Katie Marie Dwyer

No words needed - "just pure joy" Karen says. Stay tuned for the director's cut.

Trier in the Rain

We did make it to Trier today. Probably our last sight-seeing for some time. We saw the Roman ruins from over two thousand years ago and a beautiful Church that was started around 300AD. More details and pictures some other date.

Karen's final NST check was fine and we rest tomorrow and check in on Sunday evening. One and a wake-up. We'll keep you posted........

Katie's Arrival Approaches

I was joking to Karen that if you look at our blog, it looks like we are on a giant vacation. Let me assure everyone there is a lot of other stuff going on. Our storknesting sponsor, Robin, has gone exceptionally above and beyond in getting us out of lodging and showing us the area. But we also are spending a lot of time taking care of the things that need to get done.

So today, I'm including just some of the things we are working on a daily basis on, such as...documents. Document, documents, documents! We have to apply for an emergency passport for Katie, a birth certificate for Katie, and a social security card for Katie. Plus, we also have to file a notice of birth abroad and get all of this expedited for through the American consulate and returned as quickly as possible after the birth. The American consulate gladly charges us $150 for that privilege - seems like it should be free for service members on a government directed move overseas. Then, once we get Katie back to Turkey we have to give Turkey $85 to allow Katie to be in Turkey. We have to pay close attention to all these document dates because Turkey is known for giving out one year residency permits that expire just before families are scheduled to leave Turkey forcing the families to purchase a second residency permit they only need for a matter of days to weeks.

Karen is also continuing with regular fetal monitoring at NST. They check the baby's heartbeat and movement along with Karen's blood pressure. All have been fine including Karen's blood pressure which has actually been excellent lately.

We also work on things such as preparing the labor bag, reading up on parenting, and taking care of other necessities. For example, last night Robin and Andy had us over for dinner but we also took the time for Robin to show Karen how the breast pump works and answer any questions Karen had.

On days we stay at Landstuhl, we sleep late, go to NST, each lunch, do our laundry, and try to keep in touch with those we can. Today we see the doctor at 1500 and will ask some last minute questions we have thought of. Then Karen has an NST on Friday. On Sunday, we are back in the evening for Karen to be induced. We don't expect anything to happen until Monday though. Karen and Katie will stay in the hospital a minimum of 48 hours. If all goes well, we would hope Karen and Katie could be released by Wednesday and that we receive our documentation back by Thursday. This would allow us to take the rotator flight back to Turkey a week from this Friday - however, more than likely we will have to wait on some paperwork and would be looking at the following week. We are hoping we can catch a rotator back because this allows to land at Incirlik and not have to catch a civilian flight into Adana.

If we are on base we can chose between three of Landstuhl top 5 dining choices: the Chow Hall, the Community Club, Burger King, Sub Way/Anthony's Pizza, or The Cappuccino Shop...actually those are ALL the dining choices. But we make do and the Chow Hall is quite good for my taste buds.

Tomorrow, the tentative plan is for our Storknesting sponsor to take us to Trier after Karen's NST appointment. Trier is the oldest city in Germany and is located close by near Luxembourg. It was established by the Romans over two thousand years ago.

This gives you a little "behind-the scenes-look" at how we spend a lot of our time. The hospital has fixed some of the computers in the cyber-lounge. Now there are 6 working computers instead of 2. So, hopefully, I'll have a few more posts before Katie arrives.

Dwyer Pictures From Germany

Karen on The Rhine River.

















Karen at the castle overlooking Landstuhl.














Drinking a meter of beer at the Kaieserslautern street festival with our Storknesting sponsors, Robin and Andy - no Karen did not drink.











Eating authentic German food in a small village near Vogelway.

The Rhine River

Katie Marie Dwyer continues her vagabond fetus travels - this time exploring the Rhine River for a second time with Daddy Dwyer on hand. Our Storknesting sponsor Robin and her 8-month old, Eve, took Karen and I on the Rhine River cruise again yesterday. We went by car about 50 miles north to Bingen-Rudesheim where we drove the car onto the ferry at Bingen (western side) and crossed over to Rudesheim (eastern side). There are no bridges anywhere to be found on this section of The Rhine. We actually never passed a bridge as we traveled north. The view was amazing - can't wait to post pics. There were at least thirteen castle's along the way. Everything looks like Disneyland except it's real - and it goes on forever. The first bridge was well north of our destination. At Rudesheim we boarded the tour boat which then proceeds north while stopping at most villages along the way. We got off several stops to the north at St. Goar where we had lunch. I had wiener schnitzel, which was essentially a thinly cut pork steak. After lunch we boarded the train and proceeded back down the river on the western side. We exited the train back at Bingen and took the ferry back across to Rudesheim, where the car was parked at. While we waited for the next ferry to get the car back across, we had apple strudel with ice cream and went in the Kathe Wohlfhart store. If you like Christmas - you will LOVE Germany. After all, a huge portion of those American Christmas traditions come from Germany. Kate Wohlfhart represents everything that is related to a German Christmas. You must check out their web site: wohlfahrt.com. Click on the "English" button for translation.

At the end of along afternoon, we crossed back over on the ferry to Bingen and drove back to the KMC (Kaiserslatern Military Community) where we had an authentic German dinner in Vogelway. I had jagerschnitzel and potatoes. The jaegerschnitzel was essentially a thinly breaded pork steak covered in a mushroom sauce. It reminded me of the breaded pork chops my Grandma Sprenger (Mildred Sprenger) used to make. I also actually walked up to the bar and ordered a beer with very little rehearsal. I don't know the spelling but I said something like "Ish mushta ein heffenveizen bitte."

Katie and Karen did quite well. Karen probably walked a good mile. We got a picture of Karen under Kathe Wohlfhart sign - "Kathe" is a German variance for "Katie." We are now scheduled for inducement on Sunday evening. Nothing is expected to happen until Monday. We still have a few more questions which we will be asking the doc this Thursday. We will be sure to keep everyone posted.

Where Are the Pregnant Karen Pictures?

OK whoever asked this hasn't been reading the blog very thoroughly. The only computers we have access to are government computers and they do not allow downloading. Unfortunately, it may be a while before anyone sees pregnant Karen pictures. We will get them up as soon as we are able. And also, we have very limited telephone access - if you don't hear from us it's not because we aren't thinking about you. We miss everyone! Happy 4th of July ! ! ! !

Karen Dwyer - Pregnant Castle Conqueror

Karen climbed a castle in Turkey during her first month of pregnancy and now she has climbed a castle in Germany in her ninth month of pregnancy! Not bad. Karen finally got over her cold today. We ate lunch at the Ramstein O Club and went out to Vogleway Where we bought three German Nutcrackers. Then we came back and found our way to Nanstein Castle (I've also seen it called Sickingen Castle - not sure which is correct), which overlooks Landstuhl village. Karen made it all the way to the top. I have to pull pictures from the web though - no way to download at this point. If you want to read the history of the castle, I found an excellent site by someone named Keith Laney at http://www.keithlaney.net/Legendary_Castles_of_the_Palatinate/Nanstein/castle_nanstein.htm

Another interesting bit of history is that Lanstuhl Regional Medical Center, or at least the land where it is, was developed by The Third Reich as a Hitler Youth School campus in the late 1930's. Supposedly, there are still some buildings left from that but I haven't figured out exactly which ones yet.

Tomorrow we see the doc again and should get a more exact idea about what will happen when. We are not sure if they will want Karen to keep coming in for monitoring as her blood pressure has been perfect the last two times they checked. We will also try to get as much paperwork done as we can tomorrow. there is so much paperwork. Birth Abroad documents, social security card documents, passport applications etc.

A picture of Landstuhl taken from the castle: