September 2021 recap

The midwife is coming earlier than usual today – at 11:30 a.m. – so after giving the baby her 7 o’clock feed and putting her back to bed I actually got up and had my shower. Her next feed will be a bottle from daddy together with her medication (caffeine citrate if you’re interested) so I’m using the fee time to catch up a bit on blog posts. My mam and brother are also here right now but currently still sleeping.

So, September 2021. I actually had the first two weeks of the month of work for my summer holiday (my colleagues were off in July and August so September was the only time available to me). We had initially had vague plans to potentially go to Germany, but once we received Zyma’s diagnosis and it fairly quickly became clear that we would be going for the operation Jan decided to save his time off for while I was in hospital, meaning I was off by myself. The weather was also fairly miserable so I didn’t end up doing much. However, I decided it would be a great time to get a head start on stitching Christmas cards since I had no idea when or how I would be able to do them after the operation. As it turned out that was a very good idea given I ended up in hospital for a second time in October and then again from 9 November until Zyma was born!

On 11 September I had my second COVID vaccination. Jan took me to the vaccination centre then dropped me off back at home and went to choir practice. Later that day I had a sore arm and by bedtime I had a headache and was aching all over. The next day Jan had choir practice again and I spent most of my time in bed, reading and sleeping. I still had achey muscles and a headache off and on (it would go away after a nap then come back) but thankfully no temperature – I kept monitoring it since that was the one side effect that could have been harmful for baby. By day 2 I was fine, which was good because I was back at work then.

The weekend before my operation we decided to go somewhere since it would be the last time for a while. On the Saturday (which was sunny for a change!) Jan slept for basically the entire day so we ended up going to La Neuveville on the Sunday when it was pouring down again. It’s still a cute town even in the rain though.

Then it was operation time. I went into hospital on Friday, 24 September. Patients having the foetal surgery for spina bifida always go into hospital on a Friday and have the operation on a Monday. Friday was a full day. I had a COVID test – the first of four! They took blood, did an ECG and I was given the first of two corticosteroid shots to help the baby’s lungs mature in case something happened and she ended up having to be born early. I also had an ultrasound and the doctor explained to us exactly how both the operation and the subsequent C-section would work. Later an anaesthetist came by and I also met with someone from the neonatal unit who went through exactly what to expect at every stage, from if the baby needed to be taken out during the operation at 25 weeks and 4 days right up to the day of the planned C-section at 37 weeks exactly. It was a lot of information! The coordinator in the university hospital side also came by to introduce herself – we had already met her counterpart on the children’s hospital side when we came for the initial information meeting.

Sunday was the second lung maturity shot and an IV drip with magnesium for neuroprotection of the foetus – again in case she had to be taken out early. Then on the Monday it was operation time. There were two operations that day and I was going first so I was taken down at about 6 a.m. Jan met me downstairs on the labour and delivery ward where I had a CTG (cardiotocography – monitoring of the foetal heart tones, baby’s movements and any contractions – I had a lot of those done by the end of my pregnancy!) and was prepared for the move to the operating theatre. Then I had to say goodbye to Jan and it was off for the surgery. Everything went about as well as it possibly could have – as I was apparently informed two hours later when I woke up. I have no memory of that conversation but luckily it was repeated to me again several times ;-). For the next two days I was closely monitored in a high dependency bed. I didn’t get much sleep down there but all the members of staff looking after me were amazing! Then I was taken back up to the normal prenatal ward where I was to stay until two weeks after the operation. Initially I was in a two-bed room which I shared with the other person who had had the same operation on the same day. By that evening the bladder catheter had been removed and I was encouraged to stand up, then later of course had to walk to the toilet (the nurses helped me get up and lie back down until I felt able to do it myself!). And then it was already October so more on my recovery next time.

This has taken a while to write so it’s about time I got back to my family. Hopefully I’ll get to my next few monthly recaps soon, then finally be able to write the yearly one for 2021!

Advertisement

August 2021 recap

Hello! Baby girl has gone to the hospital* with her daddy today so I’m taking advantage of the free time to sort out some things – including blog posts. (*Nothing to worry about. She has hip dysplasia – probably unrelated to her spina bifida – and today the doctors are doing an ultrasound and checking whether the harness they gave her is doing its job. If the harness works she won’t have to go into hospital for a few weeks for a different treatment so keep your fingers crossed!).

You’re probably wondering why I’m even bothering to recap August now considering how much time has passed. I like to have these posts to look back on so I wanted to write one before I forget everything entirely!

Last year, everything we did in the month of August ended up being slightly overshadowed by baby’s diagnosis. We found out she had spina bifida at my anatomy scan on 10 August – three days before my birthday. Happy birthday to me, right? We did still celebrate with a meal at a restaurant round the corner from us that we’ve been meaning to try since we moved to Basel. It was very nice. The staff were wonderful, replacing several things on the set menu so they were safe for pregnancy. I also got my first COVID vaccination the day after my birthday. At that time you needed a doctor’s certificate to get it during pregnancy and every single doctor I spoke to had highly recommended getting it done so I did. My only side effect that time was a sore arm that lasted for 3 days!

During the weeks following the diagnosis we had a lot of appointments. First I went back to the hospital in Basel for an amniocentesis (for those who don’t know they use a long needle to remove amniotic fluid from your uterus) to make sure there wasn’t any genetic reason for the spina bifida. As it turned out there was not. I then had another ultrasound to try and narrow down where exactly the defect was and we met with a neurologist from the children’s hospital in Basel. At the initial ultrasound where the spina bifida was discovered we had been informed about the option of open fetal surgery – in other words and operation to repair the defect before birth. It turns out Zurich is the European leader for this operation so we went there to find out more information. First I had to have another, extremely detailed, ultrasound then I had an MRI. The next day we went back to Zurich and met with the head surgeon from the spina bifida team, who by that time had seen the results of the ultrasound and MRI. He took a lot of time to explain everything to us and, as you obviously know by now, we decided to take the option of the fetal operation.

When we weren’t running round to appointments we managed to fit in a few day trips in August. Jan drove me to the vaccination centre for my COVID vaccination so since we had a car anyway we decided to go somewhere. We chose Altdorf, capital of the canton of Uri and best known as the place where, according to legend, William Tell shot an apple off his son’s head. I forgot to take my camera so I don’t have any photos.

Earlier in the month we went to Bremgarten, which is in Aargau. It’s a beautiful medieval town and for once the sun actually came out (a rarity in summer 2021!) so we had a really nice walk around the town and along the river. On the way home we stopped in Küssnacht where we played a round of mini golf – which I amazingly won – and then had dinner at a restaurant by the lake.

I also cross stitched some cards in August for September birthdays. My brother’s and my godson’s.

I read a grand total of four books in August – not really my best month. One of them was long though. You can see which ones they were here.

Apart from that I can’t actually remember what I did so I’ll leave this here since I still have some other things to sort out.

May 2021 recap

Hello! Another month has passed and I still haven’t caught up on the blog posts I’ve been meaning to post (mainly photo an hour write ups). Today I am here for a May recap because that’s just what I do at the beginning of the month.

So, what did I do? Went for walks, mostly during brief gaps in the rain. Seriously, May was *so* rainy! I guess the plants/ground needed it after a relatively dry beginning to the year but it did get a bit old by mid-month. May is not supposed to feel like November! The final weekend of the month was finally sunny and now I’m boiling! I know, there’s just no pleasing some people 😉 but I would have preferred a more gradual transition. (Side note: it’s actually raining again today. It took a few days between me writing this on my phone and actually getting round to adding the photos so I could post it.)

• 

• 

Jan had his second COVID vaccination. That was just over 2 weeks ago, so now he has his full immunity, whatever that means for Pfizer. 90%? Something along those lines.

The UK was added back on to Switzerland’s list of risk countries (because of the Indian variant), and as far as I know Switzerland had never not been a risk country for the UK. I was hoping I might be able to see some of my family towards the end of the year but I’m really not sure now. Nobody wants to travel somewhere only to spend the entire time in quarantine!

Coronavirus cases in Switzerland dropped steadily throughout May and the daily number of positive tests finally made it below 1,000 in the final week of the month. Hurrah! Restaurants had been allowed to open their outdoor areas throughout the month (since April) but with all the rain I’m not sure how well they did. As of 31st May they’re allowed to open fully, with max. four people per table indoors.

Jan and I continued to watch repeats of Richard Osman’s House of Games (hurry up with the new series BBC!) and I watched Great British Menu. My favourite dish ended up being the overall winner at the banquet. Yay! We also watched Eurovision. I was rooting for Switzerland (genuinely my favourite song of the evening) but they ended up coming third. Let’s not even talk about the debacle of the UK not even getting one measly point despite being far from the worst of the evening!

It was a much better reading month, in terms of both quantity and enjoyment. You’ll have to wait until Tuesday to find out more about that though.

I genuinely can’t think of anything else to say. We didn’t go anywhere and I mainly spent the month working. I lead a very boring life! Maybe now the weather’s getting better I’ll actually manage to do something in June. In the meantime take care and have fun!

April 2021 recap

Hello my lovelies! Can you believe I’m here for an April recap? What even is time and where is it going? I haven’t been around here much recently – sorry about that (why am I apologising? Nobody cares whether I blog!). You’ll soon see that I don’t really have much of a reason for that. As in I haven’t been too busy to post. Just not in the mood I guess. Anyway, on with the recap.

The month started with Easter. Actually Good Friday was 2nd April but I don’t have anything to say about the 1st. I was pleased to have a long weekend! Not that I did a lot. I went for 2 walks (Jan joined me for one) and I made hot cross buns. They took forever but turned out quite nice for a first attempt – maybe a bit dense.

ITV were showing all the Harry Potter films on Easter weekend and the following weekend and Jan decided her was going to watch then (if you know him in real life you’re probably rubbing your eyes in disbelief right now!). I watched with him and had fun spotting the scenes that were shot at Alnwick Castle and Durham Cathedral. I don’t normally watch that many films in such a short space of time unless it’s Christmas! We also watched a German film called Im Juli, which was weird, and I discovered Jan had never seen (or even heard of) The Lost Boys so we watched that. This discovery was make thanks to an answer on House of Games, which we’re still keeping up with, and I’ve also been enjoying Great British Menu. So much TV in April! This is very unusual for me!

I mentioned last month that my doctor had given me a referral for physiotherapy. I had my first session on the Wednesday after Easter. I chose a place that’s kind of opposite where I live which is so convenient! It literally takes me about 4 minutes from leaving my flat to being in the room. I’ve nearly finished my sessions now and my back is mostly better, although it still seems to play up at times.

It was not a good month for reading. I listened to an audiobook and it took dayssss. Me and audiobooks just don’t get on. Then on top that I only read 5 other books. I had hoped to finish another one but alas I only managed the first 130ish pages in April. I’m still working on it now almost a week into May!

Jan got his first dose of COVID vaccine. Yay! Our canton finally moved on from over-75s and “highest risk” to all chronic illnesses (Jan has type 1 diabetes. Since it’s well-controlled he isn’t considered high risk). He will get the second jab later this month. Vaccinations are still relatively slow here but starting to pick up now. And on the very last day of April the reported daily positive tests finally fell to below 2000 for the first time in weeks. Restaurants have been allowed to open their terraces since 19 April but I still haven’t been to one. And gyms also reopened on the same day but I haven’t set foot in one of those since I was about 16 😉 We did get take away a couple of times. One that lasted us for three nights in a row and one that we bought for lunch and had enough rice left over to reheat for tea. I made it without some frozen samosas (obviously I heated them) that I bought to try and turned out to be delicious so I will definitely get them again.

The last two months I have completely forgotten to mention that I’ve been trying to learn Ukrainian through Duolingo. I’m not great at it though – I can’t seem to get my head around the Cyrillic alphabet, especially since some of the letters that look similar to ours are pronounced (roughly) the same and some aren’t. So так is “yes” and it’s pronounced pretty much as you would expect (tak) but сестра (sister) is pronounced “sestra” because what my brain insists on viewing as a ‘p’ is pronounced similar to an ‘r’. And then the letter that does look like an r, albeit a backwards one, is pronounced ‘ya’, so моя сестра (my sister) is “moya sestra”. Aaargh!

I cannot think of anything else to tell you! I’ve still been going for my weekly walks, sometimes with Jan but most often alone. Here’s a photo of a squirrel we saw on one walk – it looks like it’s in a cage, but actually it’s some kind of structure that was apparently built to help it climb the tree. The tree was on the grounds of a school so we guessed the structure was probably part of some project there.

I hope you all had a good April. Check back on Tuesday if you want to know about the very few books I read last month.