The Baby Bump...

Ok I am finally getting around to posting some pics of my little baby bump...I am sorry this has taken so long...I tried to get some good ones this weekend, but I am afraid that they didn't turn out that great...
I have been feeling fine lately...My nausea has decreased significantly, however its not completely gone yet...I have been having some stomach pains every now and then...I checked my 'What to Expect When Your Expecting" book and it said that it's pretty normal and that it's probably my uterus expanding...Going to the bathroom is becoming ever more frequent, which is also pretty normal...All in all I feeling pretty good...So far, I have gained 10 pounds!!! We will be 16 weeks this Thursday!!!! I can't believe I am already 4 months- that's crazy! I talked to my sister, Tamara, this morning who is also expecting...She is about seven months! I am so excited to see my little neice- Khloe Shaylin!!!!! Everyone please pray for both me and my sister as we continue on this awesome journey of child birth.

Sightseeing in Iceland...

Sy took me and the two Americans ( Tom and Tyler) that play for FSU sightseeing this past Saturday. We went to see the Geysir and the Gullfoss waterfall. Then we drove through one of the national parks in Iceland. We were excited to get out and see some of the beatuiful sights in Iceland. We were not, however, excited about the weather conditions: cold and rainy. All in all we had a great time.

Thanks, etc...

I just wanted to say 'Thanks' to everyone who emailed us today to tell us that Al Rocker from the Today Show was in Iceland! Ya'll are hilarious! Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to meet him. We need a little more notice people...
FSU is currently 3-5...We can't seem to win on the road which is killing us...Fortunately, the next three games are at home! The next game is Thursday night- Go FSU!!!! There's a bug going around the team right now...Sy had is share of it and is doing much better, although he did lose some of his conditioning while he was out that week. Yesterday, four of the players missed practice due to illness. I hope that this bug passes soon and that the team can remain healthly for the rest of the season.
Elsa (Sy's mom), Siggi (Sy's dad), Saedis (Sy's middle sister), Siddy (Sy's baby sister), and Einar (Sy's nephew) came to visit us the past weekend. The team was off on saturday so they came to visit for the day...I love when they come to visit...We had lunch and dinner together...I made chicken-n-dumplings for dinner...They had never had them before and they enjoyed them for the most part...We cleaned out the big pot i made, that's for sure! They bought me this cool abstract painting that i have been wanting to hang over our black leather couch...I love it and it looks sweet!
I have been cooking alot and trying new recipes! Tonight I made pineapple teriyaki salmon...It was some recipe I found off the internet...I will not lie- it was the BOMB! We will definitely be having that one again!
The baby is doing fine...I will be 15 weeks on Thursday! The morning sickness is slowly disappearing...YYYEEEAAAHHHH!!!!

Our First Doctor's Appointment...

We had our first doctor's appointment here in Iceland on Wedsnesday morning. My nurse/midwifes name is Kristin. She is in her 50's I would say. She was really nice and she could talk English pretty good. I felt comfortable around her and she looked like she had delivered a few babies in her day. She will be my midwife throughout my pregnancy, unless for some reason I all of a sudden start not liking her for some reason. If that happens I can request a new midwife. Now things are obvilously done differently here in Iceland than in America, as far as having babies are concerned. From what I have gathered so far, Kristin will be with me throughtout the pregnancy and she will also come to my home after the baby is born and will assist me with anything that I need (i.e. help with breast feeding)...She will also come and check the baby's weight, vitals, etc to make sure that everything is okay.
We filled out some paper work and she checked my height and weight. I took a urine test which came back normal. I didn't take a blood test because I had already taken one in America. We listened to the baby's heartbeat and she said that is was STRONG!!!! We were thankful! It is such a neat feeling hearing your baby's heartbeat...No matter what kind of mood you're in you will ALWAYS smile whenever you hear it...
After that, she wanted to feel my uterus she so started gently pressing down on my stomach with her hands...she kept telling me to relax...she said something to Sy in Icelandic and Sy explained that I was an athlete and that I played basketball...Appartently she could feel my stomach muscles which made me feel great! I was, of course thinking, there are still muscles in there...By the way, my stomach is getting bigger by the day! I have got to post some pics soon...I promise I will...
After the feeling of the uterus I had some questions:
My first question was will I ever see a doctor during this process (No offense to her as a nurse/midwife, but in America we see doctors)?
Her response: No...not unless something goes wrong...She said that a very high percentage of pregnancies are normal. If everything is normal then there is no need for a doctor, but if something does go wrong then they call him and he will be there in a flash.
My second question was, of course, about an epidural. Do you have them? Can I get one? What's the deal?
Her response (as she smiled at me with this look like you naive American women): Yes they have them, but they don't like to give them to women unless extenuating circumstances take place (i.e. the women is in labor for a long time, etc). They like to use other methods to help the women through the pain like acupuncture. They perfer the let the women's natural endorphins kick in and assist in the birth process. She said that my body was made for this and that nature will take its course and provide me with everything I need to delivery our baby. She also told me that women that had received an epidural with their first baby did not want it for their subsequent children.
I will admit it was a good sales pitch, but I must have not looked completely convinced because at the end of her spill she told me that we would talk about it again on our next visit. I am sure that if I insist she will give me one, but right now I am seriously considering going 'Oh Nat-u-ral'.
All in all I think the visit went very well. My next visit is December 12 and I will have an ultrasound visit on December 23!!!! I can't wait to see my little peanut again...Oh, I guess it will be a peach or a grapefruit this time!!!!
Oh and me and Sy are seriously leaning toward NOT finding out the sex of the baby...I know everyone in America will be really excited about that decision! Finding out the sex of the baby is not near as common a practice here as it is in America. I think that we want to be truly surprised AND I think that not knowing will help me, especially if I am going to spit this baby out naturally!!!! That will motivate me to get the little stinker out becasue we will be sooooooo excited to see what it is!
Well that's all folks. Talk to you again soon...

Differences: America vs Iceland

I have been here for about a month now and I am, all the time, logging in my mind the differences that I notice between America and Iceland. The culture here in Iceland is obvisouly very different from what I am so use to growing up in Alabama. I wanted to share some of the things that I have noticed so far with you...I am sure that this will be "Part 1" of this blog entry because I think that as I spend more time here that more and more things will become apparent.
Well, mine and Sy's life has changed so much since our move here, especially for me. I went from being and full-time working wife in America to a "stay-at-home-soon-to-be-mom" in Iceland. One of duties as a stay at home mom is, of course, grocery shopping. Upon going to the grocery store, I noticed right away how small all of the portion sizes were. All juices and milks, for the most part, come in 1 liter containers...I am use to buying gallon size containers in America! I noticed that about so many of their products...especially meat, juice, and milk...Also, all of the refrigerators in most of the peoples homes, including my own, that I have seen are a lot smaller than fridges in America...I would say about half the size, which probably explains why the food portions are smaller... Some people here use their baloncies as fridges of freezers, if you will...In the winter its cold enough to keep drinks in a cooler on the balcony, which is what some do, who don't have enough space in the fridge...
The discipline of children here is different than what I am accustomed to. I have noticed that no one spanks their children. I heard rumors when I got here that it was against the law to spank your child!!! My first thought after hearing that was that the Sigurmundsson's may be back in Alabama sooner that we thought!!! That is yet to be confirmed though...I asked Sy about it and he said that he does not think that it's a law, but that it's more of a cultural thing. I feel that parents here try to reason with their children more than they discipline them. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out when a child is using a disrespectful tone, no matter what language is being spoken. All I can say is that the Sigurmundsson's will not be sparing the rod, nor will we tolerate disrespectful children.
I have noticed that Iceland has probably some of the best dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, etc) and the best water in the world. No one in Iceland buys bottled water...their water is great!!! It get's really HOT and really COLD. I have had to be very careful washing dishes bc I have most gotten 2nd degree burns!...I love taking long hot showers and I love it here bc the hot water NEVER runs out!!!
The gas here is RIDICULOUS!!! $8 per gallon!!! Yep that's right $8!....I here that gas in America is 2.00+ right now...Count your blessing! It costs us approx $95 to fill up our little VW passat wagon...I asked Sy why the drop in oil prices (currently ~$60+ per barrel) didn't affect Iceland like it did America...He said that its bc Iceland buys the oil in dollars and the dollar is VERY low here right now so the drop in oil prices doesn't do anything for Iceland. Gas, unfortunately, isn't the only thing that's expensive right now...Since the economic crisis hit over here everything has gone up really, including food.
Although Iceland has a state religion, which is Lutheran, most Icelanders only go to church for the christening of a child, Christmas, Ester, a wedding, or a funeral. If you ask, most Icelanders will say that they believe in God, but very few are living for God.
One of the most fascinating things that I have noticed about the Icleandic culture is how they "put their babies out" to nap. It is VERY common that mothers here wrap up their infants, they put them in these carraiges (it looks kinda like a bassinet with wheels...it zips all the way up so that nothing can get into the carraige with the child), and they put them outside on their balconies or right outside their back door, and they let the babies nap. The wind gently rocks them to sleep and everyone I have talked to here says that the babies LOVE it...They say that babies will sleep anywhere from 3-5 hours...I can't tell you how many Icelanders have asked me if I am going to "put our baby out"...I know that so many Americans are against it and I wouldn't dream of doing something like that in America, BUT if I can get my baby to take a 3-5 hour nap each day I am DEFINITELY going to consider it!!! I spoke with my mom about it and she thinks that it good for the baby and she a nurse so I trust her...
I have learned that most girls here start getting into boys and having sex at around age 14. Upon talking to some of Sy's teammates I learned that the girls are very "forward", if you will, about having "relations". That breaks my heart- they are obliviously searching for something...I also learned, from talking with the boys, that most parents don't talk to their kids about sex or the dangers of pre-marital sex. Also, most couples here live together and have a child together long before they get married, IF they even get married. I guess this one really isn't a difference between Iceland and America, it's probably more of a similarity. The shocking thing is that, according to my hubby, only about 20-40 people in Iceland have HIV, out of 300,000! I did some research and actually there about 220 people in Iceland living with the HIV virus.
Ok that's all for now...Stay tuned for Part 2...

Jesus Women...

Before we left for Iceland Bjarni told us about a little church here in Selfoss that we should visit. Last friday I was talking to Bjarni on Skype and we went to the church's website and found out that a group of ladies from that church meet the first saturday of every month from 10am-12pm for food and fellowship. This group of ladies calls themselves "JesuKonur" or "Jesus Women". I think that Bjarni could tell that I was feeling a little depressed or something that day so he encouraged me to go. By the end of the conversation I decided that I would attend the meeting.
The next day I got up and got dresses for the meeting. I could tell that Sy was happy that I was trying to get involved and meet some new people. I got there about 10 minutes late because I got lost, of course. In my defense, the little church was kindof hidden, if you will, behind a grocery store. When I got there about 3 ladies greeted me with smiling faces at the door. There were about 13 ladies there. There was also food and drinks, but I wasn't hungry...After a few minutes a lady, I assumed the worship leader, got up in front of the group and began to lead the ladies in song. All of the songs were in Icelandic, however I did recognize soem of the melodies. They sung about 5 songs. After the singing one of the ladies that had greeted me at the door came over to me and asked me if I would like her to translate for me. I was thrilled! Of course I wanted a translator! One of the ladies from the the group got up and shared what the Lord had been teaching her lately. She spoke about what it means to fear the Lord. She talked about that word 'fear' and how she has learned that it doesn't neccessarily mean to be afraid of God, but more so to revere Him or reverence Him. She also tied her message about fear in with obedience and love. She said that when she was young child she used to obey her parents out for fear of not being loved. That struck a cord with me...And I wondered how many times I have done the same thing...I am sure many times...But then I thought, isn't it wonderful that we have a Savior that loves us unconditioinally...no matter what we do or don't do...Romans says that nothing can seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen!
I was so happy that I went to the Jesus Women meeting that day...I left really encouraged! I also met several new friends: a lady named Michelle who is orginally from the Phillipines. She moved to Iceland 2 years ago with her husband and son. She goes to FSU for training in Icelandic and she offered to get together with me so that we could practice our Icelandic skills together. I also met another lady who just found out that she and her husband are expecting their second child. She is actually the pastor's wife. Appartently, they have a 5 year old daughter already, but had trouble getting pregnant again. They have been having fertility assistance and just found out that the procedure worked and that they were pregnant!

Under the weather...

Saevar has been sick since Sunday night...We don't know exactly what it is- it may be the flu...He is experiencing fever, loss of appetite, loss of energy, sore throat, body aches, etc...it's been awful...FSU had a game monday night against probably the best team in the league...We lost 125-91...Sy was really sick but he played anyway which, we think, made him worse...Sooooooo, we have been in the house for four days now and I am about to go postal!!!! No really, its been fine...FSU has a game tonight (Thursday, November 6) and Sy is going to sit this one out...Hopefully, we are on the tail end of this thing.
On a more positive note, the Sigurmundsson's would like to congratulate the Van Zoren and Waite family's on the arrival baby Arden and baby Brody! We are so excited for guys!