Baby bump comparisons

Now that I know my baby is about the same size as Sadie was when she was born, I was curious to compare my baby bumps.  What do you think??

Baby boy 32 weeks on left, Sadie 36 weeks on right

Clinica Alemana - ecografia

This is a logistics / experience post about having an ecografia in Santiago.

Clinica Alemana is wonderful.  I have posted previously about my experiences there, and I have to again say how impressed I am.  The hospital itself is new, fully modern, clean, well maintained, and it is ranked #2 in all of Latin America.  It is set up very efficiently, which means if you need to go to the ob/gyn, you go to that floor and follow the signs that tell you which receptionist to check in with (the options are general, PAP, biopsy, mamograms, sonograms, etc).  Then, they give you a receipt and you go to one of the many "cajas" and pay.  Then they call you and tell you which room to go to where there is someone already waiting for you (doc or nurse). Once in the room, you do NOT spend time waiting to be served like you do in the states.  On top of all this, there is a whole section of the hospital devoted to pacientes internacionales.  They are the liaisons for international patients and help set up appointments, translate, coordinate international insurance (which if you have an international plan you usually have to just file claims directly with the insurance company since Chile has a public health system.  however, if you go through the PI office, then they do everything for you).  It's really great.  And, best of all, they speak English!

For example, today my appointment was at 1pm.  I arrived at the PI office at 12:30pm (they ask you to come early so they can help you check in).  They then took me up to the OB floor and talked with the receptionist about checking me in as well as to make sure I didn't pay since they were billing my insurance separately.  I waited in the waiting room for 10 minutes and was called for my ecografia at 12:45pm (remember, my appointment was at 1).  The nurse set me up in the ultrasound room and the doctor came in immediately and did my ultrasound, explaining everything he saw, listened to the heart beat, all the usual stuff.  Took 10 minutes.  He then showed me to a "entrevista" room where I sat for about 2 minutes before he came back with a folder full of my sonogram pics, and a few pages of printed out statistics about my baby's biometria as well as where he is on the various growth charts for length, weight, head circumference, etc.  Asked me if I had any questions and I was on my way OUT of the hospital at 1:05pm.  5 minutes after my scheduled appointment!!  As an aside, for those who are curious, this visit cost a total of 63.933 CLP, which is roughly $115.  I only had to pay $23 since I have insurance - pretty good deal!

BEST PART: Sadie came with me (obviously) and sat in her stroller and watched the ultrasound being performed (she was shockingly very patient and well behaved!).  As soon as the baby's face came on in 3-D, she pointed and squealed with joy to see a baby.  Melted my heart.

So, if you ever are in need of a good OB in Santiago, just let me know!

Baby boy update - 32 weeks

I feel enormous.  I told Steve yesterday that I feel so much larger with this baby than I ever did with Sadie.  And, I still have 8 more weeks to go (cross your fingers I make it this time!).  This baby has been moving so much and I can feel him weighing me down a lot, much more than my first pregnancy.  Well, today, I found out why.  At 31 week 6 days, he is 44.8 cm long (roughly 17.5 in) and 2,069 g (4 lbs 9 oz).  At 36 weeks 5 days, Sadie was 18.75 in and 4 lbs 12 oz.  It's crazy how different they are.  The doc said everything looks perfectly normal, which is so nice to hear.

I also had a 3-D ultrasound done, which I never did with Sadie.  In fact, as an aside, the latest ultrasound I had with her was 17 weeks (!!).  So, here are a couple pics from the ultrasound.  If you are anything like I am, you will think these are adorably creepy.  I think he's going to have his daddy's nose, and I love that you can see his big squishable cheeks and pouty lips.

 

 

Smog

Santiago is notorious for its air pollution.  The smog here is just awful.  I have mentioned it in previous posts, but it is worth a separate one for those who ever want to come visit.  I had no idea it was so bad.  In the picture below you can see the smog layer (we were on San Cristobal hill looking over the city and its smog).  The smog gets worse in the winter time because of the cold air and the geography of Santiago (it's in a valley surrounded by mountains), so the smog just hangs here.  Yesterday and today, it has been very foggy, which means the smog just lingers even more.  We have been staying indoors and going stir crazy!

If you are ever curious about how bad it gets (I warn you that it is a little disconcerting), you can check the hourly air quality here: http://aqicn.org/city/chile/las-condes/

The upside is that we won't be in Santiago long, and we will be going to Antofagasta in a few months where we get a steady sea breeze all the time, which helps get us clean air!

Spa time!

On Sunday, I got a prenatal massage at the one and only Spa One & Only (yes, that's the name of the spa, and it IS in English).  It was wonderful.  Steve took Sadie to the park and out for lunch, and I took a nice long break from everything.  The only reason I'm posting about this is because I would be interested in knowing how a spa would be different in different countries.  Not that I'm an expert by any means.  However, I can tell you that if they didn't speak Spanish, I wouldn't have known I was anywhere other than the US.  Everything was very clean, nice, dimly lit, lots of candles (and of course Enya playing in the background).  Even the waiting room had pineapple slices floating in glass pitchers of water and plush couches and magazines. I was impressed, and everyone was very professional.  Best part was, it was about half the cost of a massage in the US!

The website of the spa is here in case you are ever in the area :)
http://www.spaoneandonly.cl/armonia/

A whole new world

Steve has always told me his favorite Disney movie is the Little Mermaid.  Great movie.  I would say my top two are Lion King and Aladdin (which should come as no surprise to those of you who know me) - had to throw that in there for the following story to make sense. 

When I saw Sadie's new sweatshirt (pictured below) I obviously had to get it.  We were so excited by it, when Steve got home, I told Sadie to go get it and give it to him.  Upon seeing it, Steve said, "Is that Ariel, I love that movie!" He then proceeded to sing "A Whole New World".  My jaw dropped, and I realized he was a Disney movie fraud this whole time.

 

Waving to herself in the phone "mirror".  So happy.

I visited America today

Today was the day the US Embassy in Santiago celebrated July 4th.  It was open to the public (although if you were not a US citizen you had to pre-register), but lucky for us, we just showed up with our US passports and got in.  They had hot dogs with all the fixins, a military band that played all the America songs you would want to hear on the holiday, and some really American-y cakes (see pics below). We sang the national anthem, heard from some of the key people at the embassy (e.g., the Ambassador), and drank hot chocolate (because remember it's winter here...). 

I'm not going to lie, it made me a little home sick, especially missing sparklers, bbqs and summer by the pool.

 

Being a good sport staying in her stroller (until of course the ceremony started...)

 

A pic of the ceremony's program

 Did I mention Obama was there cooking hot dogs? (Yeah I didn't get it either)

The world cup cake (GO USA!)

Not bad... but a little creepy.  I think they are supposed to be trees... (Sorry, Peggy and Charley, but they gave it a good try!)

 

 

Mickey Mouse on top of red, white and blue - what's more American than that?