Tag: Prague (Page 2 of 3)

A weekend in Budapest

November 20, 2019 / Ulrika / 0 Comments

Budapest is just a train ride away from Prague, so when our friends announced a weekend gathering in Budapest, it was just for us to book train tickets.

It was a loosely planned weekend with organized lunches and dinners, but what we did in between was up to us who came for the weekend. We have already been to Budapest once before, so this time we were focused on doing fun things with Othilia.
We had a lovely weekend with lots of play and discussions, the later with both old and new friends. We also meet up with our Hungarian friends and anarcho-capitalists who we first got to know at the Philosophy Europe convention in Prague back in September. Due to the nature of our whole weekend we won’t publish any pictures on our friends, but much more on us and what we were able to see of Budapest.

Budapest är bara en tågresa bort från Prag så när våra vänner tillkännagav en helgträff i Budapest var det bara för oss att boka tågbiljetter dit.

Det var en löst planerad helg med organiserade luncher och middagar, men det vi gjorde emellan var upp till oss som kom till helgen. Vi har redan varit i Budapest en gång tidigare, så den här gången var vi fokuserade på att göra roliga saker med Othilia.
Vi hade en härlig helg med mycket lek och diskussioner, det senare med både gamla och nya vänner. Vi träffade också våra ungerska vänner och anarkokapitalister som vi först lärde känna vid “Philosophy Europe”-konferensen i Prag i september. Eftersom våra möten var av mer privat natur så kommer vi inte att publicera några bilder på våra vänner, men fler bilder på oss och vad vi kunde se av Budapest.

This is our favorite picture of Othilia in Budapest. The Hungarian parliament in the background.

Now how did we get there? The train from Prague to Budapest took 6.5 hours and went via the Slovak capital Bratislava. The two-way tickets for us three (two adults and a child) were around 45 Euro. Othilia had fun during the train trip running between the wagons, here a well-deserved nap in Ulrika’s arms.

This is lovely to see bitcoin Atms and several of them here in Budapest. Not the best conversion rates though.

Our first evening in Budapest and what a welcome we got!

We love to walk around in Budapest due to the impressive architecture.

Our first whole day in Budapest started with Othilia showing her independence. She suddenly didn’t want any help and wanted to walk by herself. Here looking more closely at this purple scooter.

We tried to avoid this part of Budapest the last time we where here, so it was nice to see the tourist part of the city this time around.

We used google maps to find small parks for Othilia to run around in.

We found the Budapest eye, but we didn’t try it out.

Szent István Bazilika had a lovely square where Othilia could run around.

Liberty square had a water installation and Othilia was scared of the water funny enough, she usually loves water.

We just happened to come to Liberty square because we had found a playground that we wanted to take Othilia to. Best of two worlds, her parents could enjoy the surrounding on a macro level and Othilia enjoyed the playground on the micro level.

Othilia made huge developmental leaps while in Budapest. Suddenly, she wanted to push her stroller by herself.

We took several walks along the Danube river, it is a beautiful view from almost any place along both sides of the river. Last time we where here we visited the memorial for the 20 000 Jews that got murdered along the riverside during world war II, a place we really recommend people to visit.

This building in Budapest gave us “Atlas shrugged”-vibes.

New day and a new picture of the Danube river.

We had lovely weather here in Budapest. Othilia in her “Dalarna” dress in the end of October. She got that dress from her paternal granmother (farmor) and we love it. We truly enjoyed the feeling of late summer here even if the leafs had starting to fall down to the ground.

We got to see the Hungarian parliament building after sunset and it was spectacular. Our feeling of Budapest is that it is quite similar to Prague, but that Budapest is more of a large Metropolitan city, and feels bigger than Prague.

The weekend went by so fast and we had to say goodbye to all of our friends and head back to Prague. Thank you Sofia for organizing this weekend. You are welcome to visit Prague some day!
Next up is the end of October and our activities in Prague.

Othilia in pumpkin land

November 17, 2019 / Ulrika / 0 Comments

A pumpkin exhibition at the botanical garden in Prague made us happy when the temperature dropped again in October. Autumn was temporarily back with colored leafs and more puddles for Othilia to jump in. We went to the pumpkin exhibition with our friends in the Prague libertarian parents group and the kids had so much fun.

We are now reporting from the middle of October and the weather changed back and forth between late summer weather and autumn weather so we tried to take advantage of all the nice days here in Prague – we knew that winter was coming.
Now a few pictures comes from the pumpkin land and from the nice late summer days in mid-October.

En pumpautställning i den botaniska trädgården i Prag gjorde oss glada när temperaturen sjönk igen i oktober. Hösten var tillfälligt tillbaka med färgade löv och fler vattenpölar för Othilia att hoppa i. Vi åkte till pumpautställningen med våra vänner i Prags libertarianska föräldragrupp och barnen hade så kul.

Vi rapporterar nu från mitten av oktober och vädret ändrades fram och tillbaka mellan sensommarväder och höstväder så vi försökte dra nytta av alla de fina dagarna här i Prag – vi visste att vintern var på väg.
Nu kommer lite bilder från pumpalandet och fina sensommardagar i mitten av oktober.

Pumpkins in different colors matching the autumn.

We stopped at the pond where Othilia always tries to jump in.

Edward and Othilia plays in the South America garden at the botanical garden.

The botanical garden in Prague has also put up tipis near the South America garden.

The mothers inspecting the pumpkin garden.

The view over Prague from the botanical garden. Jana and O are enjoying the beautiful view.

The metal creatures are an art installation at the botanical garden.

Then we said good bye to the botanical garden for this time.

Othilia looks so “grown up” in this picture, not a baby anymore. The weather changed quite a lot in the middle of October. One day we had to dress Othilia in her overall (I don’t know how to best translate this word to English, winter suit?)

The other days we could put Othilia in summer clothes.

We took advantage of the lovely autumn days and she got to be outdoors and play with Edward.

Our friend Lynn decided to come visit us in the middle of October. We were so happy to have her here and Othilia loved playing with her. Lynn was a great guitar teacher for Othilia as well as stroller pusher. We hope to see you soon Lynn!

I have to end the blog with Pontus amazing morning photos of Prague. I can’t get enough of them.

Next up for us was a trip down South and visit another city we like – Budapest. More about that in our next blog.

Opt-out – Hacker’s Congress 2019

November 14, 2019 / Ulrika / 0 Comments

Hacker’s Congress is always at Paralelni Polis here in Prague around the first weekend in October. This years theme suited us well (Opt-out) and we bought the tickets as soon as they were released. The price was a bit higher this year, but the quality of the conference was higher as well. They had much more sophisticated recording equipment and most of the talks were recorded. Some speakers declined to be filmed for obvious reasons, but the open talks are available here if you are interested.

More and more children attend each year, so this year Othilia had a friend near her age to play with. Older kids also had things to do at the conference so the attendees of the conference is turning into a mix of young hacker’s and families with children.

I will show a few photos from the conference, but I highly recommend you to visit their Youtube page and look at the recordings from the conference.

“Hacker’s Congress” arrangeras alltid på Paralelni Polis i Prag runt första helgen i oktober. Årets tema passade oss bra (Opt-out) och vi köpte biljetter så snart de släpptes. Priset var högre i år, men kvaliteten på konferensen var också högre. De hade mycket mer sofistikerad inspelningsutrustning och de flesta av föreläsningarna spelades in. Vissa av talarna ville dock inte filmas av uppenbara skäl, men de öppna samtalen finns här om du är intresserad.

Fler och fler barn deltar för varje år som går och i år hade Othilia en vän nära hennes egen ålder att leka med. Äldre barn hade också saker att göra på konferensen så deltagarna på denna konferens har förvandlats till en blandning av unga hackare och barnfamiljer.

Jag kommer att visa er några foton från konferensen, men jag rekommenderar dig starkt att besöka deras youtube-sida och titta på inspelningarna från konferensen.

Othilia checking out the Bitcoin ATM. The only accepted currencies at this conference are cryptocurrencies, mainly bitcoin and litecoin.

The history and background of Parelni Polis was presented. Václav Benda was a Czech Roman Catholic intellectual and mathematician, that lead the anti-communist dissident organization Charter 77 when Czechoslovakia was under Communist rule. He wrote the essay Parallel Polis (parallel cities) in 1977 and he is an important person to the crypto-space here in Prague.

Some words about Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra.

Some talks was live on Youtube and more are now available on Youtube.

Ken Schoolland was one of the main speakers at the conference. He is an Associate Professor of Economics at Hawaii Pacific University and the author of *The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible*.

Othilia chilling in the bean bag at Paralelni Polis. We couldn’t bring Othilia to the lectures so we had to divide the interesting talks between us.

Othilia had her friend Astrid (and her mother Hayley) at the Hacker’s Conference. They already met at last years conference, both just a few month old and in a sling back then. Now they are running around at Paralelni Polis.

We also took Othilia out to playgrounds so she wouldn’t be indoors all day.

Othilia is an expert at stealing other children’s balls (look how happy she looks :)). We bring her own balls to the playgrounds, but she is never interested in her own balls, only those of others.

Back to the conference! We got handed a Venezuelan Bolivar at the conference – this piece of paper is now worth less than 1 satoshi (0.00000001 BTC).

The people who put the conference together – a big thank you for all the work you put in to make this happen!

We will end this blog post with a few pictures from the morning walks Pontus does.

Some boats on the Vltava river is part of the public transportation system, so a regular ticket is enough to go from one side of the river to another. They also start to go quite early as you can see by the morning light.

Libertarians in Prague and the Kokořín Castle

November 10, 2019 / Ulrika / 0 Comments

We get to meet Czech libertarians every time we come here, we have even started our own chat group with Libertarian parents in Prague, so that our children can meet and play with each other. The group is still small, but we hope that it will grow slowly.
The beginning of October means that our favorite conference of the year is coming up and this also means that a bunch of our friends shows up and we get to hang out with them. This year we took them to the Kokořín Castle, a castle totally surrounded by forest, and it is a nice day trip from Prague.

Vi får träffa tjeckiska libertarianer varje gång vi kommer hit, vi har till och med startat vår egen chatgrupp med libertarianska föräldrar i Prag, så att våra barn kan träffas och leka med varandra. Gruppen är fortfarande liten, men vi hoppas på att den kommer att växa långsamt.
Början av oktober betyder att vår favoritkonferens går av stapeln och det betyder också att ett gäng av våra vänner dyker upp och vi får umgås med dem. I år tog vi dem till slottet Kokořín, ett slott som är helt omgivet av skog och som är en trevlig dagstur från Prag.

The weather got a bit colder in the beginning of October, so we needed to dress up a bit to meet other children in our Libertarian parents group.

Our first meeting was at a playground in a park in the South of Prague. They also have a man-made cave system for older kids to play in.

It doesn’t even look like we are in Prague anymore,

Prague has so many playgrounds and we love that with Prague, so child friendly.

Our first Libertarian parent/child meet up was with the first lady of Liberland (Jana) and a thought-criminal mother (Caroline) according to the Swedish state media. If you don’t know what I mean about thought-criminal, you should watch the YouTube video linked at the end of the blog post. It is hilarious!

Some early morning pictures taken by Pontus on his walks.

It is so nice to see a city slowly waking up to a new morning.

The weather turned into summer again and we got invited to our unschooling friends Martin and Zdenka. Zdenka is involved in the Czech un-/home-/worldschooling community, but we have a lot more common interests than that subject. They are also interested in biohacking and longevity so we had so much to talk about.

Their newest family member Astrid is so adorable. We have met a few babies named Astrid and even a Margit here in the Czech Republic. It is interesting to hear such Swedish names pronounced with a Czech or English twist on it.

This is the conference that keeps us coming back to Prague each autumn. It is always the first weekend in October, so this means that a lot of our friends tend to show up here in Prague in the beginning October.

We can even have a Swedish Libertarian meet up here in Prague.

The first weekend in October means that we are inside a building most of the day so we decided to go on an adventure out in the nature to counteract being indoors all day.

our adventure took us to the Kokořín Castle. An old castle up on a rock in the middle of the forest.

You park at the river and then climb the stairs all the way up to the castle.

Kokořín Castle was built in the end of the 14th century.

It was heavily damaged in the Hussite wars (1419-1434) and stood as ruins until 1911 when a 7-year restoration took place.

The Kokořín Castle is open for visitors and we were able to climb up one of the towers.

The view is fantastic and a day out in the nature was just what we needed.

SVT (Swedish state propaganda channel, yes it is founded with taxes) found out that Swedish families are thinking and caring for their children’s future and calling us criminals for giving the advice to move abroad to be able to homeschool (it is still not criminal SVT to move from Sweden!). Our friend Caroline was “exposed”, because she is an administrator of a Facebook page about unschooling. It is hilarious to watch. Link to youtube (with English subtitles):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GFdbYfCGZI

Prague botanical gardens and Philosophy Europe Convention 2019

November 1, 2019 / Ulrika / 0 Comments

Prague has a botanical garden, and and we went there with our friends, the King family, and people from the worldschooling community. The botanical garden is up on a hill in Northern Prague, so when you reach the bottom half of the garden, the view is lovely – especially over Troja castle. Time-wise, we are still in September when we did all these things. I know I promised you October in our last post, but we’re not quite done with September yet 🙂

We also went to the Philosophy Europe Convention that focus on philosophy, Libertarianism and Austrian economics. It was the second time we attended this conference and we like how it is put together, both with workshops and lectures mixed with excursions in and around Prague with the group of participants that we now consider our friends.

Prag har en botanisk trädgård och vi åkte dit med våra vänner familjen King och människor från “Worldschooling”-gruppen. Den botaniska trädgården ligger uppe på en kulle i norra Prag, så utsikten är vacker när man når den nedre halvan av trädgården – särskilt den över slottet Troja. Tidsmässigt är vi fortfarande i september när vi gjorde det här. Jag vet att jag lovade er oktober i vårt förra inlägg, men vi är inte riktigt klara med september ännu 🙂

Vi deltog också i “Philosophy Europe Convention” som fokuserar på filosofi, Libertarianism och österrikisk ekonomi. Det var andra gången som vi deltog på denna konferens och vi gillar hur den är sammansatt, med både workshops och föreläsningar blandade med utflykter i och runt Prag med den grupp deltagare som vi nu betraktar som våra vänner.

Othilia in the botanical gardens! This is a good place to explore for small children.

The pond in the botanical garden with turtles and fishes swimming around.

They get along most of the time and she is following him around regardless if he wants it or not.

The botanical garden was ready for the autumn.

There are different areas in the botanical garden and a lot is created with the little people in mind.

The botanical garden ends with their own wine yard, where you can sit and have some wine and a lovely view.

Next door is the Troja castle and this is not a bad view to have while ending a day at the botanical garden.

Mornings in Prague, the sun goes up and Pontus is there to catch it.

Pontus always finds interesting things to take pictures of. This is a canoe slalom track in the river, this is not the only track in Prague we have seen so it seems that it is a more common sport to engage in here.

We had several meetings with friends from the Philosophy Europe Convention in the end of September and that brought us into the woods around the Karlstejn castle.

Othilia got to try riding daddy’s back when she wasn’t up for walking on her own.

We got to see the Karlstejn castle from the outside. The discussions we had in the forrest were so interesting and Othilia’s pace was not the fastest so we ended up getting to the castle outside of the regular visiting hours.

We also went exploring the city of Prague with our friends from the convention in between the workshops.

Part of the time were spent at playgrounds so Othilia would have something to do while the adults were talking.

We discovered a new part of Prague that we absolutely love – Vyšehrad.

Ulrika looks skeptical, but it was because her attention got caught by passing people. The sunset is beautiful and Othilia is always lovely!

Basilica Lawrence is standing on top of Vyšehrad and the cellar of the church is more than 1000 years old. You can feel the wings of history up on this hill!

Next we will enter the month of October in our blog updates.

What are the costs of giving birth at a hospital in Czech Republic

February 21, 2019 / Ulrika / 2 Comments

Long time no see! Time is prioritized differently nowadays, but I will try to find time for some catch up.
We have gotten a few questions about giving birth in the Czech Republic and I’ve already written about the birth story of Othilia in our previous post, so in this post we will answer what the costs were for welcoming our girl into this world in this spot of the earth. I will also insert cute pictures of Othilia for you 🙂

Det var länge sedan! Tid prioriteras annorlunda nuförtiden, men jag kommer att försöka hitta tid för att komma ikapp med uppdateringarna nu.
Vi har fått några frågor om att föda i Tjeckien och jag har redan skrivit om Othilias förlossningshistoria i vårt tidigare inlägg, så i det här inlägget kommer vi att svara på vad kostnaden var för att välkomna vår flicka till denna värld på denna plats på planeten. Jag ska också infoga söta bilder på Othilia för er 🙂

Othilia just 3 weeks old holding “mormors” (maternal grandmother’s) finger.

First to note is that I have a maternity add-on insurance that covered most of the expenses associated with the birth of Othilia. You can either pay out of pocket and then send in receipts and get money back, but birthing a child can get really costly quite fast, if complications occur, so we chose to set up a direct billing between our insurance company and the hospital, so that all our bills covered by my insurance would be paid directly by the insurance company.

Först att notera är att jag har ett graviditetstillägg på min försäkring som täckte de flesta av kostnaderna i samband med Othilias födelse. Man kan antingen betala ur egen ficka för att sedan skicka in kvitton och få pengar tillbaka, men att föda ett barn kan bli riktigt dyrt ganska snabbt, om komplikationer uppstår, så vi valde att inrätta en direkt fakturering mellan vårt försäkringsbolag och sjukhuset. Det betyder att alla våra räkningar som omfattas av min försäkring skulle betalas direkt av försäkringsbolaget.

Home from the hospital recovering from the blood loss, still very pale in the face but happy to be able to hold my girl while standing up.

The direct billing set up took us a couple of weeks, mostly due to summer vacations and that we had chosen a hospital that not so many foreigners with private insurance chooses. There are other hospitals in Prague that are more used to this kind of procedure and I think they can handle these sort of requests faster. We chose Rakovnik due to their reputation of being so woman-friendly and let us have the kind of birthing we wished for – a more natural and relaxing birth with our own private midwife and me being in control every step of the way, but with a medical team standing by if complications would occur.

Att sätta upp den direkta faktureringen till försäkringsbolaget tog oss ett par veckor, främst på grund av sommarsemestrar och att vi hade valt ett sjukhus som inte så många utlänningar med privat försäkring väljer. Det finns andra sjukhus i Prag som är mer vana vid denna typ av förfarande och jag tror att de kan hantera sådana sorters förfrågningar snabbare. Vi valde Rakovnik på grund av deras rykte om att vara mycket kvinnovänlig och låta oss få den typ av förlossning vi önskade – en mer naturlig och avkopplande förlossning med vår egen privata barnmorska och där jag är i full kontroll varje steg på vägen, men med ett medicinskt team i bakgrunden som är snabbt där om komplikationer skulle inträffa.

Othilia visited IKEA in Prague during Christmas preparation.

So what were the costs:

Birthing costs: from check in at the delivery ward to be rolled down to the maternity/child ward –
~27000 CZK (1050 Euro), direct billing
Complications due to major blood loss from early detachment of placenta: Surgery and two blood transfusions. ~18000 CZK (700 Euro), direct billing
Private midwife: 4 prenatal appointments, delivery package (taking care of my whole birthing 27 hours), 2 postnatal appointments (breastfeeding etc), translation and transportation costs –
~16000 CZK (620 Euro), out of pocket payment, got back after handing in the receipts.
Othilia’s care and new born tests at the mother/child ward (testing for different genetic diseases, hearing test etc)-
~4000 CZK (150 Euro), direct billing
Private room for me and Pontus: Meals and snacks for us both for 2 nights and 3 days –
~4000 CZK (150 Euro), not included in my insurance so we paid this by ourselves.

Så vad var kostnaden:

Förlossningsskostnader: Från incheckningen på förlossningsavdelningen till att jag rullas ner till bb –
~27000 CZK (1050 Euro), direkt fakturering
Komplikationer på grund av stor blodförlust från tidig avlossning av placenta: Operation och två blodtransfusioner – ~18000 CZK (700 Euro), direkt fakturering
Privat barnmorska: 4 möten före födseln, förlossningspaket (barnmorskan tar hand om hela min förlossning på 27 timmar), 2 möten efter födseln (amningshjälp etc), översättning och transportkostnader –
~16000 CZK (620 Euro), betala ur fickan för att sedan få tillbaka
Othilias vård och tester för nyfödda vid sjukhuset (test för olika genetiska sjukdomar, hörselprov etc) –
~4000 CZK (150 Euro), direkt fakturering
Privat rum för mig och Pontus: Måltider och mellanmål för oss båda för 2 nätter och 3 dagar –
~4000 CZK (150 Euro), ingick inte i min försäkring så vi betalade detta själva.

Othilia 2.5 months old after a bath.

Total was 2670 Euro, where 150 Euro was paid by ourselves. This is what four prenatal appointments, a 27-hour birthing, complications with surgery, a three day stay post-delivery and two home visits after birth costed in Czech Republic. I’ve heard that this is the price level to give birth here in the Czech Republic. If you skip the private midwife and don’t experience any complications the cost could then come down to 1350 Euro.
You can find more posh hospitals in Prague which can be a bit more expensive, but they also have a less good reputation if you are considering a more natural birth and want to be in control of your own birthing. However, this is only what I’ve heard, so if you have experience with other maternity hospitals in and around Prague, please share your experience here.

Den totala kostnaden var 2670 Euro, är vi betalade 150 Euro själva. Det är vad fyra prenatala möten, en 27-timmars förlossning, komplikationer med operation, en tre dagars vistelse efter leverans och två hembesök efter födseln kostar i Tjeckien. Jag har hört att detta är prisnivån för att föda här i Tjeckien. Om du inte anlitar en privat barnmorska och slipper komplikationer så kan kostnaden komma ned till 1350 Euro.
Du kan hitta mer “lyxiga” sjukhus i Prag som kan vara lite dyrare, men de har också ett mindre gott rykte om du funderar på en mer naturlig födelse och vill ha kontroll över din egen förlossning. Men det här är bara det jag har hört, så om du har erfarenhet av andra förlossningssjukhus i och runt Prag, snälla dela med dig av din erfarenhet här.

Othilia 3 months and has grown in to the size 62 clothes.

I’ve also written about why we choose to give birth in Prague and a few other things we were dealing with in order to welcome our Othilia. I can recommend reading both blog post if you are an expat (or Czech) thinking about giving birth in Prague.

Jag har också skrivit om anledningarna till att vi valde att föda i Prag och några andra saker vi hade att göra med inför välkomnandet av vår Othilia. Båda bloggposterna jag kan rekommendera att läsa om man som expat (eller tjeck) planerar att föda i Prag.

Othilia today almost 6 months and she is wearing size 68 now!

The birth of Othilia Svea Margit Englund

September 23, 2018 / Ulrika / 2 Comments

Sensitive readers are warned in advance. I want to write down what happened when Othilia decided to come to us and this story comes with specific details.

On September 5th, our beloved daughter came to the world after a long, hard and intense birth that ended in a bloodbath. We have decided that her name is Othilia Svea Margit Englund and she was 49 cm tall and weighed 3770 grams. Svea and Margit are after our paternal grandmothers, two women both born around the start of the First World War and they both were strong women from another time, so we wanted her to carry their names into the future.

Känsliga läsare varnas på förhand. Jag vill skriva ned hur det gick till när Othilia bestämde sig för att komma till oss och denna historia kommer med specifika detaljer

Den 5:e september kom vår älskade dotter till världen efter ett lång, hård och intensiv förlossning som slutade i ett blodbad. Vi har bestämt att hon ska heta Othilia Svea Margit Englund och hon var 49 cm lång och vägde 3770 gram. Svea och Margit är efter våra farmödrar, två kvinnor båda födda runt starten av första världskriget och de båda var starka kvinnor av en annan tid, så vi ville att hon skulle bära med sig deras namn in i framtiden.

Our Othilia Svea Margit Englund!

September 3rd, Monday

September 3rd was the calculated date of birth according to the first day of my last menstruation and this is the method used here in the Czech Republic, but I think that September 5th is the more correct date that we got from the week 20 ultrasound.

I have barely had any pre-contractions and they were definitely not regular, so when three contractions appeared in a row around 10 pm in the evening I began to track them. Over the next hour I measured 30 second contractions that came every 10 minutes, so I thought something was about to happen. I decided to take paracetamol and sleep to gather energy for a possible start of the birth.

3:e september var beräknat födelsedatum enligt uträkningen från sista mensens första dag och det är så det beräknas här i Tjeckien, men jag anser att 5:e september är den mer korrekta då vi fick det datumet vid vecka 20 ultraljudet.
Jag har knappt haft några förvärkar och ännu mindre några regelbundna sådana, så när tre stycken värkar dök upp runt kl 22 på kvällen, så började jag mäta värktiderna. Under kommande timme mätte jag 30 sekunders värkar med 10 minuters mellanrum, så jag anade att något var på gång. Jag bestämde mig för att ta paracetamol och sova för att samla kraft inför en eventuell start på förlossningen.

Picture taken September 3rd (39+5)

September 4th, Tuesday

I woke up at 6.30 am by a contraction and I was glad I got to sleep all night. Next contraction did not come until 07.40 and I managed to close my eyes between the two contractions. After that, the contractions came every 10 minutes and lasted about 50 seconds until 1.30 pm when the water broke and the mucus plug was pushed out. After that, the contractions changed character to appearing every 5 minutes and continued for 1 minute.
I had contact with my midwife Marketa and we decided to go to the hospital around 3 pm to avoid the afternoon traffic in Prague. Just before we arrived at Rakovnik, the contractions started coming closer together (2-2.5 minutes apart). At Rakovnik, a CTG measurement was done to check how Othilia was doing and at 4.30 pm, I was examined and I was only open 2-3 centimeters.

Hours went by and I was taking each contraction without any pain relief. we did try the birthing pool, it didn’t help much for the pain (I only got pain in my knees), and showering. At 11 pm, I was examined again and at that time I was 5-6 centimeters opened. I felt that I didn’t get so much reward for my work and I asked for some pain relief. I received half a dose (5 mg) Nalbuphin (a morphine derivate). Nalbuphin helped absolutely nothing against the pain, but Nalbuphin made me at least able to relax between the contractions and I was now able to rest.

Jag vaknade 06.30 av en värk och var glad över att jag fått sova hela natten. Nästa värk kom inte förrän 07.40 och jag lyckades slumra till mellan dessa värkar. Efter det så kom värkarna var tionde minut och varade runt 50 sekunder fram till att vattnet och slemproppen gick 13.30. Då ändrade värkarna karaktär till att komma var 5:e minut och värktid till 1 minut.
Jag hade kontakt med min barnmorska Marketa och vi bestämde att vi skulle åka till sjukhuset runt 15.00 för att undvika rusningstrafiken i Prag. Strax innan vi anländer till Rakovnik så blir värkarna tätare och kommer nu med runt 2-2.5 minuters mellanrum. Vi blir inskrivna, CTG-mätning görs, för att kolla hur Othilia mår och vid 16.30 blir jag undersökt och har bara öppnat mig 2-3 centimeter.

Timmarna går och jag tar värk efter värk utan någon smärtlindring, vi provar pool och det ger inte så mycket smärtlindring, bara ont i mina knän, och att duscha. Vid 23 så undersöks jag igen och då har jag öppnat mig till 5-6 centimeter. Då kände jag att jag inte fick någon belöning för mitt arbete och bad om lite smärtlindring så att jag fick vila lite. Jag fick en halv dos (5 mg) Nalbuphin (ett morfinderivat). Det hjälpte absolut inget mot smärtan, men Nalbuphin gjorde så att jag åtminstone kunde slappna av mellan värkarna och där kunna få vila.

We used the Pregnancy Week by Week app (by Amila) to follow the pregnancy and record the contractions during labour.

September 5th, Wednesday (Due date)

I worked with the contractions during the night, they were still around 3 minutes apart and Pontus was a big support for me. He gently stroked and massaged me hour by hour, gave me water and made sure I got some rose hip soup. He handled the music and recorded all contractions until 3 minutes before Othilia was born.
I tried nitrous oxide for the pain, but it did nothing for me not even a feeling of being “high”, so I stopped using nitrous oxide quite fast.

At 05:00, I was open 9 centimeters. However, the time between the contractions had increased to 5 minutes. This was the first time (of two) that I expressed that I would not manage this much longer. I received my second half dose of Nalbuphin and once again felt that I could relax between the contractions. At 6 am, the obstetrician wanted to give me oxytocin to make my contractions come closer again, as it felt like the contraction work was about to stop. Thankfully, I received a low dose of oxytocin. I was glad about that, because we found out during the night that I was sensitive to oxytocin. I had already been vomiting by my own oxytocin levels, so adding more meant that I was nauseous constantly until Othilia came out.

My midwife was amazing during my entire labour, she made me work with gravity even though I could barely stand up, she reminded me to breathe as soon as the panic began to creep on me and she let me rest when she saw that there was no more energy left in my eyes. We three (me, Pontus and Marketa) were really a team throughout the labour.

It was during this time that it was decided which surname Othilia would have. The pediatricians were really eager to know Othilia’s surname in order to prepare for her arrival and they had repeatedly asked for one during the night. At 4 am in the morning, they really wanted a surname and I, who were completely exhausted after all these hours in labour, told Pontus to choose which surname she would have, because I couldn’t care less about it at that time.

Jag arbetade med värkarna under natten, fortfarande runt 3 minuter mellan värkarna och Pontus var ett stort stöd för mig. Han smekte och masserade mig timme för timme, gav mig vatten och såg till att jag fick i mig lite nyponsoppa. Han skötte musiken och klockade alla värkar fram till 3 minuter innan Othilia föddes.
Jag provade lustgas, men det gjorde absolut inget för mig, inte en tillstymmelse till att känna mig “hög” eller minska på smärtan, så jag valde bort lustgas rätt så snabbt.

Klockan 05.00 så var jag öppen 9 centimeter, dock började tiden mellan värkarna öka till 5 minuter mellan varje värk. Det var här för första gången (av två) som jag uttryckte att jag inte skulle orka det här. Jag fick min andra halva dos av Nalbuphin och fick återigen känna att jag kunde slappna av mellan värkarna. När klockan var 06.00 så kom förlossningsläkaren och ville ge mig oxytocin för att få mina värkar att komma tätare igen, då det kändes som om värkarbetet höll på att stanna av. Jag fick en låg dos oxytocin och det var skönt, då det hade visat sig att jag var känslig för oxytocin. Jag hade redan kräkts av mina egna oxytocinnivåer, så en tillförsel av mer gjorde att jag var illamående och ville kräkas ända tills Othilia kom ut.

Min barnmorska var helt fantastisk under hela förlossningen, hon fick mig att arbeta med gravitationen trots att jag knappt kunde stå upp, hon påminde mig att andas så fort som paniken började krypa på mig och hon lät mig vila när hon såg att det inte fanns mer energi i mina ögon. Vi tre (jag, Pontus och Marketa) var verkligen ett team under hela förlossningsarbetet.

Det var under den här tiden som det bestämdes vilket efternamn Othilia skulle få. Barnläkarna ville absolut ha ett efternamn för att kunna förbereda för Othilias ankomst och de hade flera gånger frågat efter ett. Vid 04.00 på morgonen så ville de verkligen ha ett efternamn och jag, som var helt slut efter alla dessa timmar, sade åt Pontus att välja vilket efternamn hon skulle ha då jag fullkomligt struntade i vilket av våra efternamn Othilia skulle få.

Othilia just a few minutes old, showing her skeptical and determined personality.

The descent

At 8 am in the morning I had been awake and in labour for 24 hours and now I was told that I was open 10 cm. However, she was still far up in the uterus, so for the next 1.5 hours, I was in an upright position as much as I could to help Othilia get down to the birth canal. Around 09.15 am, I finally began to feel the famous pressure that tells the body to start pushing. With a lot of help from my midwife, I started to understand how to deal with this new feeling. I asked my midwife to show me how to breathe and I just imitated her.

I was standing upright, hanging in a piece of cloth, and I could follow the contractions on a monitor. I took some contractions on the toilet as the pressure caused the stool to squeeze out (I even pooped on the floor when I stood upright). About 9.45 am, I began to feel that the head was on its way out, so we switched to the knee position where I could lean my upper body against the pool and take the contractions, all while the oxytocin went in to my system giving me nausea. I was so exhausted, so I no longer could understand English. Pontus translated everything that my midwife told me to Swedish during the last hour and that was a huge help for me. Othilia was so strong during the entire labour, but we were now in the 27th hour and her recovery between the contractions began to take longer time so we decided that Othilia had to come out now. I would push with everything I got and my midwife would do everything to prevent me from rupturing.

Klockan 08.00 på morgonen hade jag varit uppe i 24 timmar och arbetat med att få ut Othilia i lika många timmar. Då fick jag beskedet att jag nu var öppen 10 cm, dock så låg hon väldigt högt upp så de nästkommande 1.5 timmarna så var jag upprätt så mycket jag kunde för att hjälpa Othilia att komma ned till födelsekanalen. Runt 09.15 på morgonen så började jag äntligen känna av det berömda trycket som säger åt kroppen att börja krysta och det tog några krystvärkar och en hel del hjälp från min barnmorska för att jag skulle förstå hur jag skulle tackla denna nya situation. Jag bad min barnmorska visa mig hur jag skulle andas och så härmade jag henne.

Vid det här laget så stod jag upp, lätt hängandes i ett tygstycke och kunde själv se när nästa värk var på väg med hjälp av en monitor. Jag tog några värkar på toaletten då trycket gjorde att avföring började pressas ut (jag bajsade även på golvet när jag stod upprätt). Cirka 09.45 så började jag känna att huvudet var på väg ut, så då bytte vi till knäposition där jag kunde luta överkroppen mot poolen och ta värkarna, allt medan oxytocinet droppade och jag ville kräkas. Jag var så slut att jag inte längre förstod engelska, så det hjälpte mycket att Pontus översatte allt vad min barnmorska sade till mig under den sista timmen. Othilia var jättestark under hela förlossningen, men vi var nu inne på den 27:e timmen och nu började hennes återhämtning mellan krystvärkarna ta längre tid så vi bestämde att Othilia behövde komma ut nu. Jag skulle trycka allt vad jag kunde och så skulle min barnmorska göra allt för att jag inte skulle spricka.

Ulrika was really pale because of the blood loss and hard labour process. Here, we were waiting for the umbilical cord to stop pulsating so the doctors could put Ulrika under narcosis.

The birth of Othilia – 10.15 am, 180905

Othilias head came out at 10.10 and I didn’t rupture. She immediately gave us a big cry, but we had to wait for the next contraction, because I had no strength left. The contractions were still only coming every 5 minutes, so it was a long wait until the last contraction came that helped me push out the rest of Othilia’s body. This wait made the obstetricians very nervous, so when the contraction finally came, they stepped in and “helped” her to get out. However, she had not been able to finish her rotation so her shoulder got stuck and so it was during this time I ruptured a bit, even though my midwife was trying to prevent it.

I received Othilia between my legs and I immediately saw that I was sitting in a pool of my own blood. With the birthing of Othilia, almost one liter of blood came out with her. Pontus described it as a scene from the Texas chainsaw massacre movie and I was lifted up to the birthing bed. I did not stop bleeding so while we waited for the umbilical cord to stop pulsating, a medical team prepared to put me under narcosis to find and stop the bleeding. For 15 minutes I held Othilia while we waited for me to give Pontus the signal to cut the umbilical cord. Othilias umbilical cord was very short so she lay on my stomach instead of on my chest. Once the umbilical cord was cut, the anesthesiologists put me under narcosis all while our favorite composer’s (Kai Engel) music was playing in the room.
The music made my awakening out of the narcosis like the movie Inception, where I awoke from unconsciousness aware of several levels of unconsciousness, which were heavily colored by the film in question.

Othilias huvud kom ut 10.10 och hon gav genast ifrån sig ett par skrik och jag hade inte spruckit något när huvudet kom ut. Jag var dock tvungen att invänta nästa värk, för jag hade inga krafter kvar. Värkarna kom fortfarande bara var 5:e minut och det blev en lång väntan tills sista värken kom som gjorde att jag kunde trycka ut resten av Othilias kropp. Denna väntan gjorde förlossningsläkarna väldigt nervösa så när värken äntligen kom så “hjälpte” de till att få ut henne. Hon hade dock inte hunnit rotera klart så hennes axel fastnade lite och gjorde så jag jag sprack lite grann, trots att min barnmorska höll emot.

Jag tog emot Othilia mellan mina ben och såg genast att jag satt i en sjö av mitt egna blod. Med Othilia kom även nästan en liter blod ut på en gång. Pontus beskrev det som en scen ur motorsågsmassakern och jag blev genast upplyft på förlossningsstolen då jag inte slutade blöda. Medan vi väntade på att navelsträngen skulle sluta pulsera, så förberedde ett läkarteam för att söva ned mig för att hitta och stoppa blödningen. I 15 minuter fick jag hålla i Othilia medan vi väntade på att Pontus kunde klippa navelsträngen. Othilias navelsträng var väldigt kort så hon fick ligga på min mage istället för på bröstet. När väl klippningen av navelsträngen skedde så var anestesiläkarna direkt där och sövde ned mig allt medan vår favoritkompositörs (Kai Engel) musik spelade i rummet.
Musiken gjorde att mitt uppvaknade ur narkosen kändes som filmen Inception där jag steg upp ur medvetslösheten väldigt medveten om flera nivåer på väg mot medvetande, vilka dock var väldigt färgade av filmen i fråga.

Pontus bonding with Othilia

After the birth

It was a part of the placenta that had detached and caused the bleeding, so it was taken out and they also stitched the ruptures together while I was under narcosis. I felt like I had been hit by a truck when I woke up and it took 4 hours for me to get strong enough so I could finally have Othilia in my arms and start bonding with her. She had been in safe arms during all this time with her dad, Pontus, that had the important task of bonding with Othilia during her first hours outside the womb.

It would later show that the blood loss and these four hours affected the breastfeeding and milk production a lot. More about it in the next blog post.

Det var en del av placentan som hade lossnat och som orsakade blödningen, så den plockades ut och de sydde även mig under narkosen. Det tog 4 timmar för mig att bli tillräckligt pigg så att jag äntligen kunde hålla i Othilia och börja “ bonda” med henne. Hon hade dock varit i en säker famn och Pontus hade fått den viktiga uppgiften att bonda med Othilia under hennes första timmar utanför livmodern.

Det skulle visa senare att blodförlusten och dessa fyra timmar påverkade amningen och mjölkproduktionen en hel del. Mer om det i nästa blogginlägg.

Othilia after her first bath the day after the birth.

Letná Park summer festival and living in the outskirts of Prague

September 2, 2018 / Ulrika / 0 Comments

Letná Park is the place for a circus/summer festival that has been arranged once a year since 2004. It is a two-week festival for both children and adults. During the days, children can come and watch daring performances, you need a ticket for many performances, and free open air shows. There are also other stuff going on in the festival area, e.g circus works shops and face painting. During the evenings, there are shows for older children, and adults, and all tickets can be bought online or at a ticket booth inside the festival area. We were there with the King family and had a nice day. We feel that we really need to plan things in to our calendar so that the days aren’t just about waiting for the birthing to start and the summer festival in Park Letná was a pleasant pregnant-friendly activity for Ulrika.

We don’t live in the city center, our goal when we were looking for accommodation here in Prague was to find somewhere close to nature and close to the road which will take us to the hospital. We found the perfect place for us in the outskirts of Prague just next to a wonderful park, but still close to the parts of Prague we usually hang out in.

Letnáparken är platsen för en cirkus/sommarfestival som har varit en gång per år sedan 2004. Det är en tvåveckors festival för både barn och vuxna. Under dagarna kan barn komma och titta på barnvänliga föreställningar, biljett behövs oftast köpas, men även gratis “open air”-uppträdanden. Det finns också andra saker som händer i festivalområdet, tex cirkus “work shops” och ansiktsmålning. På kvällarna är det uppträdanden för äldre barn, samt vuxna, och alla biljetter kan köpas online eller i en biljettkiosk inuti festivalområdet. Vi var där med Kingfamiljen och hade en trevlig dag. Vi känner att vi verkligen behöver planera in saker i vår kalender så att dagarna inte bara handlar om att vänta på att förlossningen ska börja och detta var ett trevligt gravidvänligt nöje för Ulrika.

Vi bor inte i Prags centrum, vårt mål när vi letade efter boende här i Prag var att hitta någonstans nära naturen och nära vägen som tar oss till sjukhuset. Vi hittade det perfekta stället för oss i utkanten av Prag precis bredvid en underbar park, men fortfarande nära de områden av Prag som vi brukar hänga i.

Every year, there is a Summer Circus festival in the Letná Park and this year we went with the King kids to explore the more child friendly part of the festival.

There are plenty of things to do here for the younger kids. The merry-go-round for the youngest, which was a human-driven attraction.

and a library on wheels with lots of board games for the older children.

You also had a circus work shop and kids who put up there own performances for the adults.

There were things for the adults as well, but the main shows started in the evening. We had the boys with us so we didn’t stick around for the late shows, which had age limits not suitable for the King boys.

We went back home and Ulrika captured the King boys deep in to their books. Winston has been reading since he was really young, but Henry was not that interested in reading until last year when he decided to learn how to read by himself and now he reads a lot. We are so impressed with Henry!

We live in a really nice area in the outskirts of Prague, so we decided to have a picnic and podcast date on a hill nearby us.

We have bought bluetooth-connected speaker for the coming birth. Here we listened to “Dekonstruktiv kritik” by Aron Flam, a podcast we recently started listening to that we find really interesting.

Here is a link to Aron’s web page.

On one side of the hill, we have the city of Prague and on the other side it is just countryside and farm land.

Sheeps are walking around just around the corner from us.

and horses are having their summer camp next door.

A Czech house on the countryside.

We have several kilometers of running and walking trails in the park, some asphalted and others are forest roads.

We also have an outdoor gym, barbecue area, playground and an observatory in our park, which is great for us who really don’t like being to long in a crowded city.

However, it is not far to the city center or other parts of Prague. It takes about 45 minutes to reach our midwife using only trams. It would go even faster if we would use the metro, but we do like going on trams in Prague, the city has so much of fantastic architecture so it is a shame to go underground if you don’t need it.

Our midwife is located near the dancing house, so this is what we get to see every time we see her. Ulrika was about to enter week 40 of pregnancy and a lot of things happened during this week, which will be covered in our next blog post.

Here you can read about why we have chosen to give birth in Prague.

Worldschoolers of Prague and Edward’s first birthday

August 26, 2018 / Ulrika / 2 Comments

We have been meeting up with the Worldschoolers of Prague during our first month here. Our friend Caroline is one of the organizers so that is how we knew that worldschoolers even exist. Below is a quote from their homepage about what the term worldschooler means and we think that it fits our family’s description well and how we think of “homeschooling”, a word that doesn’t give the meaning of the term justice.

“Worldschooling is basically to learn from the world. The whole world is your classroom! We dont believe that learning occurs by being forced to stay inside of a classroom. We believe in natural learning, from the world around you, together as a family.

Worldschooling is a form of “home-schooling” but doesn´t often occur in the home. Worldschoolers can or cannot follow a curriculum. Worldschoolers can be many kinds from homeschoolers that follow curriculums to radical unschoolers. It is up to the families what they do.

Worldschoolers are often travelling families that travel for a longer or shorter time. They can also be families that don´t travel but are eager to explore the world from their homes.”

We have also celebrated Edward King’s first birthday and it is interesting how much has happened during a year. We came to Prague in August last year to assist the King family during the arrival of Edward. They had planned a home birth and we where there to take care of the older brothers if they decided that they didn’t want to be there during the birth. Everything went well and Ulrika even got to be the birth photographer capturing this special moment for the King family.

Being part of and experiencing the birth of Edward was especially precious to Ulrika, who before the birth of Edward was absolutely terrified of ever giving birth to a child. After this experience, Ulrika now feel totally calm and are not afraid anymore of the thought of giving birth. It has helped a lot for the coming birth of our child, which can happen any day now.

Vi har träffat “Worldschoolers” i Prag under vår första månad här. Vår vän Caroline är en av arrangörerna, så det är på den vägen vi lärt oss att “Worldschoolers” ens existerar. Nedan följer ett översatt citat från deras hemsida om vad begreppet “Worldschooler” betyder och vi tycker att det passar vår familjs beskrivning bra och hur vi tänker på “hemskolning”, ett ord som inte ger begreppet rättvisa.

“Världsskolare (Worldschoolers) är i princip att lära av världen. Hela världen är ditt klassrum! Vi tror inte att lärande sker genom att vara tvungen att stanna inne i ett klassrum. Vi tror på naturligt lärande, från världen runt omkring dig, tillsammans som en familj.

Världsskolning är en form av “hemskolning”, men det förekommer inte ofta i hemmet. Världsskolare kan både följa en viss läroplan eller göra det helt utan någon form av läroplan. Världsskolare kan vara många typer, från hemskolare som följer läroplaner till radikala “unschoolers”. Det är upp till familjerna vad de gör.

Världsskolare är ofta familjer som reser för en längre eller en kortare tid. De kan också vara familjer som inte reser, men är angelägna om att utforska världen från sina hem.”

Vi har också firat Edward Kings första födelsedag och det är intressant hur mycket som har hänt det senaste året. Vi kom till Prag i augusti förra året för att hjälpa Kingfamiljen vid ankomsten av Edward. De hade planerat en hemfödsel och vi var där för att ta hand om de äldre bröderna utifall de bestämde sig för att inte vilja vara där under födseln. Allt gick bra och Ulrika fick till och med agera förlossningsfotograf som fångade detta speciella ögonblick för familjen.

Att vara en del av och uppleva Edwards födelse var särskilt värdefullt för Ulrika, som före Edwards födelse var jätterädd för att någonsin föda ett barn. Efter denna erfarenhet känner Ulrika sig nu helt lugn och känner sig inte längre rädd inför tanken på att föda. Det har verkligen hjälpt oss mycket inför vårt barns kommande födelse, vilket kan hända vilken dag som helst nu.

Meeting up with a bunch of Worldschoolers for the first time. (Photo by: Caroline King)

Ulrika and our child got an examination by a possible future midwife, who had brought her own midwife equipment, during week 37 of pregnancy. (Photo by: Caroline King)

August has been incredible hot here in Prague so the meetings have mostly involved playing in water, here in Park Stromovka. (Photo by: Caroline King)

The worldschooler meet up at lake Džbán, a really kid-friendly facility where the adults pay an entrance fee (90 CZK) and the kids go in for free. (Photo by: Caroline King)

There are a lot of things to do here for both kids and adults.

They even have a small baby pool. (Photo by: Caroline King)

We have also been involved in science projects indoors – here separating oxygen and hydrogen by electrolysis with excited kids watching the tubes filling with gas.

Prague is a great place for worldschoolers. There are so much things you and your kids can do from Science and sports to arts and crafts. There are events and workshops happening all the time here in Prague, so it is just up to what your child is interested in.

Edward’s first birthday was coming up so we where invited to a small birthday picnic to celebrate that Edward has been around for one year. The place was going to be Park Stromovka, which is an awesome park to spend a day in. especially when you are in week 38 of pregnancy.

Caroline had prepared a birthday cake.

And Edward got a lot of help blowing out his candle from his older brothers Winston and Henry.

Edward also got help to open his birthday gifts.

A few friends came to celebrate Edward. Suzanna has experience giving birth at the hospital we finally chose and we met with them the last time we where here to get information about Rakovnik hospital. It helped us hearing about her experiences, which in the end convinced us to choose Rakonvik. It was nice meeting them again on Edward’s birthday picnic to be able to update them on how we have solved our birthing plans. Now it is just about waiting for our child to enter the world.

Week 38 pregnancy update and blowing up the Stalin monument

August 18, 2018 / Ulrika / 0 Comments

Week 38 of pregnancy and we have installed ourselves here in Prague, it is here that we have decided to welcome our child. We are almost prepared for the coming birth, so we now have to plan small adventures or things to do so we don’t end up spending our days just waiting for the birthing to start.
We love Prague – the nature, the bitcoin-friendly atmosphere and the nice food cultures here, so we try to keep ourselves occupied, but within Ulrika’s energy level. Her energy level has really sunken this week, but more about being week 38 pregnant below.

Vecka 38 av graviditeten och vi har installerat oss i Prag, det är här som vi har bestämt oss för att välkomna vårt barn. Nästan alla förberedelser inför den kommande födelsen är klara, så vi måste nu planera in små äventyr eller hitta på saker att göra så vi inte spenderar våra dagar med att bara vänta på att födseln ska börja.
Vi älskar Prag – naturen, den bitcoinvänliga atmosfären och de goda matkulturerna här, så vi försöker fylla dagarna, dock inom Ulrikas energinivå. Hennes energinivå har verkligen sjunkit den här veckan, men mer om att vara vecka 38 gravid nedan.

Week 38 of pregnancy and here we are in the Letna Park getting a nice view over a few of the bridges of Prague. Ulrika is trying not to fall in to the period of waiting, so we try to do small adventures those days Ulrika is feeling less tired.

There is a metronom, usually swinging from side to side, now standing in the middle of Letna Park after they blew up a 15 meter tall Stalin monument in 1962.

The Stalin monument during Czech Communism’s glory days. This is one of the reasons why we like the Czech Republic so much. A lot of people still remember those days and do not want to go back there. (Picture from Wiki Commons)

So Ulrika entered week 38 of pregnancy and we decided to go skin deep to document this pregnancy. Ulrika feels strong and beautiful, but a special form of fatigue has hit her. The scale says that she has gained 16 kg (35 pounds), but she doesn’t feel heavy yet. Her extremities, mostly her feet, have started to swell, but the blood pressure is good. Baby’s heartbeat sounded healthy at our week 38 appointment with our midwife and the baby’s head is now in a downward position, but not quite fixated yet. We see our midwife once a week now the last couple of weeks before the calculated date of birth (September 3rd).

We don’t want to end up in a bubble of just waiting for our daughter’s arrival, then it is going to feel like forever before she is here, so we are fortunate to have our friends here, the King family. (Picture by: Caroline King).

Prague doesn’t have a lot of natural lakes, so man-made lakes are the place to go if you want to cool off during hot summer days. The temperature has been insane here in Prague as well, most days reaching temperatures over 35C.

Prague has a big Vietnamese community from the time where communist countries used to force their citizens to expatriate to other communist countries. We really like the Vietnamese cuisine, especially Pho Bo (Vietnamese beef noodle soup), so I’m glad that the Vietnamese community choose to stay in the Czech Republic after the fall of communism here.

Our midwife is located right in the middle of the tourist parts of Prague, so it can be hard to find nice food places, but our midwife told us about a lovely restaurant (Styl&Interier) in her neighborhood, which was hidden away in a back yard, where we could have lunch after a long appointment with her.

But mostly, we cook our meals at home and there are those little things Ulrika appreciates, like when Pontus has decorated our dinner (mashed turnips with fish in oven) with nicely cut out flowers made from a radish. Or that we have an IKEA nearby where we can buy Kalles Kaviar and hard rye bread.

We have done the last shopping needed before the coming birth here in Prague. This is another thing we really like about Prague, it is really a bitcoin-friendly city. There are around 14 two-way bitcoin ATM’s just in and around the Prague area, so it is easy to get the local currency if you can’t pay directly with bitcoin.

Here is a map showing the location of all btc ATM’s in and around Prague, both one- and two-ways,

And some days Ulrika hasn’t even wanted to step outside, so she has finally finished her crochet project, creating a warm blanket for “det lilla livet”. Ulrika is not in to arts and crafts, and she hasn’t tried to crochet since the days of high school, but it is remarkable how much information you can get out of Youtube. Ulrika had an idea of what she wanted to create and five Youtube videos (and a number of hours crocheting) later “det lilla livet” now has a blanket.