Baby Birth in Basel - Labor & Delivery

Well, we are officially a family of 4! Since little Celia joined us in April, many people have asked if giving birth in Switzerland was different than the US. Granted, I only have n = 2, but happy to share my experience. First, I need to split it into 2 chapters: Labor & Delivery vs. Postpartum Care.

This post will be about actually giving birth in Basel. I don't plan on going into intimate detail but I will mention some specifics. Reader beware. 

I'll start by saying, I knew what I wanted and I knew it wasn't the path necessarily encouraged by the health system here. I wanted an epidural. Plain & simple. No problem in the good ole US of A. I'd had an epidural with Big E and it was wonderful. I could feel everything but not excruciatingly painful and I remember happy moments throughout the process and being very much in the know of the situation. However, here in Basel the midwives are strong advocates for medication-free birth. I knew this going into the process, so it was the first question I asked my OBGYN, I got advice from other moms and I selected our hospital based on the stories that they were "more likely" to comply. 

... I think you can see where this is going...

With little lady's due date coming and going, we were scheduled for our 2nd post date check in at the hospital to determine if I should be induced. We arrived at the hospital and I let the team know that I'd been having contractions all day (finally!) and they were currently about 10-15min apart. They suggested we head home and "try to relax and not think about it" (?!?!?!????!??). Matt & I thought that was a horrific idea so instead we decided to grab something to eat nearby (which turned out to be the restaurant at the football/soccer stadium even though there wasn't a game going on. Yeah. It was weird). My contractions became progressively stronger & closer together but still not "5minutes apart" as per the suggestion on when to return. We decided to head back to the hospital anyway in fear of them saying "you're too late for an epidural". 

We arrived back at the hospital and they checked us in. Our assigned midwife was super sweet but she just kept saying things like "are you sure you want an epidural?" "I can tell you're strong enough to do it without" "I don't want to give you one too early" "would you like to get in the bath?" Me: "no I don't want to get in a bath tub. Not now. Not ever."

Anyways, this went on for about 1.5 hours at which point Matt kept telling her he thought I needed an epidural. (Which I did!) but finally she said "I think she'll tell us if she's ready for that" that's when I realized as much as Matt was being my advocate, like a fabulous husband, she needed me to say it yet again. So in excruciating pain I screamed "he's right!!!! I want the epidural NOW!!" ... And I was politely informed that they were going on a shift change so a new midwife would be in shortly to check on me and decide. 

Within those 15min, my contractions went from 7 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart and when the poor, sweet, new midwife arrived I was absolutely screaming. She checked me and said "I think it's too late. Your baby is coming." To which I responded (in what I'm sure was the most polite way possible) "No, no, no, no .... I will hold this baby in until you give me what I want!!" (Along with a few other choice phrases, screams and tears) So she said "do you want me give you something to slow down labor so you can get the epidural?" Me: "yes!!!!" 

By this point it was 10:45pm. She immediately gave me something to "slow down labor." The anesthesiologist arrived at 11:10, I received the epidural at 11:35, I had our little girl at 12:03am and the epidural started working around 12:10. I did not enjoy the process and there was definitely more screaming. Not exactly how I envisioned welcoming our little lady into the world. After delivery, the midwife commented, "Wow, that medicine & epidural didn't slow down your labor at all." ... no, kidding.

A couple other differences... My OBGYN arrived to the hospital about 15min(?) before I delivered. The midwife actually delivered our baby while our dr was more of a consultant. There were no stirrups or anything. Just lying on a regular hospital bed (in green pic below) and when I was having trouble getting situated I ended up with one leg on the midwives lap and the dr holding my other leg on his hip. 

Also, once little lady was born, there was not a team of nurses streaming in the room as there was in the US, but rather just the midwife who checked out our lady to make sure all was good and then left the 3 of us: Matt, Celia & myself, alone for a little while. Not sure if this would be the same as the public hospital, but our private hospital is specifically for low risk births. There is not a neonatal unit onsite (but there is always one pediatrician) so if there are any baby complications we would've been rushed over to the kid's hospital (about a 10min drive)

All in all, obviously completely worth it since we now have our beautiful little lady with us. However, this was just not the (probably romanticized) evening of memories I had in mind. I think every mommy should get to choose how they bring their baby into the world (assuming safely) and I just didn't like that my choices weren't being respected.

Anywho, all over now, but I get the pleasure of reliving it with these beautiful snapshots Matt took during the evening.

Having contractions holding on to the railing outside the closed FC Basel soccer stadium where we had dinner. Weird.

The incredibly green birthing rooms. Supposedly, relaxing???

Finally!! Yay!!! All worth it!

Zeller Family in Grindelwald - #TBT

Can a blog post be a #TBT? (Throwback Thursday)? So. in writing the post about Zermatt, I realized I never posted about our 2015 ski trip with the Zellers! Here it is.. (at least what I remember)

MaZ & PaZ Zeller came to Switzerland!!  EZ was incredibly excited to get to see them.

While I'm not a big skier, the Zeller family are pros, so we had to take them out on the Swiss Alps! There are way too many options in deciding where to go, so we picked a spot that has great slopes in combination with some non-ski activities and a little town to walk around. The day after the Zellers arrived in Basel, we were off to Grindelwald!

Grindewald is an another adorable village in the "Jungfrau" region. (Also, known as the "Top of Europe" due to the highest train station in all of Europe) While the region doesn't have as much fame internationally, it is highly recommended by all the Swiss locals.

Daytime: Matt, MaZ & PaZ spent the day skiing while big man & I took some naps and then took the train up to the top to meet them for a little apres ski. 

  

  

Daddy's attempt to take a short cut back to the slopes

Nighttime: While I don't love skiing, I DO love sledding and I'd read all about the night sledding in Grindelwald, so I just knew Matt & I had to do it! It was an amazing idea and obviously, people always rave about it. However, Matt & I almost lost our lives on the sledding adventure...

Let me chronicle our mistakes for you:

#1. No Headlamp. I'd read online that most people take a headlamp, but when I asked the concierge at the hotel where we could get one she assured me we wouldn't need it. "Oh, you could buy one, but they're expensive and I've never needed one."

#2. Not speaking German. We bought our tickets and hopped on the bus to take us to the top. Along the way the driver was pointing things out and telling what we thought were stories in German. People laughed. We laughed along, not having any clue what we were laughing at... although the joke was on us, as part of the stories included instructions about a change in pick-up point...

#3. Getting 2 single sleds instead of 1, two-person sled. (Directly linked to mistake #4) Once we reached the top of the mountain, we hopped off the bus and followed all the "pros" to pick-up our sleds from the big barn. Without any type official directions we started following the people just dropping their sleds in the snow and headed off down the hills. We were off to a great start! Well, I was having a lovely time. Matt managed to fall off his sled 3 times in the period of 500meters, including before we made it half way down the first mini hill. (I can't explain it)

#4. Not holding on to your sled, Matt! As we were headed down the next big slope, I started down first and all of a sudden I hear my lovely husband behind me, screaming "whoa... whoa... whoa..." I turned around to see my partner sprawled out in the snow off the track, while his sled continued to fly down the mountain and into a ravine of trees below.

#5. Not accepting help. After Matt's tumble, he attempted twice to find his sled in vain. Surprise. Surprise. On his hike back up to meet me on the trail, a fellow sledder is coming along (admittedly quickly) and he screams out "Do you need any help?" Matt's prompt response: "No, we're good. thanks!" My reaction: Too STUNNED to speak. We are now 1km downhill into an 8km sledding run... with 2 adults and only 1 sled. "Yes, we need help!" Now, left with the options of walking back uphill 1km or attempting to make 1 sled work for downhill the remaining 7km, we decided downhill was the best option. I refused to let Matt back in charge so he hopped on back and assisted with braking while I managed the steering and not falling. :)

#6. Oh, the headlamp mistake... up until this point, we could still sort of see with the large spot lights at the top of the mountain and the 1-2 houses on the trail so far... but once we made the decision to keep going, the track turned into the trees, plunging us into darkness accompanied by switchback turns, threatening to throw us off the edge into until unknown darkness below. This is a picture with our iPhone with the flash on. (Luckily, this inspired Matt to turn on his iPhone flashlight so he could shine it ahead of us while I steered the sled.)

the path ahead, with the iPhone light on

#7. Not paying close enough attention to the map. At least not to the part that demonstrated that the sled slope was also the road for the bus. (See map. Our track was the red line, The Bus track is the parallel dotted line.) We became heart-stoppingly aware of this fact when all of a sudden we heard a sound as we were coming around a hairpin turn and saw headlights up ahead and Matt screamed "Bus!!!!!!" We both veered and jumped off the sled and into the ditch on the side of the road. We then waited for 3 buses to pass us heading up hill with the 2nd round of victims, I mean sledders.

This is me walking the sled after the bus encounter as I needed to build up my courage again.

#8. Passing the pick-up spot. Remember, mistake #2? Apparently, those funny stories the bus driver was telling, included the fact that the normal pick-up spot was closed (see map: Oberall) and that we needed to stop earlier (at Weidli). This was because there wasn't enough snow and we soon found ourselves sledding on a combination of ice and gravel. In positive news, we walked past the normal pick-up spot and there were loads of sleds for us to pick-up! :)

We were still approx. 2-3km away from the town. (We think?) But we trudged on thinking that surely the bus would pass us on the way back down. And luckily, this time we were right! We found another bus stop. Patiently waited for a bus to stop and were safely transported back to the hotel.

We survived! 

I would actually still recommend the night sledding! However, I'd STRONGLY encourage a head lamp and not letting go of your sled.

We did learn a valuable lesson here: We are parents now and can no longer afford to make poor & dangerous decisions. While we can still do exciting things, we need to be smarter. This is the example we always reference when we feel ourselves on the verge of making another potentially risky decision.

Happy Night Sledding All! ;)

Matterhorn - Family Trip to a Swiss Icon

If you don't know anything about the Matterhorn, you likely still know it as the iconic symbol of the Toblerone chocolate bar.

When we had to choose the spot for our annual ski trip, we were excited to put Zermatt at the top of our list. (I know, I know ... I just posted about our "last family trip" but I knew this one wasn't going to be the same as our daddy was going to be busy skiing 70% of the time and we were traveling with another favorite family of three. Bear with me!)

Zermatt did not disappoint! It is the epitome of the picturesque Swiss ski town. We arrived Friday lunch time and daddy went straight up the mountain with Stephen while mommies checked out the town. The sky was clear and we had a great view of the Matterhorn & from up top Matt took some great videos. 

  

The best part was watching these two little ones run around the hotel and play together. Lots of fun was had playing hide-n-seek in the curtains, drawing on the hotel wall, making long distance phone calls (KarKar? PopPop?), running back & forth on the balcony and trying to slip on the ice while mommy catches you. (Because apparently that's hilarious). It was awesome for us to see because while these two have been buddies for a while and have payed with each other's toys and interacted with each other, this was the first time they PLAYED together. Adorable everything. 

 

Saturday morning, while Matt went skiing again, we dropped off the kids for a morning of play time at the kids days care across the street. I was a tad worried about big E's response, but he ran away from me without even saying goodbye! There were cars... Hehe. I spent the morning lounging by the pool and sauna. Not a traditional ski trip, but it sure was relaxing. That afternoon we all went up to the highest kiddos and preggo were allowed to go. Unfortunately, the Matterhorn was covered by clouds this day, but we still had a great time with E in his gear and playing around in the snow. 

  

  

Lastly, we dropped into the Matterhorn museum. It was great! Tucked underground, it went through the history of Zermatt as a small village, to the rise to its elite position today as a premier Swiss ski destination. Additionally, it chronicled the first summit of the Matterhorn. I had no idea it was so controversial! The first ascent ended in tragedy, when 4 of the 7 climbers fell to their deaths on the trek down. The scandal arises from the varying accounts from the surviving climbers. Whymper, the British leader, questioned the choices by his local Zermatt father-son mountain guides, the Taugwalders. The rope used to tie the team broke when one team member slipped. Whymper was the first to stake claim to the ascent and to speak publicly about the accident, and started speculation about the use of that particular rope and the actions of the guides. The Taugwalders remained silent about the accident but the museum implies that there was more to the story... Wikipedia Summary

On our last morning we woke up to quite the snow storm! A beautiful site.

Thank you Zermatt.