Happiness, Motherhood

And just like that… we are three.

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The news is out! I’ve welcomed a second child into the world. It was always my intention to have at least two children if possible. I’m beyond grateful that this is now my reality.

I will be taking off the rest of the year from my work as a locum physician to spend time with my kids and do some traveling. My goal is to share much more about my solo motherhood. I’ve received several requests to do more content about being a solo mother by choice. I’m thrilled there is a demand for it and excited to deliver. I’ve always been an open book about this topic whenever anyone would ask me about my decisions. I’m hoping to bring more awareness to this lifestyle, support those considering it for themselves, and cheer on those who are living their lives as solo moms! 

I will be sharing videos and info on Instagram/TikTok/Facebook. Additionally, I’ll continue to go more in-depth about these topics here on the blog. As I plan on traveling with the kids soon, I’ll be sharing this as well. I will continue to respect the privacy of my children. This involves not showing their faces in pictures or using their names in text. 

I plan to cover the different stages of becoming a mother for a second time as well as being a SMBC. Hopefully, you’ll continue to join me on this journey. Feel free to suggest topics you’d like to see covered or questions you’d like answered! I will do my best to address them!

For this (and possibly future posts) I will split it up into Past, Present, and Future segments. This way, I can discuss my pregnancy journey that was but also keep you in the loop of what is going on now and what is to come! 

PAST

Trying To Conceive

My siblings and I are all about 2 1/2 years apart. I wanted a similar age gap for my children. Although trying to conceive and pregnancies can be very unpredictable, I did more or less achieve my goal. After several months of being in Hawaii, I started looking for clinics. It will come as no surprise that there was not one located on Moloka’i. I did speak to the midwife on Moloka’i, who recommended a fertility clinic in Honolulu.

Thankfully, the fertility clinic offered virtual visits for the initial visit. I am a rather straightforward case. I have no known fertility issues. A workup was done with my first pregnancy. I already had sperm bought and didn’t need any hormone assistance for my cycle. Nonetheless, they did want me to do an ultrasound before the first IUI. For regular readers, you’ll know the difficulties of traveling to/from Moloka’i. For the first few trips to Honolulu, I traveled with sort of an entourage. My sister was still in town watching my first child while I was at work, so everyone came along for doctor’s appointments. It was a nice change of pace for us to be in a big city for a few days.

Attempt #1

Since everything looked fine on the ultrasound, I was able to attempt an IUI with the next cycle. I had regular periods for many months before trying to conceive which ended up being extremely helpful with travel planning. Given how unreliable the local airline was, I couldn’t book a ticket the same day or the day before. Consequently, we would spend two or three days in Honolulu. This in itself was not cheap given how expensive Honolulu is. However, given how time-sensitive an IUI is, it was a necessary expense. 

I was so stressed during the first attempt. Besides the usual stressing over whether I would get pregnant, I stressed whether we would make it on time with our flights. Not surprisingly, our Honolulu flight was moved by the airline. I felt it was safer to fly to Maui rather than Oahu from Moloka’i and then catch a flight with Hawaiian Airlines from Maui to Oahu. The flights from Molokai to Maui seemed to have less disruptions than those to Honolulu. My sister was back in Austria at this point. Luckily, she had a friend who lived in Honolulu. She was able to watch my child while I went to the fertility clinic for the IUI. 

Two weeks later, I took that test. And it was negative. I wasn’t really surprised by this. I just felt too stressed and I didn’t expect it to work right away anyways. Becoming pregnant is ultimately up to Mother Nature (aka biology). You can only do so much but there are so many things that can happen along the way that result in you not getting pregnant. Almost immediately after the negative test, I went ahead and booked my flights and accommodations around the time of my expected next fertility window. 

Attempt #2

Having everything booked and squared away at work made me much more relaxed the second time around. My toddler and I flew to Honolulu, ate some good food, and waited for the smiley face on the ovulation test. It appeared as expected and I was able to go into the clinic the next day for the IUI. My sister’s friend again had some time to watch my toddler during the procedure. 

An IUI, or intrauterine insemination, is rather straight forward. A speculum is inserted into the vagina to help visualize and access the cervix. A very thin catheter is inserted through the cervix into the uterus and the washed sperm is inserted. I had to lay on the exam table for an additional 10 minutes before I was able to get up and leave. That’s it. Easy peasy. 

Clearly, I had a very limited non-work-related wardrobe

Halfway around the world

About a week after the 2nd IUI, we headed on a very long journey to the other side of the world, Germany. This was probably the longest traveling journey I had done so far with a toddler. The time difference between Hawai’i and Germany is 12 hours. Given how long the traveling was (we arrived two days later than we left), my toddler didn’t have significant jet lag. I have only ever experienced jet lag by proxy (because my kid would wake up at odd hours) but not for myself. 

I was in the kitchen of my aunt and uncle’s place when I read the result of the pregnancy test. 

Positive!!

I was so relieved. 

Those who have actively tried to conceive will likely be able to relate to the feeling of relief from that positive pregnancy test. Not only the joy of being pregnant but the instant resolution of stress related to further attempt planning and waiting on a positive result. I am nonetheless always very reserved with my joy about pregnancy because I know how much can go wrong before it all goes right. But at that moment, I was just so happy that it had worked again. 

It’s always a gamble to announce a pregnancy early on but considering we were throwing a family reunion, I did inform my family and close friends of the positive result. Always with the caveat that it was still early and a lot could happen. Ultimately, it was up to Mother Nature and I let her take the wheel. 

PRESENT

Life with two kids has been a transition… for us all. 

Before the arrival of my second child, it was just me and my toddler. Living in rural Moloka’i, this was even more the case than if we had been around family. It was just the two of us against the world. I prepared my toddler weeks in advance for the arrival of a baby. I made a personalized book explaining what would happen when I go into labor so that they would know what’s going on. They were so excited to become a big sibling. I was excited for them,…and also a bit scared of what the transition would be like for them. 

Reflection and Growth

The transition has been beautiful but also hard at times. I never really felt that motherhood was hard until I found myself in the position of my toddler having an age-appropriate meltdown and my newborn needing my attention as well. My heart felt torn in two. I had to triage what needed to be done. Thank goodness for the years of medical training to help with that task and stay (relatively) calm. There have been moments where I was not as collected as I would’ve liked to be. The sleep deprivation likely didn’t help much in those moments.

My patience wasn’t as high for toddlerisms as it typically was. After reacting more harshly than I’d like, I’d feel awful that I reacted with a harsher tone. I made sure to apologize to my toddler for my tone so they know they don’t deserve to be spoken to like that. After reflecting on these moments, how they made me feel, how they must have made my toddler feel and how I would like them to feel instead while also reiterating the age appropriateness of their behavior, things have improved. 

One of the things that surprised me the most was how I mourned the loss of the closeness to my toddler. Before the baby, I could focus my entire energy and attention on my toddler. Now I couldn’t. I missed our snuggles, our hugs, our playtime. I felt us growing apart. Thankfully, I have family and friends here who jumped in and took over some of those needs. But it still meant they didn’t have their mom there all the time and I didn’t have those experiences with them. 

Now, I make the effort to seek closeness with my toddler in the few moments I don’t have the baby in my arms. Even when I am holding the baby, I get down on the ground and play with my toddler as best I can. I feel we’ve developed a new form of closeness that is meeting most of our needs at this point. I am confident we will continue to find our groove. 

FUTURE

Not surprisingly, I’ve been feeling the urge to travel again. I’ve booked the three of us a trip to Mallorca, Spain towards the end of May. We might take a road trip to the Netherlands towards the beginning of May (depending on the weather). In a couple of weeks, I am taking the kids to southern Germany for a family event. 

Traveling with two kids will certainly be another learning experience I am ready to take on. I recently came across the Bucket List Family on Instagram. Although they seem to be living the life I would love to live, being a solo mom with two kids would make such a lifestyle much harder. I’m happy to do a light version of their lives and travel often with my kiddos. I’m excited to show them the world and experience different cultures together. 

I hope you’ll continue to follow along!

mfg

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Happiness, Locum, Mother Nature, Travel

Aloha from Hawai’i

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It’s been a little over 6 months since we moved to Hawai’i. More specifically, we moved to the island of Moloka’i. It is known as the last island of “real Hawai’i” as all the others have been dominated by tourism. Tourism has its positive and negative aspects, but the majority of the population of Moloka’i has decided they’d rather not have tourism here. Instead, we find ourselves on a rural island with small-town vibes.

A Quick Island Overview

The whole island itself has about 7,000 people. It takes about 1h45 to make it from one side of the island to the other by car. It takes that long mainly due to the winding roads on the East end and speed limits of 20 mph to 45 mph along the whole route. About midway along the main road that runs along the south coast of Moloka’i is the main city of Kaunakakai.

Kaunakakai

Kaunakakai is where our critical access hospital is located, my office is across from it. This is also where you’ll find our main road. It has two grocery stores, the post office, the bakery, a few other shops, an art gallery, and that’s about it. There are no chain stores here. Amazon takes anywhere from 1-2 weeks to deliver goods.

East vs West

The East end of the island is lush with beautiful greenery and a water wall at the very end. The beaches we tend to go to on the weekends are located on the East side. The west side is flatter and drier. There are also some nice beaches that are bigger. But they don’t really have the palm trees lining the shore as the east-end ones do.

The impressive and historic North shore

The whole north side of the island contains the world’s largest sea cliffs. They are truly magical to fly by when you’re headed to or from Maui. Jutting off of those seacliffs is a triangular piece of land at sea level that is called Kalaupapa.

Per the national park services website:

When Hansen’s disease (leprosy) was introduced to the Hawaiian Islands, King Kamehameha V banished all afflicted to the isolated Kalaupapa Peninsula on the north shore of Molokai.  

Since 1866, more than 8,000 people, mostly Hawaiians, have died at Kalaupapa. Once a prison, Kalaupapa is now a refuge for the few remaining residents who are cured but were forced to live their lives in isolation.

https://www.nps.gov/kala/index.htm

Since many of the affected people didn’t know life outside of Kalaupapa, they decided to stay. The park services and state promised to continue to care for them until they passed as an effort to right the wrongs of history.

You used to be able to visit the community by taking donkeys down the cliff side but the community has been closed to visitors since the pandemic. There isn’t a timeline yet for when it’ll reopen to limited amounts of visitors. It’s something I would be extremely interested in seeing firsthand.

Life on Moloka’i

It was certainly a process of getting used to life here. Life is not hectic here, one of the things I looked forward to. We don’t have a movie theater, a mall, or even a Target to entertain you. The main forms of entertainment on the island are beach days, hiking, hunting, fishing, paddling, and spending time with your ‘ohana (family). For my toddler and I, that leaves us mainly with beach days.

Child care

During the first three months we were here, my sister Karoline joined us from Austria to be the nanny while I looked for local childcare. I knew that having an au pair was not going to be an option when I decided to come to Moloka’i. I also think an au pair would be bored out of their mind with minimal opportunity to meet similarly aged people. It wasn’t easy for Karoline either. She would spend four days at the house with my toddler. Our place was located up a steep hill, not within walking distance of a park or beach. On the weekends, we would make several trips to one of the beaches. She definitely got a lot of book reading in and started a bracelet-making business. I really appreciate her coming to help me out and realize it was not the easiest time.

I’m thankful I found a wonderful babysitter who now watches my toddler while I’m at work. There are a few other kids as well which is so much more fun than being the only kid. They play a lot outside in the mud and water. My toddler is even picking up some Hawaiian words!

Work

I work in an office with a really great team. The island went through a lot prior to my arrival. Two primary care physicians passed away (both having had long careers and large patient panels on the island). Two left the office to move back to Oahu (I came as a replacement for one of them). A primary care nurse practitioner also retired at that time. For an island of 7000 people, to lose 5 primary care providers was a lot. The one doc who passed away and was in private practice probably had a patient panel of 2500-3000 people himself. So my first couple of months were spent absorbing a lot of his patient panel into our office while also covering the panel of the doctor that moved away.

Thankfully, my appointment times are all 30 or 60 minutes slots. That is a real luxury as many of my colleagues would attest to. Even so, when I’m not actively seeing patients, I have a bunch of paperwork, orders, and coordination of care that keep me busy. I’ve continued with my four-day work week and don’t plan on returning to a 5-day work week anytime soon. It is such a wonderful work-life balance that I am grateful I can have.

The patients have all been absolutely lovely. Unlike many patient encounters on the mainland where you feel like patients merely use you to get what they want, patients here are truly grateful that I am on their island helping out and it’s a much more collaborative approach than I’ve experienced elsewhere. I think a big contributor to this is the beautiful Hawaiian culture that thrives on this island. They have such a wonderful respect for their kupuna (elders) and a sense of community.

Community

At first, we were rather isolated. The weeks looked pretty much the same. Go to work for four days, and be home with Karoline and my toddler for three days during which we would grocery shop and hit up the beach. But there wasn’t much interaction beyond that.

Thankfully, over time, I have built up a community of people. I’m not extremely close with anyone but I have made friends with neighbors, patients, and co-workers. Through one neighbor in particular (thank you Karoline for the initial connection), I have met many wonderful people who live on the island. We’ve had a few organized group dinners. I’ve been invited to patients’ homes and graduation parties. I’ve hosted a dinner myself too. So though it is mostly my toddler and I who spend time together, there is always a little event here or there to mix things up.

Cost of Living

The cost of living here is horrendous. Groceries are the most expensive I’ve ever seen them. I will easily spend $150 on not really that much. A watermelon costs $10-20 dollars depending on the size. I’ve seen a container of strawberries for $16! A big bag of chips will cost you at least $8. A packet of butter is easily $10. It’s insane. How anyone affords to live here, I do not know. I am privy to the fact that many share fruits and veggies among themselves that they harvest in their yards. I myself have an avocado connection and many patients have brought me mangos. But even so, all the things you can’t grow yourself (and are imported to the island) will cost you a pretty penny. Shockingly, even pineapples grown in Hawai’i cost over $8! It’s just wild.

I make my own soymilk. I initially was not able to find organic unsweetened soymilk. So instead, I ordered organic soybeans on Amazon and made the milk myself. It’s definitely not as creamy or tasty as the store-bought kind but it does the trick for cereal, cooking, and baking. I also made my own coconut yogurt for a while using probiotic capsules. It is not easy finding vegan alternatives. There are a few alternative meat options in the freezer section but two Beyond burgers will cost you $14. I mainly miss soy yogurt and tempeh/seitan. I do plan on trying my hand at my own soy yogurt one of these days.

Traveling Adventures

Traveling to and from the island is truly adventurous. Since the pandemic, there is only one airline that services the island, Mokulele Airlines. Funny enough, Mokulele means plane in Hawaiian, so it’s the plane airlines lol. Anyways, they might also just be the worst airline I’ve experienced. The pilots and staff have always been friendly so I don’t want to throw any shade at them. The issue lies with the schedules.

I have flown with them MANY times since being here (again, my only option) and I don’t think I’ve had a single flight leave on schedule. I’ve had several flights canceled, a flight moved ahead by 3 hours (sorry, I couldn’t leave work early), moved to different days, or delayed with no information given as to when we might leave and spent 5 hours at the airport with a toddler (so fun) before we left late at night. And all of these come without the benefits the big airlines give you. I’ve had to pay for my own hotels in Honolulu because we missed our connecting flight. I’ve gotten vouchers for flights that were canceled but not refunds. It’s as if they know they are the only option and couldn’t care less.

Every trip with them is a gamble. I’ve had appointments in Honolulu that I would fly out two days in advance and spend money on a hotel or Airbnb just to make sure I was there for the appointment. Oh, and they are so expensive! A round-trip flight to Maui (a 20 min flight) or Honolulu (a 35 min flight) costs $250 per person! The ferry that used to go between Maui and Molokai stopped service many years ago. So Mokulele is literally the only commercial way off the island.

Island Hopping

My aunt and uncle came to Hawaii for several weeks back in March. We met up with them on three of the islands on my days off.

Maui

Our first weekend with them was on Maui. Mokulele was doing the most so we ended up actually catching a private boat to and from Maui. My office staff really came through and found a boat with some room on it for us. It ended up being a bit cheaper than what the flight had cost and we got a nice 45-minute ocean boat ride out of it. We even saw several whales along the way. So although it was stressful to get it organized, it ended up being a cool experience.

We landed in the historic harbor of Lahaina. If you’ve been following the news at all lately, you’ll know that it tragically and horrifically all burnt to the ground this past week due to a wildfire fueled by a hurricane over 600 miles away from us. My heart is broken for the people of Maui who have lost their lives, their homes, their communities, and the life they knew. Lahaina was one of the cutest towns I experienced on any of the islands and it seems incomprehensible that it no longer exists. I’ll be posting some ways to donate to help those affected at the end of this post.

After grabbing something to eat and strolling through Lahaina, we drove to the peak of Maui, Haleakala. It holds the world record for the highest climb in the shortest distance- 10,023 feet in a mere 32 miles! The landscape changes several times as you drive up over the clouds to reach the peak.

The following day, we drove along the Road to Hana. There are many attractions along the way. It’s more about the journey than the destination. We stopped by the rainbow bamboo and the botanical garden. There are a few waterfalls to see along the way. We also made a stop at Hamoa Beach before heading back to the AirBnB through rugged terrain.

Kauai

To get to Kauai from Molokai, we first had to fly to Honolulu and then catch a Hawaiian Airlines flight to Kauai. As you probably already guessed, Mokulele royally screwed up this itinerary too. This is when we waited at the airport for 5 hours, only to have to get a hotel for the night in Honolulu and rebook our Hawaiian flight (for a fee as well) to the next day.

When we finally did make it, we had a great time. Kauai is a very beautiful lush island. We mainly spent our time on various beaches. My uncle and I took a helicopter ride around the island and got to see the waterfalls featured in Jurrasic Park. It was a wonderful experience that my toddler was able to join for free and slept through the entire ride.

The farmers market we visited had a lot of cool artists and beautiful flowers. The island had a bit of an artsy hippy vibe to it that I really appreciated.

Big Island

I was under the assumption that Big Island was going to be even more big-city than Honolulu. I was so wrong lol. The island is just that, it is very big but the towns are small. The two main cities are Kona on the west and Hilo on the east. We had our AirBnB on the Kona side. It’s a bit more in the mountains, cooler and wetter than in the east. Kona has an old hippy vibe and is filled with a lot of great shops and restaurants. Hilo gave off an old-time vibe with a bit of art deco flair. We took a trip to see the volcano. At the time, it was quiet, several weeks later in June, it was the active volcano in the news.

Overall, the big island had a very chill aura to it and wasn’t quite as touristy as Maui and Kauai are.

I really only got a small glimpse into each island over just a few days we were there. Given how expensive flights and especially AirBnB’s are though, I don’t have plans to return to the other islands for visits while I’m out here. I wouldn’t mind working a gig in Kauai sometime though, I’d like to explore that place some more.

Homeland

We took a trip to Germany in June. It was a long way to get there. We were there for two weeks and I did nothing else but see friends and family and host a family reunion. I never dealt with jet lag before becoming a mom. I just never had it. But now I get jet-lagged by proxy because my toddler is jet-lagged. It took about 5 days to get into a normal rhythm going there and almost a week when we came back. If I ever were to go to Europe from Hawaii again, it would have to be for at least a month.

What’s up ahead?

My original contract was only until the end of July but I extended it through the end of the year once childcare was established. I recently moved into a new house. After six months, I needed a change of scenery. I liked our first spot but I itch for change after 6 months. Our new place is actually the home of one of the friends we made. He is on the island for 6 months and on the mainland for the other 6. It’s a really beautiful house with a killer view of the ocean, a pool, an in-home movie theater, and plenty of extra space for guests.

My first guests were scheduled to arrive tomorrow but due to the events on Maui, had to cancel their plans. I was really bummed although I completely understood and agree with their decision. Although I’ve made friends here, I was REALLY looking forward to seeing some of my own people again and sharing the experience here with them. If I’m lucky, my next guest may be coming in October but nothing is booked yet. I’ll be headed back to Ohio and Rochester, NY next month for a quick week-long visit to family. Hawaii is really far away from anywhere else, so even a trip to the Midwest is an odyssey.

The above images were captured by the talented local photographer Arinna (ariannapaikii.com)

Support Maui

The wildfires on Maui were devastating. What those people are going through and what they experienced, if they were fortunate enough to survive, is unimaginable. I see Lahaina, or what used to be Lahaina, from our house. We had strong winds and a power outage for a few hours. Beyond a pool, deck, and yard that needed to be cleaned up, we are ok. There was a brush fire on the west side of Molokai that the firefighters were able to extinguish relatively quickly. What happened on Maui easily could’ve happened here and that is just terrifying. I was expecting so many different consequences from a hurricane but a wildfire was not on my radar. Since I am not physically on Maui and don’t have any items to donate with me, I have been donating money to causes that are helping people get what they need.

Please consider donating something. Even if it’s $5, that helps. Here are some links to make it easy for you.

Maui Food Bank

Hawaii Red Cross

Together Rising

Mahalo (thank you) for your support!

That is it for now. Take care and stay safe everyone!

mfg

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Happiness, Locum, Travel

Cows, Water, Flights & Family

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Dairyland

I’m into my last three weeks of work at my assignment in Wisconsin. It certainly hasn’t felt like 5 months altogether. This may be due to the fact, and I’m sure this won’t surprise regular readers, that we were quite busy. If we weren’t off to a different state or country, we were spending weekends visiting friends in Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago.

I work in a rural family practice with another physician and a nurse practitioner. As a locum, my schedule tends to fill up on the day of or a few days out. These visits are often same-day complaints, pre-op evaluations, ED follow-ups, and such. Things people would ideally see their primary care provider for but they are both essentially booked out for months! It is a different mind game seeing these sorts of visits on a regular basis vs typical primary care follow-up visits. I have a few patients I’ve seen on a regular basis, but the majority of patients are new to me every visit. It is all part of the gig as a locum, however, and I don’t mind it. Keeps things interesting!

I work with two medical assistants I’ve gotten to know quite well over the past few months. The rest of the staff consists of really lovely nurses, medical assistants, radiology techs, lab techs, and front desk workers. The feeling of familiarity amongst the staff was evident from the first day there. We have many laughs throughout the day.

On my drive home
View from the beach on the lake
Beautiful fall in Wisconsin

The substitute teacher of doctors

Many patients have asked if I would consider staying. The administration did that same early on. I make a conscious effort to be clear that I live a nomadic lifestyle and that keeps me sane. The physician I took over for, left primary care to work in urgent care for more of a work-life balance. There is another locum coming in after me to cover the first half of the year before their new hire starts permanently. I feel the era of having the same family physician for 20+ is over but you can still find the occasional doc that has stayed in the same practice over decades. There are a lot of factors that contribute to this trend. Burnout is a big problem among them. The locum lifestyle definitely helps me avoid burnout because I always have a new adventure to look forward to!

Time: A man-made construct

Mausi has done astoundingly well for all the time zones I took them through over the past few months. There have been no “up all night” or “sleeping all day” despite time differences of 12 hours. The kid is made for traveling and I am pumped about it. We’ve also visited the cock pit of two of our flights and run up and down airplane aisles countless times.

September

We started the month off in Waupaca, spending labor day with family and friends. Mausi even went down the water slide a few times…with my help, obviously. The following weekend, Mausi and I hopped over to Cleveland to see my mom and partake in my citizenship interview and civics exam (aced it). By the end of the month, my mother came to Wisconsin to hang out for 9 days.

Always finds buttons to explore
Took a lake cruise to see some of the estates
One of the fancy estates on the lake
Madison Farmer’s Market
Hot-Spicy-Cheesey-Bread at the Farmer’s Market!
Visiting some local farms
Nearby Apple orchard
Wisconsin kiddo with cows and Oshkosh B’gosh overalls

October

The first weekend of October, Mausi and I flew down to New Orleans to visit our dear friend and former Eugene nanny and her two boys. At that time, she was far along in her pregnancy and I helped get stuff done around the apartment to prepare for baby number 3’s arrival a few weeks later. Mausi was ecstatic to see her two friends again. It was a quick trip but filled with fun.

The following weekend, I was lucky enough to witness my best friend from middle school/high school get married. I missed a lot of my high school friends’ weddings because I was in medical school in Germany. Then I missed a lot of my med school friends’ weddings because I was in residency in Ohio. I’m so happy I was able to partake in his!

4/5 of the Fab Five
Fixing the groom’s bowtie

I officially became an American citizen! The judge presiding over the ceremony held a very beautiful speech about the importance of immigrants in a country like the USA. Lovely to hear, especially after the rhetoric of the previous president and his administration.

Personal record

Toward the end of the month, Mausi and I went on our longest airplane ride together. It was a direct flight from Chicago to Delhi, India. The outbound flight lasted about 13.5 hours, and the return flight about 15 hours. On the way there, I was given a new seat assignment during check-in with the hope that I would have a whole row for us. Unfortunately, when it came time to board, we ended up having someone seated in the aisle seat.

Mausi, being their usual curious self, was all over the place; pulling anything that moved, pushing all the buttons, and climbing on the tray table. The travel busy board and busy cube I had purchased the week prior provided a few solid minutes of entertainment. Mausi did end up sleeping for a good 6 hours. I laid them across the two seats we had and tried to position myself around them. That was minimally effective and quite uncomfortable. After trying that for 4 hours, I eventually just laid down on the ground and slept for 2 hours. That was enough for me not to feel like a zombie when we landed.

India – Delhi & Diwali

We were met at the airport by my boyfriend and his son. At their place, we were lovingly greeted and welcomed to their home by his parents and the house staff. We ate delicious home-cooked food and I got a proper nap while Mausi explored the house and had many willing eyes watch her. That evening, we all went to a neighbor’s place for a Diwali celebration.

Diwali is the Indian festival of lights. It’s celebrated by many religions and is one of the most important holidays in Hinduism. We got all dressed up in traditional Indian outfits and ate way too much food. Mausi met a few children at the party and played with them essentially the entire night, just coming to check if I was still around from time to time.

India – Goa

The next day, following our Puja (prayer) for Diwali, my boyfriend, his son, Mausi and I were off to the airport. We caught our flight to Goa. Goa is a coastal town about halfway down the west coast of India. Portuguese architecture is prominent due to the Portuguese history of colonizing the place. My boyfriend’s sister, brother-in-law, and nephew joined us in Goa. Our routine for the next several days was simple; wake up, get ready, go eat a delicious breakfast, and then spend the rest of the day on one of the various beaches.

So well behaved during the Puja
Looking at crabs

I even drove us home at night three times. For those who don’t know, they drive on the left in India. They also drive like crazy people! Very different driving culture than in America or Germany. We survived, no cows were hit (they like to just stand in the middle of the street sometimes), and no traffic tickets were issued.

After five days, it was back to Delhi. We only had the last day to run a few last-minute errands because our flight left at 2:15 AM.

Paging Dr. Hasselhof

While at the airport, it took forever to get checked in. I made it to the border control officer at the time boarding had started. And I arrived at the airport three hours before our flight time. Three stalls down, a man started having a seizure. Luckily, two others caught him and lowered him to the ground. I saw this all unfold and told the border control officer that I am a physician and should go check on that man. The officer was not impressed and told me to wait. Again, I pressed that time is of the essence and that I need to help keep that man safe. The officer continued to be unimpressed.

Finally, someone in the security line shouted out “is there a doctor here!?”. I raised my hand and exclaimed that the officer wasn’t letting me pass. Finally, a supervisor came and waved me through. I lifted Mausi out of the carrier and handed them to the supervisor.

How to help someone having a seizure

The main goal in taking care of a seizing person is to keep them safe. That means ensuring the area around them is clear, cushioning their head so they don’t hit it on a hard surface, and protecting their airway by positioning them on their side. Do NOT wedge something in their mouth. We quickly laid coats under the man’s head and positioned him correctly. I tried obtaining some medical history from his travel companion. He mentioned issues with low blood sugar but couldn’t tell me if the man was diabetic. Eventually, a paramedic came with a suitcase filled with medical supplies. At this point, the man had stopped seizing and was slowly coming to. He was still very confused, as was expected. He was surely even more confused when the seemingly only caucasian person at the airport was now hovering over him asking him questions.

Gotta go!

I stayed long enough for the paramedic to check that his vitals and blood sugar were stable (I had sent someone to fetch apple juice after the comment about low blood sugar in case we needed it). Vitals and blood sugar were good. Then it was time for me to go catch my flight. Luckily, the supervisor had me expedited to the front of the line at security but I still had to run, with a toddler strapped to my chest, to make it on our flight.

November

We were home for a mere 12 days before hopping on a flight to Germany. My cousin turned 40 and the whole family was coming together to celebrate. The week flew by because there were so many people to see. Anytime I am in Germany, there are a number of people I must see every visit. In the town I went to medical school in, there is a group of 6 people I do my all to see while there. Once again, I saw them all! The second half of the week was especially busy because everyone was arriving for the festivities. It was a good time.

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day in Germany

My older sister came with her husband and kids. None of the extended family had met her kids before. Her youngest and Mausi are only ten days apart in age and are like two peas in a pod when they get together. Pushing them around in my sister’s double stroller made it look like I had twins!

The week involved family complexities I won’t go into detail on this platform. But, I will say, I think it was a very successful week for my family overall.

Now, we are back in Wisconsin and I have been busy over the weekend packing and organizing. The following two weekends are already planned out before we have the last weekend to do the final packing. Then it’ll be off to Ohio and Rochester, NY for Christmas before we head back to India for a three-week vacation with my mother and her fiance.

So, where to next?

It’s official! I will be headed to Molokai, Hawaii for 6 months starting in February! I’m beyond excited about this next assignment. If you have any tips for the island of Molokai or any of the other Hawaiian islands, please send them my way. I plan on spending the majority of the time on Molokai and just enjoying island life. However, one weekend out of the month, I’d like to hop to one of the other islands. My younger sister will be joining me for three months to be Mausi’s nanny. I’ll have to find someone local to take over once she leaves, or open it up here for applications for a three-month nanny stint 😉

I hope everyone in the States had a lovely Thanksgiving with family and friends.

Stay healthy!

mfg

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Happiness, Travel

Staying Local

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We spent almost the entire last month within the Eugene area. It was a month filled with visitors. Friends from the modeling world came by as did my mother and her partner. The mom of my local nanny stayed with us for a week. So, its been quite the rotation of visitors which has been so fun. We have no more visitors planned before traveling ourselves in three weeks. It’s crazy, but my little baby will be one year old next month. To celebrate, as well as attend a wedding of a former co-resident, we will be traveling back to Ohio for a week in May.

Hey Eugene

We’ve been taking a lot of walks around town and have visited some great places. We continue to find new murals we hadn’t seen yet. With Springfield just a hop and a skip away, there is quite a bit of The Simpsons graffiti around. Here’s a list of a few places we enjoyed these past few weeks:

  • Oregon Art Supply: I’ll take one of everything please! They stock a lot of German art supplies from Faber Castell which is fabulous. Ally and I try to do Creative Night every once in a while and were stoacked to find this place for supplies.
  • Sundance Natural Foods: This well stocked grocery store offers tons of bulk items including grains, oils, spices, baking ingredients, nut butters, coffee but also dish soap, laundry detergent, shampoo and so much more! We’ve been trying different spices and ingredients. Its nice that we can bring our own containers for the bulk items. The produce sections is also top notch.
  • Hideaway Bakery: oh buddy, the bread from this place is the best I’ve found in Eugene to date. They also have a nice outside seating area. I can’t wait to return on a weekend day when its nice and warm out.
  • Wild Light Yoga Center: I FINALLY started doing hot yoga again. Since Covid numbers have been lower in the area and I am vaccinated to the recommended max, I feel comfortable going to in-studio classes again. The studio has a new comer one month pass for $39 of unlimited yoga. Pre-baby Viktoria would’ve gone to 4 or 5 classes a week with that pass. Working solo mama Viktoria at least made it once a week. It felt really good being back on the mat in a hot studio.
  • Saturday Market: I am going to have to do a whole seperate post about this with lots of pictures. In brief, its a market spanning several blocks filled with stands of homemade items and home grown goods. It takes place every Saturday from April to Thanksgiving. Eugene has a unique mix of people and I kid you not when I tell you I was the most Plain Jane person there. I don’t have tattoos, interesting piercings, funky colored hair, ecclectic clothes. The people watching was superb!

Newest Hobby

As previosuly mentioned, my baby turns one next month. We will be celebrating with my former co-residents, attendings and office staff in Ohio. There is a fabulous bakery in Youngstown called Bake-Me-Treats. The chocolate salted caramel cupcakes are to die for and the macaroons are the best I’ve had outside of France. They have made some gorgeous custom cakes for my sister’s and friend’s birthdays over the years and I was so excited to get a first birthday cake from them next month. Unfortuneatly, they have stopped making custom cakes. They still make their delicious cakes in multiple flavors but with set decorations. I highly recommend anyone coming in the vicinity of Youngstown, OH to stop by this bakery and buy a treat. I promise you, you will not be disappointed.

So anyways, since they don’t do custom cakes anymore and my heart was set on a cake with beautiful flowers, I decided I will be making my childrens birthday cakes as a new tradition. It gives me the opportunity to make that a gift as well as giving myself the opportunity to be creative. After a quick Michael’s run, I had the basic supplies I needed to try to make my own buttercream flowers. I still have a lot practicing and experimenting ahead. My plan is to have a cake for the guests and a smash cake. The smash cake will be without added sugar so that baby can eat the cake they’ll be smashing. I have a ton of ideas of how I want to create the flowers from the ingredients of the frosting to the flavoring. My first attempt went well!

Planning ahead

I look forward to the weather improving (lots of rainy days currently) and exploring the national parks of Oregon. These past few weeks were filled with so much fulfilling time with friends and family but it was centered in or around Eugene. Then this weekend, my baby was getting over rosela, so we took it easy and had lots of snuggles. Once the rain eases up though, we will be on the road and ready to explore!

We have some great trips to look forward to after our time here in Oregon. In August, we are booked to visit Panama for 6 days. If anyone has recommendations for Panama City, send them my way! Then in December, we are headed to India for 3 weeks! I’m so beyond excited to return to that beautiful country and hope nothing prevents us from going (its still such a long time away and the world seems so unpredictable these days).

I hope everyone reading this is doing well. To my friends observing and celebraing Ramadan, Ramadan Mubarak! And to my friends celebrating Easter next weekend, Happy Easter! My wish is that everyone is able to spend time in-person with family and friends whereever it is safe and feasible to do so. And to the people of Ukraine, I stand by you and I hope this godforsaken awful war is over quickly and the healing process can begin.

mfg

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Happiness, Locum, Mother Nature

From Land to Shining Sea

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Oh my! The last month was busy! Before I dive into what I’ve been exploring lately, I want to first address the horrifying things happening in Ukraine right now.

War has always been horrible. There are constantly wars and conflict happening around the world and often times, we are ignorant to them. To a certain extent, we have to be. If we knew about every human suffering occurring in the world, we’d all constantly be depressed and distraught. So we focus on news and events in our more immediate surroundings. When horrible things then happen to people that easily could also be us, it hits harder and deeper.

Since I’ve become a mother, my emotions are on steroids. I love harder, I grieve deeper, and I empathize more intensely. Where I used to see mothers and children of the world suffering and would feel terribly saddened by it, now I see myself and my baby in the women and children being bombed in the Ukraine and fleeing for their lives and its heart wrenching. I walk a fine line between staying informed and protecting my mental health. Since I’m on a contract right now, I can’t be in Germany helping the refugees. So instead, I am supporting various humanitarian aid charities that are helping the people of Ukraine. Hopefully, you’ve been able to do the same.

The clever ways people have been helping the Ukrainian people has been proof of human ingenuity. I’ve seen people booking AirBnB’s in Ukraine with obviously no intention of staying there but rather getting financial aide directly to those Ukrainians. I’ve read about information being shared as reviews on various sites because the Russian government is censoring social media.

It is absolutely despicable that one man can cause so much trauma, heartache, death and destruction. I don’t know how, but this war needs to stop.

Coming to America

A few days after my last post, my AuPair Ally arrived from South Africa. The first few days were spent giving her some orientation and letting her adjust with the jet leg. 10 days after her arrival, my aunt and uncle visited from Germany for 10 days. Thus, the last few weekends were rather busy and I enjoyed them fully. We initially wanted to take a trip to Crater Lake. My aunt had seen a TV show discussing blue colors around the world and Crater Lake was mentioned as being particularly beautiful. It’s still winter season here in Oregon however and the road circumventing the lake is closed at this time. We had a great alternative weekend adventure instead!

Let me share some of the fun things we’ve been up to!

Spencer Butte

The second day Ally was here, our local nanny (and now good friend of ours) took us on a hike up Spencer Butte. It’s located a short drive outside of Eugene. There is a steep ascent and a gradual one. We took the steep way up. My nanny and I each packed a baby and Ally packed our two backpacks. The ascent was not a walk in the park. It had rained a bit before we started our hike, so the paths were a slightly muddy at times. There was also a bit of boulder climbing involved but it was a lot of fun and provided some amazing views. We even saw a full rainbow once at the top!

McCredie Hot Springs

On her second weekend here, Ally, my baby and I drove an hour southeast of Eugene to take a dip in the McCredie hot springs. This was Ally’s first time seeing snow! There were a few pools available. We shared one with just 4 other people. Baby loved it! They love bath time so this was a special treat.

Sweet Creek Falls

The first stop on our weekend tour with my aunt and uncle was at Sweet Creek Falls. Located about 1h15 west of Eugene and on the way to Florence, is where you’ll find the beautiful forest and water falls. The hike was easy and took us through lush greenery up along the river to the waterfalls. The water was cold but I can see myself coming back on a hot summer day and splashing around a bit.

Heceta Lighthouse & Cape Perpetua

After a short stop in Florence to visit the marina and grab lunch and coffee, we headed north up the coast. Our first stop was the look out area overlooking the coast with the Heceta Lighthouse in the background. When I was here with my mother, we discovered hundreds of sea lions hanging out directly below us. Unfortunately, none were to be found this time around. So we snapped a few pictures and headed to the Heceta Lighthouse.

The parking lot for the lighthouse is located at sea level across from a beach. To get to the lighthouse, you have to take an uphill walk past the Bed & Breakfast to the lighthouse. From the top, I was able to take some nice pictures of the coast line. The blue, green, gray and white color palette of the nature is right up my alley.

Upon our decent, we spent some time hanging out on the beach and letting baby play in the sand. Afterwards, we drove 20 minutes north and up to the Cape Perpetua Lookout. From here, we could look down on the coast line and watch as the sun started to set. We didn’t stay for the actual sunset because we still had to find a hotel for the night and cellular reception was nonexistent for us where we were. We had intended to visit Yachats as well but decided to continue north to Newport for the night.

Newport

A few miles north of Yachats, I finally had cellular service and was able to look up a motel for us. We headed to the port of Newport to grab dinner. It was already pretty late and restaurants were close to closing. Luckily, the Clearwater restaurant was open longer than the others. It is situated right on the port. The best part was truly what was happening in front of the restaurant on the marina side. The floating docks were filled with sea lions! They were the first thing we heard when we got out of the car. It was dark, so we were only able to see the ones illuminated by the dock lights. It sounded like there were hundreds more hanging out in the dark bay.

The next morning, we grabbed lunch at the Nye Beach Cafe before going on a walk along Nye Beach. The ocean seems to really ebb and flood on this beach. We found beautiful sea anemones (amenonemomne?) amongst the rocks. There are some pretty cool shops in Nye Beach. We stopped by the Blue Pig Bakery for some delicious treats. The bakery is worth visiting even if you don’t have a sweet tooth because every room, nook and cranny is filled with gifts and goodies.

After stuffing my face with a scrumptious cinnamon roll, we headed back to the port where we had been the night before. The port is lined with a lot of shops, many quite unique. We browsed, snacked, and shopped for a while before heading back to Eugene.

Svikki MD

Work has been good. The patients I see have medical issues all across the board. I’ve had a few no-shows (not uncommon for a FQHC- federally qualified health center) which allowed me to catch up on the copious amount of tasks that flood my in basket. The team I work with is really great and I enjoy my time at work.

We are already looking ahead for the remainder of the year. Usually, jobs don’t get confirmed until 2-3 months before the start date. The job I’m currently at was confirmed unusually early and I’ve don’t it again with my next assignment. I’ve also been able to negotiate a pay raise which feels really good. Anecdotally, I’ve experienced women be less direct about pay raises and negotiating. It’s definitely still a work in progress for myself as well but I definitely scored a win this round.

Starting in August, my baby, Ally and I will be headed to…. Wisconsin! Go Badgers! lol

Me circa 2015

I will be working in a town close to Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago. I’m excited to show Ally the state I grew up in and it’ll be nice to be close to so many lovely friends I have in that area. Eugene doesn’t really get any snow, so we will definitely have to prepare Ally for a Wisconsin winter. She saw her first bit of snow here in Oregon but I’m going to blow her mind with a legitimate snow storm in Wisconsin should we have one this year.

So, to all my Wisconsinites, I look forward to seeing you and introducing my baby to you later this year!

mfg

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Happiness, Travel

Getting into the Christmas Spirit…sort of?

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Over the last several weeks, I have been back and forth between Stade and Göttingen. I’ve been visiting family and friends. I’ve also been spending some time looking through old pictures at my grandparents’s home and working on putting together a family tree.

I haven’t really done much exploring as I intended to. This is multifactorial. Firstly, going back and forth between Stade and Göttingen so frequently eats up quite a bit of time. Especially when I get back to the house in Stade, its grocery shopping, doing laundry, getting organized. When I leave the house, there is a checklist of things that need to be done and trying to pack as minimally as possible for the baby and myself.

Secondly, the weather has been a bit of a bummer lately. It’s not exactly an appealing thought to go on a long walks in the rainy, windy weather.

Thirdly, the COVID numbers have been rising dramatically again in Germany. These numbers are mainly fueled by the unvaccinated. About 68.6% of the eligible population is vaccinated. The distribution is not proportional. There is a clear north-south divide when you look at a map of the cases. The north is more vaccinated and has less cases. Northern states are taking ICU patients from the southern states because the southern hospitals are overwhelmed. With these rising numbers comes increased restrictions on public life. As of today, many parts of Lower Saxony have a 2G+ rule.

  • Canal in Buxtehude
  • A free library in an old telephone booth
  • Cinderella in Buxtehude
  • Die Sterntaler in Buxtehude

German Covid Regulations

In Germany, they have the 2G and 3G regulations. The G’s are geimpft (vaccinated), genesen (recovered), and getestet (tested). Many places already had 2G regulations in place. If you were vaccinated or had recovered from Covid in the past 6 months, you were good. As I mentioned, as of today, many increased the restrictions to 2G+. So in order to partake in certain activities (Christmas markets or going to get your hair cut), you need a few things. You have to be either fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid no more than 6 months ago AND need to have a negative test result from that day as well. Oh, and you still have to wear a mask.

The rising numbers have also caused many Christmas markets to shut down after only being open a few days or not opening at all.

Christmasmarket Adventures

I briefly visited the Christmas market in Göttingen last week when I was in town to grab some chocolates and flowers for my friend’s birthday. I had to show my proof of vaccination and ID to obtain a wristband. This wristband had to be shown to vendors to be able to buy anything. I quickly grabbed some fried mushrooms as a little snack. Back in the day when I was a medical student, we would head to the Christmas market as much as possible in the evening to drink some Glühwein (hot, spiced wine).

Yesterday, I drove to Buxtehude, about 20 minutes from Stade, to check out their Christmas market. Buxtehude is associated with fairytales. The city’s mascots are a hare and hedgehog. The story surrounding the two is similar to the American story of the tortoise and the hare. You’ll find statues and depictions of the two in stores, on the street and on street signs. For Christmas, they set up statues of various fairytale characters throughout the city. To enter the Christmas market, I had to show them my proof of vaccination and ID. I read a few of the stories posted under the fairytale statues and grabbed some Schmalzkuchen. That is fried pieces of dough topped with powdered sugar. Similar to funnel cake in the USA. Overall, it wasn’t really busy. Maybe I was just too early. But it didn’t feel like the typical Christmas market experience.

  • Buxtehude Christmas Market
  • Buxtehude Christmas Market
  • Storytelling in Buxtehude
  • Buxtehude Christmas Market

Mission: get into the Christmas market!

Today, I drove in the opposite direction and wanted to see the Christmas market in Himmelpforten (Heaven’s Gate). On the radio, I heard that Lower Saxony was now using the 2G+ rule and wondered if this would already apply to the Christmas market. When I arrived, I saw the large poster at the entrance gate announcing the 2G+ rule. I asked the gate attending where I could get tested. Luckily for me, there was a testing location in walking distance. Their website said they weren’t open for another 40 minutes but I decided to head over anyways. The walk was filled with light rain and fairly strong winds. My baby was tucked in the baby wrap under a cashmere sweater and oversized winter jacket. If it weren’t for the imminent threat of Christmas markets potentially closing soon, I would’ve gotten back into my car and driven home.

My wait at the testing center was maybe 15-20 minutes before being tested. They had opened early. When I exited the building, I saw that the line had quadrupled in length. I apparently wasn’t the only one surprised by the 2G+ rule. In Germany, you can use an App on your phone at testing centers. Your individual QR code is scanned and then the result is automatically uploaded into the app. Germany actually has a few Apps it uses. There is one for checking in at restaurants and such by scanning a QR code so that you don’t have to fill out the contact tracing paperwork. Another App verifies your vaccination status and one even alerts you if you have been in the vicinity of a person who recently tested positive. All pretty nifty.

Mission accomplished

Since it was going to take about 15 minutes for my test result to be ready, I headed to the grocery store to grab a few items. When the test result was on my phone, I finally headed to the Christmas market. All in all, about an hour after I originally arrived.

It was a bit depressing to see how empty the Christmas market was. This was likely due to all the people still standing in line to get their Covid test. There were a lot of vendors with handmade crafts as well as several food and beverage vendors. I walked around a bit looking to see if they had potatoes pancakes (one of my favorite Christmas market foods) but unfortunately, they didn’t. Nonetheless, I wanted to support the vendors, so I found one selling deep-fried apple rings. At this point, baby was over being in the carrier, so I decided to head back to the car and head home. Again, the real feeling of Christmas market was lacking a bit unfortunately.

  • The church in Himmelpforten (Heaven’s Gate)
  • Christkindmarkt Himmelpforten
  • The calorie bomb in Himmelpforten
  • Christkindmarkt HImmelpforten

Practicing gratefulness

I really am grateful that I’ve had the few Christmas market visits so far. There are a few more on my radar I’d like to visit in the near future. I’m even willing to take on some of the increased security measures to do so. But I also fear many will shut down or not even open because there won’t be enough visitors. It’s a bit sad because if it weren’t for Covid, I’d visit the markets in Hamburg, Hannover, Kassel and so on. They would be filled with people, laughter, food, drinks, snacks, lights, decorations and fun. It would be a time to spend with family and friends and make memories. Maybe I’m idealizing the experience a bit because it’s been so long since its been that way for me. The first few years after graduating medical school because I wasn’t in Germany and the last two years because of Covid.

If pandemics of the past are any indication however, this time of restriction too shall pass. I guess I’m also grateful that my baby is just that, a baby and won’t remember this time anyways. Hopefully, by the time long-term memory kicks in, Christmas markets will be back to their old glory and we can eat, laugh, drink, play and make memories together then.

mfg

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Happiness, Travel, Uncategorized

Oh The Places You’ll Go

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Well hello again!

It feels like forever since I last posted…almost two months ago! It definitely wasn’t my intention to wait this long but I’ve been rather busy.

I spent the first week of September visiting my sister and her family in Rochester, New York. Then it was back to Ohio to get things moved out of my apartment and into a storage unit. Since I wasn’t going to be working in the area, it didn’t make sense to keep an apartment. When choosing the storage unit, I wanted one that was climate-controlled and big enough that I could set up my garment racks, dressers, and shelves in it. I didn’t want to have to look through boxes when I make pitstops in Ohio to exchange items between contracts.

Once the storage unit was found, I spent the next couple of weeks slowly moving things into it. At the same time, I was in the process of selling the car I had been using. I was also interviewing and working out details with the Au Pair agency. All of this didn’t leave much time to write.

Then, on October 7th, I flew back to Germany with my child and this time, Omi (my mother) came along!

Quarantine Baby

At the time of our arrival in Germany, children under the age of 12 had to go into quarantine for 5 days. This even applied to infants. Luckily my mother and I did not have to quarantine since we are both vaccinated. In order to make the most of the time either one of us could leave the apartment, I booked us an AirBnB right by Jungfernstieg in downtown Hamburg.

  • Alster, Hamburg
  • Hamburg AirBnB
  • Hamburg AirBnB

I’ve visited downtown Hamburg many times but usually only for day trips or I’d be in the suburbs visiting family. It was nice to be able to leave the building and be in the middle of the action. I let my mom be out and about most of the time. I spent my time playing with my child or crocheting (I’m really into that at the moment).

  • Hamburg Rathaus
  • Hamburg Canals
  • My crocheted snail

The Car Seat Saga

When I did leave the apartment during nap times, I spent most of the time looking for and buying cloth diapers. The car seat I had checked in at the Cleveland airport didn’t make it to Hamburg when we did. I had fastened the entire cloth diaper collection I had into the seat before checking it. I wasn’t about to buy disposable diapers. Luckily, I found some muslin cloth diapers and a new diaper cover I quite liked.

Three days later, I received the notification that they had found the car seat in Amsterdam and would be sending it to Hamburg the next evening. This would’ve given them a whole day to deliver it to the apartment (a 20 min trip from the airport) however, the night before our planned departure, it still hadn’t arrived. There wasn’t anyone I could call either, it was all done via email with the airline (not the baggage handlers).

I ultimately gave them the address of my uncle’s place and told them I’d have to rent/buy a car seat in the meantime since we had a long driving trip ahead of us. They said the car seat was already with the delivery service and that they would inform them of the new address. We took the train to go pick up my uncle’s car that was parked at my grandparent’s house. I went to a children’s store fully expecting to buy a new seat but the owner was so cool and offered to rent one to me instead.

Can a car seat earn airline miles?

Several days later, I received a call in the middle of the night (luckily unnoticed since I silence my phone at night) from Cleveland. The voicemail informed me that my car seat had made it back to Cleveland and they were wondering where they should send it. I called the baggage department back and actually got the same guy on the phone that left the message. We agreed that he would send the car seat back to Hamburg and that it would then stay there until I came back to drop off my mother for her return flight.

Luckily, this saga has a happy ending since I was able to retrieve the seat when I dropped off my mom.

The Germany Road Trip

The three of us covered quite a lot of road… about 2000 kilometers or about 1250 miles. The map below doesn’t include all the stops because Google Maps wouldn’t allow me to add more stops. You can get a pretty good idea of the distance we covered.

Source: Google Maps

For my American friends, driving from Hamburg via Stuttgart to Munich is just a bit further than driving from Milwaukee, WI to Pittsburgh, PA. However, driving that distance in a European country means spanning various cultural differences in dialect, food, landscape, and traditions.

We had a fabulous time visiting family and friends along the way. Below are some pictures from our journey!

  • Würzberg
  • Breakfast time in Stuttgart
  • Breakfast in Munich
  • Cute street in Munich
  • Auntie K enjoying the baby carrier
  • Auntie K infront of the Munich Rathaus
  • A bavarian feast
  • Starnberger See
  • Starnberger See
  • Starnberger See
  • Bamberg
  • Bamberg
  • Bamberg
  • Bamberg
  • Bamberg
  • Bamberg
  • An evening stroll near Göttingen

The First Illness

During the second to last leg of our tour, we were in Göttingen, the town I went to medical school in. Amongst other activities, my child and I went to visit some of my college girlfriends who now both have daycare-aged kids. We had a great time visiting, catching up, and playing with the kids. The day after our visits, however, my baby started the morning off by vomiting up all the milk they had just consumed. They then continued to frequently vomit copious amounts over the next two days. All that counseling I had done with new parents during residency when they were dealing with their baby’s first illnesses was taken from theory into practice. At one point, I was feeding just drops of pumped breast milk at a time with a little dropper bottle in the hopes that my baby would keep it down.

Many more outfit changes and long snuggles ensued before my little one felt better. Luckily, we didn’t have any baby vomiting incidences the day we traveled back to Hamburg. Unfortunately, now I had become a bit nauseous and developed body aches. The driver seat heater in the car was much appreciated. Fortunately, I didn’t have to vomit. I can’t say the same for my poor mother. She was not feeling well at all the night before the flight and I was contemplating changing her flight.

Luckily, I had a small home pharmacy of Zofran, Protonix, and Ibuprofen with me that got us through it. I felt back to normal the next day and my mom managed her flight back home fairly decently as well.

I guess I’ll have to be a bit more specific when it comes to “sharing is caring” with my kid. Sharing your germs is not ideal.

So what’s next?

As of right now, I will be in Germany until the end of December. I have a few more people I want to visit. I’d also like to explore a bit more of my immediate surroundings. I haven’t often been a tourist in Germany since I spend so much time visiting family and friends. I’m hoping to see a few new places and revisit a few old ones. Pre-christmas season is one of my favorite times of the year. I wrote about it last year. You can read that post here. I’m so excited to be in Germany for it again this year. It’s been 6 years since I was last here to enjoy the Christmas markets. With the way Covid is currently looking, I should be able to enjoy some markets again this year.

I have a few ideas for things I’d like to write about. I’d also like to share more of Germany with you as I explore it. It definitely shouldn’t take another 2 months before my next post. But you never know what life throws at you.

Hope you are happy, healthy, and well!

mfg

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Happiness, Motherhood

My newest adventure and greatest responsibility

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For those who follow my Instagram feed, you probably already know where this is headed. At the beginning of last month, I was fortunate to experience something truly amazing. I gave birth to a healthy baby!

Many are probably asking themselves, “wait…what? I didn’t even know she was pregnant.” That was intentional. I really wanted to enjoy my pregnancy for myself, my family, and my close circle of friends and coworkers. Although I have a blog and social media accounts, I actually believe it is really important (and a luxury) to have some privacy and just enjoy life without being worried about posting or comments. This is obviously a personal decision and some people want to share every step of the pregnancy on social media.

I don’t think either way is right or wrong, it should be whatever the pregnant person is most comfortable with. As the belly grows and you begin to show, society already thinks they have a right to comment on your body and give you unsolicited advice. It’s up to you if you want to open that forum up on social media as well.

As a physician, I also am aware of what a miracle it is to actually become pregnant and then stay pregnant and ultimately deliver a healthy baby safely. There are a thousand things that can go wrong along the way. A danger of oversharing is possibly having to confront curious people if the posts suddenly stop because something went wrong. I was cautiously excited with every new milestone of the pregnancy: the positive pregnancy test, the 12-week mark, the genetic testing, the 20-week anatomy ultrasound, the 24-week viability mark, making it to full term. With each milestone, I became more excited. I was still cautious about my excitement until I held my healthy baby after delivery.

My Journey to Motherhood

A year ago today is when this journey officially started. It started with a telemedicine call with the University Hospital Fertility Center in Cleveland. I was visiting my father in Wisconsin at the time, it was the early days of the pandemic, so the newly widely available telemedicine really worked in my favor.

Although June 1st, 2020 was the official start, I have wanted to be a mother for as long as I can remember. I put it off during medical school and residency because I didn’t have the time or the means to have a child. Nor did I want to have a maternity leave of just 6 weeks. I also wanted to completely focus on medical school and residency because there was a lot to focus on. My plan had been to become pregnant about a year out of residency. However, my plan was also to travel a lot during that first year out. With the Covid-19 pandemic, that wasn’t really an option. So I figured, if I can’t travel, I can be pregnant instead and pulled by timeline up by a year.

The birds and the bees

A rather common first question after sharing that you are pregnant is “who is the father?”. Although I completely understand why that is the case, it was not the question I focused on when deciding to try to conceive. At least not so much WHO the father is but rather, WHAT his genetics are like.

You see, I’ve always envisioned myself as a mother, but not necessarily as a wife or partner. Sure, if I found the right person to raise children with, I wouldn’t be opposed to a relationship. However, I can’t say I was actively working on making that scenario happen. I’ve dated various men but rarely was it anything serious. And with those with whom it was, it didn’t work out for different reasons. That was never a major concern for me though. I have said for many years that I would use a sperm donor to conceive if the right man wasn’t in my life at the time that I was ready to have kids.

I’m very happy with my life not being in a partnership, I am grateful to be able to travel for work and I have a ton of projects I want to do around the world. Throw in having a strong personality, being a doctor, and a global pandemic, and the pool of potential candidates dwindles very quickly. But that’s perfectly ok by me.

37w4

Unconventional but On-brand

When I first started telling my family and friends that I was seriously considering a sperm donor pregnancy, I received a lot of support. I typically had to elaborate on my reasoning. Afterward, everyone could see why this was a good option for me. (At least to my face… who knows what was said when I wasn’t around.) Many weren’t phased at all by my plans because they had heard me talk about it before. I thought I’d get different reactions from people who didn’t know me that well, but to my surprise, many women said I was a genius and they wish they had done it that way. Baby-daddy drama is real, y’all.

I didn’t know anyone personally who had had a donor pregnancy though so I had a lot to learn. Luckily, a lovely woman I met a couple of years ago is a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist. She was just finishing up her fellowship in Cleveland. She set me up with her good friend and co-fellow for my first consultation. Prior to my appointment, she gave me recommendations for sperm banks so that I could do a little research.

Sharing the Journey

I want to share my journey to motherhood on this site because I think its important for people trying to conceive to know that this is an option. Its definitely not for everyone but it might be for someone reading this that didn’t realize it was an option. It might also be educational for the rest. To protect my child’s privacy, I will not be sharing very specific information regarding the donor or my child. I will also not be sharing pictures of my child on any social media platforms that show their face. I grew up without an internet presence until about middle school at which point I was able to share what I wanted about myself (for better or for worse). I’d like to give my child that same opportunity. Although I realize it’ll be a lot harder in this technological day and age.

I’m pretty much an open book otherwise and happy to answer questions or help with information should you need some help. I am not shy about the fact that I used a donor (as evident by this public post) and actually am quite proud of it. So please don’t feel like it’s an awkward situation. As long as you are coming from a sincere place of wanting to understand and learn, I welcome any questions.

So over the next couple of months, I will share the various stages of my journey on this site as I enjoy time off of work and raise a baby!

32w3

Svikki MD

In terms of work, I plan on starting part time in September. I’m hoping to find a job for the rest of the year near my mother in Ohio. Starting January 2022, I’ll start 4-6 month assignments again. At which point, I would like to have a live-in German Au Pair nanny. I’ll give updates on jobs as they come.

mfg

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Happiness, Mother Nature

Amateur Advocate

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Today, April 25th, is World Malaria Day. Earth Day was just a couple days ago. Two causes that are important to me. So let’s dive in!

World Malaria Day

Malaria is a parasitic infection that is transmitted by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito. Nearly half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria. Refugees, pregnant women, and children are most vulnerable to the disease. In fact, every 2 minutes, a child dies of malaria. The disease is preventable and treatable! In 2019 however, there were still 219 million new cases and 435,000 deaths. Children under the age of five made up 70% of those deaths.

There is good news though. About a century ago, malaria was nearly everywhere in the world. Through innovation, scientific progress, financial investments, and governmental/non-governmental programs, more and more countries are being declared malaria-free! Just recently, Algeria, Argentina, and El Salvador were declared malaria-free!

Malaria Fun Fact: the word “Malaria” comes from the Italian “mala aria” or “bad air”. It used to be believed that the disease was caused by bad air around marshes.

Image Source: CDC website

Nothing But Nets

I don’t just happen to know all these facts and figures out of nowhere. I’ve traveled to malaria-endemic countries, like Ghana, and was placed on preventative medications at the time. During medical school, I learned about the disease. What really got me in-the-know was something much more recent. A friend of mine posted about the Nothing But Nets Leadership Summit on Instagram that was planned for April 18th-20th.

Since I am currently on a break from work and wanted to fill my time with interesting things, I signed up for the summit. I’ve always had an interest in Global Health and plan on doing international work in the future, so it seemed like a good fit. Part of the sign-up process asked if I’d be willing to speak to my members of Congress on the issue. I haven’t done a lot of formal advocacy work so I thought this would be a good opportunity to get my feet wet.

In the weeks leading up to the summit, there were a couple of virtual meetings that were held going over the congressional meetings and the summit lineup. I researched the pages of Nothing But Nets, the Presidential Malaria Initiative (PMI), the Global Fund, and the members of Congress I’d be involved with. All of the organizations do amazing work and have continued to do so during the pandemic as well. Set up a successful system to combat one disease and you are ahead of the game to help combat another!

The first two days of the summit were a few hours each afternoon and had all sorts of speakers associated with the Nothing But Nets organization. There was representation from the WHO, the PMI, the Global Fund, the Luol Deng Foundation, artists, models, activists, etc. Videos transported us to the frontlines of where the work is being done. It was pretty cool.

Congressional Meetings

The last day was our day of meetings! I was in a group with 5 other people representing Ohio. There were four virtual meetings lined up with the two Ohio senators and two Ohio representatives. We spoke with members of their staff rather than the Congress Senators and Reps themselves. We had a script of information we divided up amongst the six of us. Every office was receptive to what we had to say and appreciated hearing from constituents on the matter. Each of us had a different reason why Malaria elimination was important to us. Some are survivors of the disease, some are part of Model UN, and some like myself, are avid travelers interested in Global Health.

The Ohio Nothing But Nets Champion Team

Our goal was to get them interested (many offices already were) in the fight against Malaria. But also, to ask for two main things while Congress continues considerations of the fiscal year 2022 appropriations. The first being flat funding for the Global Fund at $1.56 billion. This ask is in line with the three-year commitment that the U.S. Congress made around the Global Fund replenishment conference in October 2019. This will allow the Global Fund to save an additional 16 million lives. Secondly, we are seeking an increase for the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) from $770 million to $902.5 million so that PMI can do three main things:

A) increase procurement of next generation bed nets to overcome insecticide resistance,

B) train and deploy more community health workers to reach at-risk populations, and,

C) address global supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19 that led to increased manufacturing and freight costs for malaria commodities.

Bottom line: Advocacy is fun and important!

The meetings were totally not intimidating and the staffers really enjoyed hearing from us. We had former congressional staffers working for Nothing But Nets now that reported that they really liked talking with constituents while on the Hill. So if you find a cause you are passionate about and can get involved with congressional meetings, do! Hopefully next year, I’ll actually be able to go to Washington D.C. and show up in person for the meetings.

If you’d like to learn more or even donate to the good cause, check out these links:

Earth Day

I could write a whole blog of its own on the topic of saving the beautiful planet we live on. So, I will keep it short here and keep content for future posts. Short and simple, we need to care about our planet and climate change. We need to care NOW and act NOW. Limiting climate change isn’t just selflessly for the planet but also very much selfishly to keep the human race alive. Many humans, mostly in the poorer regions of the world, are already suffering greatly from global warming. The cruel irony is that the people who contribute the least to the problem are the ones most imminently and strongly effected by it.

Live Earth Concert – Wembley Stadium London, UK – One of eleven benefit concerts held across the globe to help raise funds to help combat climate change. It’s hard to imagine being in such a packed crowd now, but that was an amazing concert to attend!

I have been interested in living in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way for a long time. I remember buying books about the subject in my teenage years. It started off with an awareness of turning off the faucet when not in use, turning off lights, unplugging electronics, and recycling appropriately. My vegetarianism was not initially motivated by the environmental impact but it solidified my stance when I learned about how many resources the meat industry uses to produce a pound of meat.

Over the course of the my life, I have taken opportunities to learn more about what needs to be done. I continuously analyze different aspects of my life and think about how I can live a more sustainable, environmentally friendly life. I’ve swapped out various products for environmentally friendly, plastic free alternatives (I’ll share some of my favorites in the future!). I try to reduce my consumption of goods, reuse items I have or buy second hand, and try to recycle everything that is recyclable. If I can, I walk everywhere I can instead of getting into the car. If public transportation is available, I try to utilize it. There really are limitless ways to help and many have the added bonus of being good for you or your wallet.

As I said, I will touch on the subject more in future posts. I believe everyone can change little things in their life if they are made aware of them! It is not hard implementing measures but you first have to be consciously aware of them. Once you are, it becomes second nature. It’s becoming more prevalent in the mainstream as well with more car companies reporting converting their fleets to electronic cars and President Biden’s commitment to combating climate change at the recent Climate Summit that included 40 world leaders. It’s happening and it needs to! We need to be better residents of this precious planet. Mars doesn’t look very inviting yet.

mfg

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Happiness, Locum

On the Search for Warmth and Financial Freedom

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For all those people who want to start singing “I’ve been looking for freedom” to me

Greetings from what feels like the arctic! With temperatures as low as -18°F/-28°C this past week, South Dakota, like much of the country, has been a bit chilly. Next week we should maintain above 0°F at least. We didn’t get nearly as much snow as other places though. The roads have been decent for the most part (thank goodness for the SUV with 4W drive). Getting into the car in the morning feels like sitting down in a freezer. The condensation from my breath was freezing on the inside of my wind shield!

Reminiscing about last week when socks were optional

Svikki MD

Maintenance was nice enough to install a heating element in my office space this week. The existing heating structures weren’t functional anymore. Unfortunately, I’m not sure the new heating element ever actually started working. Luckily, I wear multiple layers of clothing to work to keep me warm.

Patient numbers were down, across the region, this week. I did have a few new swing bed admissions but for the most part, it was rather quiet. I helped out in the clinic a bit as well.

Casual morning commute in -13°F/-25°C weather

There is a skiing/snowboarding area just 8 miles from work. Something really strange must happen around 4 PM up there. We will start seeing walk-ins to the clinic for ski/snowboarding accidents around 4:30 PM. We had 3 of them Friday evening. Of course they aren’t all tipping over and hurting themselves at 4 PM… the ski lifts close at 4 PM. So, they will fully maximize their ski pass and then head to the clinic. By the time we see them, have X-rays done, wait for the X-ray reads, consult with ortho for broken bones and splint them… it’s 7 PM.

As a locum provider with nobody waiting on me at home, I don’t mind the extra hours. I do feel bad for the rest of the crew though. They have kids to pick up, family waiting at home and have to work overtime. All because people don’t want to leave the lift at the time of injury.

Weekend To-Do List

I make myself a weekend to-do list just about every weekend. It gives me a structure of what I want to accomplish over the next 48 hours. This weekend, it included items such as Hawaii Medical License research (since I reaaaaally want to work there some day), looking over my finances, doing laundry, working on a presentation for a conference in a few weeks, and getting my taxes done.

As a locum physician, I am an independent contractor. That has led to me needing to learn some things about taxes I didn’t need to know as an employee. I’ve learned how to pay estimated quarterly income taxes on the federal, state and local level. That is because as an independent contractor, my paychecks have no taxes deducted from them. Which means, I need to pay the government income taxes quarterly. There are certain deductions I can make that an employee can’t. But I also have to pay taxes an employee doesn’t, like the self-employment tax. Having been both an employee (as a resident and part time faculty at Youngstown State University) and an independent contractor last year, I had to learn to cover both bases.

Working on my financial education

I actually really enjoy working with numbers. Every Friday, I go over my finances after receiving my paycheck. The money is allocated to savings accounts for various purposes. The largest portion is put aside for those quarterly tax payments. I only allow myself to use 12% of my paycheck. Almost everything I purchase is bought with a credit card to earn points/cash back. I pay off the standing balance every week. Whatever is left of those 12% after paying off the credit cards is mine to use. I continue to live almost as frugally as I did as a resident, so a portion of that money still ends up in savings.

I’ve been reading books lately about investing as that is something I definitely want to get into soon. Unfortunately, financial education is not something that is well integrated into our public education system,… although it totally should be! (As should more home ec classes… I mean “Family and Consumer Science” classes as they are now called apparently.) So, I am continuously trying to further my own financial education.

Lit List

Some of the books I’ve read and really enjoyed so far include:

  • Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
  • The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J Stanley & William D Danko
  • Cash Flow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki
  • The ABCs of Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy

I’m currently working through Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing and Ken McElroy’s The ABCs of Buying Rental Property. The goal of all of this is to be informed and someday achieve financial freedom. That financial freedom will then give me the freedom to spend time with family and friends, work when I want to and free up enough time so that I can work as a doctor in various parts of the world in underserved communities while not getting paid for that work.

Have you read any great personal finance books? Please do share! Leave a comment below with the title so I can check it out!

The INSIDE of my kitchen window

One thing I love: FaceTime. It just really makes long distance not feel so long at all <3

One thing I ate: vegan chocolate mug cake,… throw a few ingredients in a microwavable mug, stir it up and microwave for a minute to enjoy. Far less mess than making a whole cake and fewer tempting calories lying around.

One thing I’m grateful for: having a warm place to live. The temperatures are crazy low across the country. I hope people who don’t have a warm place to live are finding enough safe places to stay warm. Unfortunately, I know that’s not the reality for everyone.

mfg

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