It's Liam!

On June 9, 2010, at 6:53 p.m. Moscow time, William Soren Rhodes was born.


He weighed in at 3.8 kilos (8.3 pounds), and was 55 centimeters (22 inches) long.

Liam's Digs

Here are some shots of Liam's little corner of our bedroom.

Dr. Elena

My Russian doctor is very sweet…she is probably in her 40s with bleached blonde hair and usually has a big bow on the side of her head. Her English was good…but sometimes the way she would explain things were a little difficult to understand…but it is better than Russian! Even though the hospital was very modern and my doctor was very professional…there were still a few things that were a little different. First rather than a stethoscope she would listen to the baby’s heart beat through a little wooden cone shaped thing. Also…every week she would get on to me for drinking too much water because my feet would be a little swollen. One week she even told me I should stop drinking water all together, that I would get enough from fruits and vegetables. I was a bad patient and kept drinking water…because I had rather have puffy feet than be dehydrated.

Learning the System

I started going in for weekly appointments at the Russian hospital. It was another learning experience to figure out this new system. When entering the hospital you had to give security your name and a reason for being there. Then you had to put on the infamous blue plastic booties over your shoes. Many places in Moscow require you to wear these booties inside…it keeps things cleaner…however, they are like little foot saunas and you sound like an army walking down a quiet hall. After getting all decked out in the booties you head upstairs to one window where you tell the lady what you need that day. They doctor gives you a check list of things to do before your appointment. Usually I order one doctor’s check-up, one ultra-sound and one ktg (baby heart monitoring). But you may also have to order certain lab test or other screenings. She then writes out little forms for each of the things you need. Then you take your order forms to another window where you must pay for each thing. Then she stamps the order forms and they are valid. Then you go to the different offices… where you give the nurse your order form and are called in when it is your turn. They each give you a report…which you compile and then give everything to your doctor when it is finally time for your check-up.

The Hospital

I was able to continue getting prenatal care at the international clinic until the last month of my pregnancy. At this point I had to be referred to a Russian doctor. Foreigners are not allowed to deliver babies. My doctor gave me a referral to a Russian doctor who spoke some English at the perinatal hospital here in Moscow. This is a new hospital and has a reputation for being really good. We went in for a tour of the hospital. You then had to choose a package option and sign a contract with the hospital. The 3 package options that they offered were the standard package, one private room and bathroom for the mother. Then there was the deluxe package, which was a room for the mother and a room for the baby. The baby’s room was fully furnished and looked professionally decorated. Then there was the VIP package which included the mother’s room, the baby’s room, and the Father’s room. The father’s room included a few couches and a huge flat screen tv. It also had 2 full bathrooms and a full time nurse who would sit outside your room 24 hours a day waiting for you to buzz her. Tim was really tempted by the big screen tv…but on hearing the $20,000 price tag…we decided that we REALLY liked the standard room. We decided on the most basic package and they drew up the contract. However, we ran into trouble trying to pay. Even though we had money in our account…the bank froze our cards because of the large amount we were trying to charge. This was a Friday afternoon…we were able to sign a promissory note that kept the contract valid for 3 days. Without a valid contract…if I went into labor…we would not be admitted. Being 8 and a half months pregnant…this made us a little nervous. We ran home to call the bank to try to get everything situated. After talking to 3 different people we were told there was nothing that could be done until the main office opened on Monday morning at 9 am. 9 am in America is 5 pm here…and the contract had to be paid for by 6 pm on Monday or we were looking at a forced home birth. Since the hospital is about 30 minutes away…Tim left our apartment at 4:30 on Monday with our bank card…and I got on skype to call in at 5 on the button. Thankfully I was able to finally reach someone who could actually help us and she unblocked the card for 1 hour. I called Tim on his mobile where he was waiting at the hospital…and he was able to pay and have everything settled by 5:45…just in time! Having the contract in hand took a huge load off!

Sergey

One of the main differences in the medical care here I have discovered from talking to friends is ultrasounds. Most of my American friends had 2-3 ultrasounds during their pregnancy. During my 9 month pregnancy in Moscow I have had 11 ultrasounds. I don’t know if this is healthy, but I did enjoy being able to see the baby so often and watching him grow. However, getting the ultrasound was always kind of nerve wracking. This was due to our ultrasound tech, Sergey. Sergey is blond haired, blue eyed, about 6 and a half feet tall and big. He looks like someone you would see in a movie as a mafia hit man…or a Nazi officer. Sergey never smiled and I only heard him speak 5 words. While having an ultra sound done…Sergey would glare at the baby’s image on the screen while he clicked on the computer…he would grunt and sigh as he measured the baby and listened to the heartbeat. Many times I was convinced that something was dreadfully wrong with the baby, it took awhile for us to realize that it was just Sergey’s way. At our 5 month appointment I summoned the courage to ask Sergey if he could tell the gender. He said yes and then grunted a word. Tim and I looked at each other, confused. I thought Sergey said boy, Tim thought girl. But neither of us really wanted to ask him to repeat himself. Thankfully a minute later Sergey pointed to the screen and Tim and I were thrilled to see we were having a BOY!

The First Trimester

I felt great for about the next three days…and then the morning sickness started.  It was bad…and not just in the morning.  I was hardly able to keep any food down.  I spent October, November and December feeling like I might die.  I was nauseous, and so weak that I could barely walk to the bathroom at times.  Leaving the apartment was an ordeal…Moscow is a city of many smells and I had never been more aware of them.  I remember vividly taking the metro to a doctor’s appointment.  I found an empty seat and flopped down.  The first breath I took I started gagging.  The man next to me smelled like vodka, fish and body odor.  It took everything within me to not get sick on that train.  

During this time not only did I feel bad physically, but emotionally I was frustruated.  There were so many things that I wanted and needed to do.  I felt like such a waste living in another country and not being able to get out of bed some days.  I had to learn to let go of control.  It was hard really learning that I didn’t have control of my circumstances, the world around me or even my own body.  It was a hard lesson to learn…and one that would be repeated over and over during this pregnancy. 

About a week before Christmas I woke up not feeling as bad as usual.  I declared that morning sickness was over and that we needed to go Christmas shopping.  Tim and I invited a couple of our friends to go with us to a big mall a little ways outside of the city.  We took the metro about 15 minutes to where we could catch the bus.  We got on the always crowded bus out to the mall, and found a place to stand.  About 5 minutes into the ride…I started feeling lightheaded.  I told Tim I wasn’t feeling well…he assumed it was the usual and started looking for a bag.  By that point I couldn’t tell him that wasn’t the problem.  I just held on to the bar in front of me and focused on staying conscious.  Then everything went dark and I felt peaceful .  I woke up about 30 seconds later on the floor of the bus with about 50 Russian faces all looking down at me.  Tim thankfully had caught me on my way down and was franticly calling my name.  It took me awhile to recognize where I was and what was going on.  Tim was finally able to stand me up and someone gave me a seat.  Everyone on the bus stared at me for the rest of the trip…probably thinking I had swine flu.