Der erste Tag (The first day)

One day has now gone past. So far Owen has mostly slept. He woke up two times during the night, and had a few nappy changes. Nathan is proud to have successfully changed his first nappy but wasn’t able to catch the pee that projectiled towards him while he was reaching for the nappy wipes (recorded on video).

We’ve both enjoyed just holding Owen, though he is REALLY heavy. He must have spent the extra week inside packing on the pounds. He hasn’t cried that much, except when Nathan was trying to change his nappy. Here is a photo of him crying.

The nurses are obsessed with keeping the babies warm. The first night, the kept telling us off because "seine Nase ist kalt" (his nose is cold). He was wearing the standard hospital issue clothing and blanket, but they wanted us to hold him to our chest and wrap him in a big pillow as well. When he’s put to sleep, the big pillow is like a little doona. Here are a couple of photos demonstrating the methods.

It probably makes sense to take these precautions in a country with such cold winters. When a German asks "how cold does it get in Australia?", and we answer "maybe 10 degrees", they then ask "plus or minus 10?" The fact that they know Australia is a warm place, and they still need to ask that question gives you an idea of how cold it could get over here. The night before the birth, it was +3 degrees outside... and it's only November!

Useful German vocabulary for looking after a baby:

Stillen (Breast feed)
Saugen (Sucking)
Warum weinst du? (Why are you crying?)
Hugrig (hungry)
Müde (Tired)
Windel (Nappy)
Wickeln (change a nappy)
Wer ist der nette kleine Junge? (Who’s a cute little boy, then?)
Stuhl (Poo... or Chair!!)
Urin (Wee)
Spucken (vomit)
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine Blätter (German kids song)