Answers at last!

Finally, and not a moment too soon. After today's looong appointment (for which I must pat myself on the back - 99% in German, and all by myself, well, Russ was there, but only for moral support, not for translation services) I now know that I should arrive at the hospital tomorrow morning at 7, report to the delivery ward, and should have the Kaiserschnitt at 8 or 9, and it will likely be with the famous Dr. Brenner. Now, I have yet to meet the woman so honestly, they could just put anyone on the other side of that little blue screen, but the mere promise of an English-speaking, highly respected, OB (but not here, here that term does not exist, they call her just a doctor, but I gather that this is her specialty) wielding a scalpel delights me.

I also learned the following:
1. Nurses (the German word is actually "sister" which I assume is left over from nuns, and seems a little strange, but no stranger than the more formal and even more outdated Krankenschwester, which means sicksister) are lovely, kind, and most speak slowly and clearly. In German of course. None spoke English. I can handle quick and garbled English- it's my job. But in German, I need slow and clear.

2. Anastehesiologists are slightly off in every country. The one I met for pre-op stuff with Fiona four years ago spoke broken English, acted insane and nearly had me in tears. That was four years ago in Lawrence. This one was a grouchy, German version of the teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Say it out loud in a nasal monotone, "Frau Marino, bitte. Marino." I think he'll be focused on my spine in a very meticulous way. I'm a little more reassured than I was four years ago. So that's something.

3. The hospital is badly designed. Or an elaborate mind game to trick foreigners. Every time I go in there I get lost. The delivery ward is not called gynecology, that's something different. They're both located in what is called Haus A but is actually Haus F. One must take the elevator and press the button for F5 to get there but neither Geburtshilfe (birth help) nor Gynaecologie (which is not birth help lest you think it would be) are labeled on that elevator's buttons. Instead it's something else entirely. The labor is the laboratory, where you go for blood work, not labor and delivery. And everyone explains where to go next (because I visited all these places and more today) in rapid, mumbled, quick German. Even the kind Krankenschwesters.