it didn't change the aching pain in my back that came along with each contraction. Luckily, I was progressing quickly. By 4:30pm, I was fully dialated and ready to start pushing. They actually had to turn off the epidural at this point because I wasn't able to feel enough to push.. ugh! As scary as that was, once the effects of the epidural wore off a bit, I was able to concentrate on having a baby.. and she arrived at 6:05pm - I knew it was a GIRL!! Bryce and I had been discussing names for quite a while, but one thing that we both agreed on was that if she was a girl, Carolyn Bryce would be the perfect name. Carolyn just seemed like a classic name that went well with Cote and it's always reminded me of strong, independent, pretty women, so what name could be more fitting? And we both wanted to use Bryce's name as the middle name just as a sort of tradition. On Bryce's side of the family, his father named his first born with his middle name and Bryce's brother did the same with his first born, so we thought it would be nice to continue. It's amazing though that even though we decided on it, when the time finally came to make it official, it felt overwhelming to us - it's just so permanent - and we hope she likes it. That first night for us was the most amazing time. We just stared at her and aside from having the midwife, doctor and nurse present to observe the delivery, it was pretty peaceful in the room. Once Carolyn was checked, weighed and dressed, they left us alone with her to just hang out. We had something to eat and by 10:30pm, we were all so tired, I wondered if they'd let us go home. Since all three of us were doing well and a nurse would be coming the next day at our house to be with us for the week, they had no problem releasing us when we were ready. We got home around midnight that night and aside from getting up once at 4am with Carolyn, we all slept through until 8am.

36 Weeks and Counting!

Oh my! I can't get over how fake my stomach looks in this picture. It's like a basketball is hiding under my shirt. The doctor on Friday said all is looking good. The baby has moved down and the head is right where it should be. She's thinking it will be about 3 kilos at birth, or about 6.6 lbs - perfect! We still don't know if it's a boy or a girl for sure, but I'm thinking it's a girl.. we'll see! Only 22 more days until Oct. 6!

PS. After spending a weekend of unpacking, the house is starting to get in better shape, too. It's only taken us two weeks and we're sure several more to really feel like we're organized. So far so good though!

Move-in Day

Finally, our stuff from Boston arrived! As much as we were looking forward to having our own things here, the fun of moving in lost it's luster after going through the first few boxes. Overall, it went pretty smoothly. A few things were broken as Customs officers apparently ransacked our carton during one of their random searches. They don't tend to pay any attention to the words "fragile" on boxes either when doing this. Several things were broken or missing, like a bureau for the baby's room, a box of electronic equipment, a couple of pictures, vases and kitchen dishes... bummer. Hopefully putting in a claim won't be too difficult and that's the worst of it!

Book Club Walking Tour in Amsterdam

Coffee with ladies from the book club I recently joined. We took a tour of sites around town that were part of the book "The Coffee Trader." I didn't read the book personally, but it was a great way to see the city. From left, me, Kathryn, Lora, Judy, Kim and Kay.

Our First Doctor's Appointment

Bryce and I went to my first doctor's appointment at a hospital in Amsterdam today. It was a bit confusing upon walking in as all the signs to point you in the right direction were in Dutch, so that wasn't very helpful. We found what we thought was the registration desk and they pointed us in the right direction upon giving me a registration card and asking about insurance, etc. The hospital was nice, the first floor was like an atrium with a lot of natural light coming in and fountains you can see through a big window overlooking a courtyard. Of course there was coffee and cappuccino machines where you could get yourself a drink while you waited. To the left of the registration desk was a reception area with chairs and all along the walls were the different offices - gynecology, obstetrics and some others that I couldn't make out because they were in Dutch. We were admitted to our appointment right away and followed a very beautiful, tall, blond midwife into an office that had a desk and chairs with an examination area at the back. it was all pristine and white and looked very state-of-the-art, just a bit nicer than the OB office partly under renovations that I was going to in Boston. The midwife introduced herself as Margot and spoke pretty decent English. In my haste to make it to the appointment on-time I suddenly realized I left my medical records at home. Ugh! So we talked through our history with her including expected due date, details about my last appointment and tests that have been run so far. To get us into the system, she said she had to ask us a series of questions, like family history, blood type etc. We ran through a bunch of the normal ones and then she asked us if we were related. Related? Confused, Bryce and I looked at each other and said, we're married..but she quickly was like, no, I mean are you first or second cousins or anything? We both laughed and were like, no, why? And she said oh, because we hear that happens a lot in the States. We were like really? Thinking suddenly about places like Utah or out west where this sort of thing may happen. We reminded her that we're from Boston and that it's not too common to marry a relative! She also asked us about how we do things in the US, like she knows that most people get an epidural and a scheduled C-section when the time comes. I think for all of us, it was an interesting conversation as the Dutch are very into doing things the natural way - whether in a hospital or at home, most women don't get an epidural, and C-sections do not occur unless it's absolutely medically necessary. Guess my initial thought about having a perfect little baby with lots of meds and no pain is going to have a change a bit! Just to be safe, we confirmed that they do have an anesthesiologist there 24/7 and an epidural can be given to anyone that requests it, unlike most of the other hospitals in Amsterdam. That was a relief. Sign me up! We had her put EPIDURAL (yes all in Caps) on the front of my file in the notes section just in case..

Drinks out with new friends in Leidseplein

Night out with expat friends we met our first week in Amsterdam. Jessie (pictured left front)

got in touch with me through the American Women's Club and is also expecting her first child in early November. She's from California and others pictured are from Minnesota, Chicago and New Jersey.