The last week of October was fall break here at Kyiv International School. Ken and I had hoped to travel to visit our good friends in Vienna. Unfortunately, we were getting mixed reviews from the various ultrasounds about Rawly's growth—some suggesting that he might come October 31 or November 4. As much as I love squatting over toilets, after our last train ride, there was no way that I wanted to be using the rocky facilities nine months pregnant over a 20+ hour ride. That settled, while most of friends headed to places like Italy, Norway, Poland, Croatia, Hungary, or Germany, Ken and I prepared ourselves for a week in Kyiv.
We slept in, lounged around, caught up on American TV episodes, explored new places, and simply enjoyed our time together—knowing that it would be some of the last for just the two of us.
Tuesday we joined a friend and her visiting mother for an Ukrainian folk concert. To our surprise the opening speaker was the President himself. We couldn't understand a word he said, but he spoke for sometime without use of notes or a teleprompter—the crowd seemed to eat up his words. After the marvelous show we too saw him as he waited for his children who had been in the performance and left with his family. Ken thought it peculiar that he waited 27 years of his life to see our own President-almost-Elect and now we've been in the Ukraine for three months and the President was close enough to touch!
Wednesday I went in for “routine” blood work at the birthing hospital and then we spent the day doing as much walking as my body could handle. Later that day we were back at the hospital to get the results—of which they informed us that my bilirubin count and ALS levels were higher than they ought to be. We talked with the doctor, then with a specialist—neither of whom could explain what it meant except that the liver wasn't functioning properly—then to off to do an ultrasound on my internal organs. The organs all appeared to be normal, no irregularities. They wanted me to stop taking my prenatal vitamins, start taking some type of medication (in Russian of course), and going on a diet basically consisting of porridge, boiled meat, cooked veggies, and baked apples. Needless to say, we were a little nervous about all of those things—were the meds safe to take during pregnancy? Would I be getting enough nutrients on a restricted diet without the help of vitamins? Were the levels high enough to hurt the baby? We spent the next couple of days calling back to the States, trying to figure out what was happening. After a lot of research and advice, we contended to take the meds and follow the diet With no other source of sugar besides baked apples, I was craving EVERYTHING—chocolate pumpkin brownies, ice cream, fresh fruit, and the list went on. A week on the diet and four days after beginning the medication I felt lethargic and melancholy. The blood tests showed no change, so we informed another specialist that I wouldn't be taking the medication or restricting myself on that (silly) diet any longer, I'm not sure if they quite understood what we were saying. To make the long story short(er): a week later my levels were lower! The doctor told me to keep taking the medication and remain on the diet, we fibbed a little and agreed for ease.
hospital into allow Ken to be there. What an answer to prayer! Ken just needed to get a normal flu vaccine (there are no s.f.v. here) and a good bill of health from the general physcian and we were good to go. So here's the happy soon-to-be papa! And mama, well let's say she was a little less exhubrant.
Tuesday we joined a friend and her visiting mother for an Ukrainian folk concert. To our surprise the opening speaker was the President himself. We couldn't understand a word he said, but he spoke for sometime without use of notes or a teleprompter—the crowd seemed to eat up his words. After the marvelous show we too saw him as he waited for his children who had been in the performance and left with his family. Ken thought it peculiar that he waited 27 years of his life to see our own President-almost-Elect and now we've been in the Ukraine for three months and the President was close enough to touch!
