What’s up (continued) …

Walks

Our third walk (now you would think that it is silly to count the walks but maybe you can understand it when you know that she was only 2.5 weeks old at the time) was on November the 3rd when we went shopping for a groceries in our local supermarket. I started noticing how almost everyone is paying attention to parents with a baby/child in the trolley. I also started noticing other mothers or fathers with their children, it was similar to my pregnancy time when I would notice every pregnant woman .

Our forth walk was two days afterwards when I went for a coffee with a girl I met on SwissmomForum so I made my first experience with a baby in a café bar. Since it was a non-smoking bar on a Monday morning you can imagine us sitting with a bunch of elderly women who are trying to peek in the trolley and see the baby.

The next day we went for our next, fifth walk with a girl who was my roommate in the hospital after delivery. Now, this was a real walk! We followed the Panorama Weg from Triemli to the Albisgütli in Zurich. The weather was nice and sunny, a real pleasure. One of the next walks was again the same one but this time with a friend who has a 2.5 months older baby girl (so at the moment she is 5.5 months old).

What are we doing so far:

* Trying to get the place in the PEKIP course which is organized by “Elternbildungszentrum der Stadt Zürich“.

* From January the 30th we will attend a baby massage course (4 times x 90 minutes) in our local hospital. I am very excited about that!

* We were in Coop Nuggikino: movies organized once a month (Sunday matinée) by Coop for all parents and their babies up to 1 year old. BTW, Nuggi means pacifier (soother) in Swiss German. You can bring your baby together with you to the cinema and no one will say anything if it cries. Cool, isn’t it? There is also a lot of space to change the diapers during the break and you also get some products from the Coop partner companies. We watched Enchanted which is actually a real fairytale comedy-of-situations movie and the baby was mostly calm and sleepy. Also if you need to breastfeed the baby noone will see cause it’s dark so you don’t have to hide and if you are going to Arena Sihlcity you can make a reservation for a nice 2-persons-chair (they call if sofa but it’s just a small “sofa”) and make yourself cozy together with your baby.

PS: You can search for all events in Kanton Zurich here.

3 months old baby and what happened so far …

Time flies and Catherine is already 3 months old. During this time we experienced, learned and felt so much. We are extremely happy and the whole happiness can’t be described in words.

I would say that writing about your pregnancy is “a piece of cake” cause you are writing only about yourself, but when you have a baby you probably don’t want to write about him/her in the terms you wrote about yourself. That is why there was a short pause on this blog. I thought for a long time if I should continue writing about baby and us and at the end I decided that it would be nice to post informations and experiences which could be valuable to other parents in Switzerland and especially Zurich, but also to the parents in Serbia or wherever. :-)) Actually I will try to continue my “spreading informations” mission.

Basically there are so many things you can do with/for your child in Switzerland and mostly the informations are right in front of you: everyone starting with your child’s doctor, hospital, advisory service, regional office, the city government and of course the companies like e.g. Nestle and Pampers will inform you about (or send you) all possible stuff you need or don’t need, but it is nice to have some informations sorted out, right?

First I would like to say something about where do we take walks with our baby. After our first walk, the second one was on 1. November when we went to the Mütter- und Väterberatung for the first time. Actually that first time Catherine’s dad was also with us (since he had 4 weeks off after my delivery) which drew the glances of other mothers to us. I guess it is “normal” that only mothers go to the consultant. Whatever.

The advisory/consulting centers in Zurich are organized in every city district and in some of them work advisory VIPs like Anna Urben who is writing for the “Wir Eltern” magazine and such. First I wanted to visit her but since a) she is not in my city district and also not reachable by foot from our home (in that case we couldn’t only walk :-)) and b) we don’t really have problems with our baby meaning that our questions for the consultant are more or less typical and expected to be answered by “every” consultant, we decided that we will visit the consultant in our district and see what happens. I can tell you that she is very nice lady who gave me some valuable tips, though the most interesting thing is surely her experience and the ability to notice every possible baby’s move and to find the explanation for it. Anyway, it is advisable to go to the consultant in your district who would be your “basic” consultant and have a chance to get to know your baby although you can always go to someone else if you’re not satisfied with the first one. To size your baby (weight and size) you should visit the Mütterberatung every week with a newborn (until 3 months old) and afterwards old once a month with a 3-12 months old baby.

Also you can ask a question on the telephone or make an appointment at your home if you can’t make it to the advisory center. In that case I’m not sure if you have to pay something for the visit.

to be continued …

PS: Die Parktante takes care of children who are 2-5 years old on a hourly basis.

Porodjaj: hronoloski - Geburt: chronologisch

13.10.2007.

14:00 - 17:00

Lukas birthday party. I ate too much Indian food. Lukas mother and grandmother are teasing me that my stomach is “too low” and that the delivery will start soon. I don’t really feel like that.

21:00

The constant back pain (in the lower back) starts. It is one of the signs for the delivery begin. I am going through my hospital bag, checking if everything is packed, taking a shower and relaxing by watching the “Becoming Jane”. Watching about the “old ages” helps me to stay calm cause I am living in the modern world.

14.10.2007.

00:00

I was thinking that the back pain will last for the whole night so that we can sleep it over and go to the hospital in the morning. But, at the time we wanted to go to the bed the contractions started. Every 5 minutes, for about 40 to 60 seconds I had to breath deeply and make this funny A and O sounds. My husband helped me and was breathing together with me. How relaxing! He gave me so much strength and confidence.

1:15

I can’t stand the contractions any more. It’s not that they are so hard to handle but I don’t know how “far” I am and don’t want to be at the hospital too late. So, I am making a phone call and the lady on the line tells me to take a bath. If the contractions disappear afterwards, then I can relax and go back to bed and if they become even stronger then I should come to the hospital.

1:30 - 2:00

Taking a bath was great and really relaxing. Especially the thought that I won’t be able to take any bath for weeks after the delivery (in order to avoid possible infections) made this bath the best one ever. During the bath I almost didn’t have any contractions, at least I didn’t feel them.

2:00

The contractions “are coming back” after the bath so I am calling the hospital and tell me (this time is another lady on the line) that we are coming at around 2:30.

2:30

I felt a bit strange leaving our appartment. The thought and the feeling that you will come back with a small baby girl and that everything will be (beautifully) different from that moment on is surely unique.

3:00

We arrived at the hospital and the midwife (the first one of the total three of them which they’ve been helping us … but read on ) showed us the way to the preparation room. First she and then the doctor examined me and turned the CTG on and though they could see the rhythmical contractions the midwife told us that the delivery hasn’t begun. So, we could either go home and come back in a few hours or stay at the hospital for some hours and see what happens. We’ve (mostly I cause I was feeling more secure at the hospital) decided to stay. They put us at the delivery room, gave me three (3) tablets of the Buscopan to ease the pain and to help the opening starts. I could also sleep between 5 and 7 am which was really good, but my husband unfortunately couldn’t. The midwife first offered to get him the supplemental bed but afterwards everyone forgot about it (she forgot to bring it and we forgot to ask) so he tried to sleep in the chair.

7:30

The new midwife came (change of the work shift) and she made another CTG check and examined me. Still the same. I’ve had contractions but the delivery hasn’t started yet. We decided to go home and hopefully take a proper nap, especially the future dad cause he also needed to stay fresh and strong. The midwife told us “see you soon, at the latest during the afternoon”. She gave me only one Buscopan and another two to take at home in a few hours.

10:00 - 12:00

The future dad is sleeping but I couldn’t. I was only napping. The contractions were so annoying that I couldn’t relax.

13:30

Called the hospital and again the answer is “can you please take a bath and then tell us the results”. I went to the bath but when I noticed that I am bleeding a bit I’ve called again and told them “I think there is no need to take a bath, I am bleeding and we are coming”.

15:00

They are measuring the heart tones and the contractions with the CTG and examining me again, but now the delivery has started. Hurrah!

16:00

The anesthetist who will give me the epidural anesthesia arrives.

17:00

The epidural anesthesia is set up but not really “working”. On the left side my leg and the hip are totally numb but on the right side I still feel the contractions a little. Anyway, it’s much better than without it.

20:00

The midwife announces that the last (”push”) phase has begun. After 1.5 hrs our beautiful baby girl is born. We are the luckiest parents in the world …

Note: The baby was “rolled” with an umbilical cord on the three places: legs, body and the neck… Wenn sich die Nabelschnur manchmal um gewisse Körperteile des Babys wickelt, ist es meistens nicht gefärlich. Bei Catherine war es aber dreimal (um den Hals, Bauch und die Beine) und eine Freundin von mir hat gemeint, dass dies eine grösse Glück bedeutet. Es ist auch nicht bekannt, warum sich die Nabelschnur manchmal um gewisse Körperteile des Babys wickelt, aber es wird davon ausgegangen, dass es auf eine besonders lange Nabelschnur zurückzuführen ist.

Nedelja i prva setnja - Der Sonntagsspaziergang

Nasa prva i to nedeljna setnja se desila u cast Kacine druge nedelje. Bilo je zaista lepo i suncano vreme a malena je spavala sve vreme (prethodno smo je dobro nahranili i uspavali :)) sto je nama roditeljima olaksalo uzivanje i opustanje na svezem vazduhu.

Obukli smo je u debelo odelce “polarnog medveda” u kome je jednostavno preslatka. Kolica su za sada potvrdila svoje najvise ocene a imamo i puno slika koje ce uskoro biti na Flickr-u.

Bili smo u komsiluku i to u centru za okupljanje dece i roditelja (snimili smo i veliko igraliste koje jedva cekamo da isprobamo u buducnosti) i na buvljaku za decje igracke i garderobu. Ovde je buvljak mnogo bolji od recimo onog na Novom BG :)) tako da ne morate da se brinete za kvalitet robe koja se moze kupili bukvalno za dzabe.

Puno pozdrava od Catherine sa mamom i tatom

***

… heute ist etwas spannendes passiert, wovon ich Euch berichten muss. Mama und Papa sind mit mir zum ersten Mal spazieren gefahren. Da ich noch so klein sei, müssten sie mich in als Eisbär verkleiden, haben sie gesagt. Dann ging’s los mit meinem blauen Sportmobil zum Gemeinschaftszentrum in der Nachbarschaft, wo ein Flohmarkt war. Dort war es nett, für nur wenig Geld haben wir Mützchen, Wollpulli, Schuhe und Hemdchen gekauft. Als Dankeschön dafür war ich während der ganzen Fahrt ruhig und habe geschlafen.

Ganz liebe Grüsse, auch von Mama und Papa

Eure Catherine

Babinje - baby shower - wish list

Since a lot of you want to visit us and meet Catherine and also asked us what Catherine would like or want, we’ve prepared a list of some things we have and certainly don’t need and the ones we don’t have and need.

What we need:
1. if you like babies and are willing to help us, you can offer us an hour (or more :-)) of babysitting. You can babysit by yourself or e.g. rent a Red Cross Babysitting service.

2. if you’re living in Germany and are coming by car, you could bring us a package of pampers (size 3 for the babies from 4-9 kg) which are 50% cheaper than in CH.

3. voucher (Gutschein) from baby stores, like e.g. Dpam, babywalz or Pastorini.

4. toys for the baby beginning from 6 months. We prefer the wooden toys (Holzspielzeugs).

5. Clothes beginning with the size 68.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We don’t have anything against borrowed, used and second-hand clothes.

What we already have and therefore don’t need:

1. Spieluhr

2. Schnuller and Schnullerkette

3. Rassel (rattles) and a lot of toys for the small babies in general.

4. some soft toys (stuffed animals), like elephant, dog, teddy bear etc.

5. enough clothes up to the size 62

6. crib mobile

7. kirschsteinsäckchen… (the sack that is used for warming up the baby’s tummy)

8. baby bed-linen

9. sleeping begs size 60 and 70

10. baby (bath) towels

11. Wärmeflasche12. Stillkissen

13. Lätzchen (bibs) = portikle

14. Weleda Stillöl and Massageöl (for Catherine’s mom :))

15. Schmusetuch (”security buddy”)

16. a lot of baby socks

What we REALLY don’t want for our baby girl:

1. Barbie doll. We prefer dolls like this one.

2. Toys like “speaking phone“, “speaking farm” etc. Maybe they are interesting at the beginning, but we’ve heard from our family and friends that they can be very annoying.

Poseta jaslicama

Iako će nam jaslice trebati tek od oktobra 2008. i to samo tokom 2 dana nedeljno ovde se mesta rezervišu i ugovori sklapaju i po godinu dana unapred tako da smo pre par nedelja počeli sa kontaktiranjem pojedinih u našoj blizini. Naravno, iskustva su različita.

I) U jednoj instituciji su se zahvalili na našem e-mailu (u kome smo se interesovali za termin obilaska i da li imaju slobodnih mesta), obavestili nas da smo na listi čekanja ali da možemo da ih obidjemo tek ukoliko budemo dobili mesto. Naravno, kako nam je ta kombinacija suviše nesigurna a i gospodja iz jaslica nije bila izuzetna ljubazna preko telefona dotični više nisu na našoj listi prioriteta. Da li treba da spominjem da u dokumentu koji smo im poslali imaju sve naše podatke tipa zemlje porekla, adrese, broja telefona, imena poslodavca, opisa radnog mesta i sl.

II) U drugoj su nas zvali a odmah nakon što su primili naš e-mail a termin obilaska smo imali juče (11.9.). U tih sat vremena nije bilo dovoljno vremena da se ispričamo sa simpatičnom šeficom poreklom iz italijanskog dela - ostalo je još toliko tema tako da ćemo ih ponovo obići nakon porodjaja - a sva deca su naravno preslatka. Imaju 3 starosne grupe: bebe do 2 godine starosti, decu od 2-3.5 god i decu od 3.5 do 5 god s tim što se sve grupe sreću tokom dana kako bi i mladji i stariji navikli jedni na druge (takozvani Tandem koncept). Ono što nam se takodje dopada je što imaju puno dvojezične i višejezične dece a kako mi planiramo da bebanu uporedo učimo srpski i nemački (u jaslicama će svakako učiti švajcarski nemački) ta otvorenost i tolerantnost prema različitim kulturama nam veoma odgovara. Još nekoliko detalja: veoma su blizu nas, oko 5-10 min peške, imaju 1 vaspitačicu na 3 dece/beba a za našu malenu za sada ima mesta. Ipak, jos uvek nismo sklopili ugovor, sacekacemo porodjaj i obici jos nekoliko jaslica pa ćemo videti u novembru. Takođe postoji mogućnost da se kasnije boravak produži na 3 dana ili vise. O tom potom.

Program prilagodjavanja je standard u svim institucijama u zemlji i traje oko 2-3 nedelje (sa mogucnosti produzenja) kada dete najpre u prvoj nedelji dolazi sa jednim od roditelja prvog dana na 15-30 minuta, pa drugog 30-60 min itd. dok se na kraju ne privikne da ostaje samo po ceo dan bez roditelja.

update:

III) U trećoj instituciji smo imali termin 2. oktobra i dopali su nam se “onako”. Za te jaslice se priča da su najbolji u kraju, možda i jesu ali smo mi donekle razočarani suviše isključivim pravilima i pristupom “mi smo ljubazni, možete sve da nas pitate ali ništa od toga ne može i ne sme da se realizuje”. Primer: imaju prilično nefleksibilan raspored boravka malih beba - izmedju 8:30 i 17:00 - pri čemu nam je prvi termin suviše kasno a drugo suviše rano jer bih u tom slučaju mogla da radim samo 7.5 (bez pauze za ručak) umesto 8.5 sati dnevno (budući tata će opet raditi van Ciriha i za njega će taj raspored biti još teži). Ceo taj raspored su uveli pod izgovorom da je za male bebe suviše da provedu više od 7-8 sati dnevno u jaslicama. Mi to razumemo i verujemo da je tako ali 1) plaćamo punu cenu i odgovornost za bebu je ipak naša, 2) kada neko počne da mi drži pridike i popuje o mom radnom vremenu uz opasku “pa možda ćete moći da se dogovorite sa poslodavcem da ostanete duže kod kuće” (a zna da je godinu dana odsustva nakon porodjaja maksimum u mom slučaju i da imam jedino rešenje da dam otkaz i potpuno prestanem da radim) onda mi se jednostavno podigne kosa na glavi. Takodje, program prilagodjavanja može da se započne samo početkom meseca i plaća se puna cena iako dete na početku dolazi na svega 30-60 minuta i prati ga jedan od roditelja. I na kraju, vaspitačica je na nas ostavila utisak prilično nefleksibilne i “teške” osobe.

Ipak, prijavili smo se na listu čekanja pa ćemo videti. Prednost ovih jaslica je svakako da su nam najbliži, bukvalno na 5 min peške i da imaju veće prostorije od II) i veliki prostor za igranje napolju što II) na žalost nema.

IV) Juče (4.10.) smo obišli i četvrtu instituciju koja nam se veoma dopala. Jedini nedostatak je što su malčice dalje od nas i ne postoji direktna autobuska ili tramvajska linija (morala bih da pešačim oko 15 min što zimi baš nije veselo ili da je tata svakog dana vozi kolima) i što kao i II) nemaju sopstveni prostor za igranje napolju ali su zato veoma blizu jednog velikog gradskog igrališta i mesta za okupljanje. Prostorije su definitivno najveće od svih koje smo videli do sada i jednostavno prelepe. Poželela sam da sam ponovo mala i da mogu da se igram tamo. Sledeće godine će uvesti još jednu medju-grupu za decu izmedju 1 i 2 godine starosti jer su primetili da je večina 1-godišnjaka suviše aktivna za bebe od npr 4 meseca a istovremeno mala za grupu dece stariju od 2 god. Imaju čak i pre-school grupu na engleskom za decu stariju od 3 godine. Vaspitačice deluju preljubazno i totalno cool a javićemo im se nakon porodjaja kako bi smo videli da li možemo da sklopimo ugovor.

Trenutna situacija: Najverovatnije ćemo što pre rezervisati mesto u II) sa nadom u mesto u IV) a ako eventualno dobijemo mesto u III) (što nećemo znati pre leta 200 pokušati da pregovaramo sa njima o vremenu dolaska i odlaska pa ako nam uspe razmisliti još jednom da li da ih prihvatimo.

Dečija soba

Ili: kako i gde će beba spavati.

U poslednje vreme se sve više govori o takozvanom baby balkonu ili posebnom malom krevetu u kome beba spava a koji je privršćen za roditeljski, najčešće iz veoma praktičnih i logičnih razloga (dojenje ) sa majčine strane. Postoje istraživanja da na taj način beba i majka uspevaju da uspostave zajednički ritam spavanja ali o iskustvima na tom planu ću pisati uskoro. Kako će naš krevet biti nedovoljno velik za nas troje a u spavaćoj sobi nemamo dovoljno mesta za “pravi” dečiji krevet odlučili smo se upravo za tu varijantu i BabyBay krevetac-kolevku koji je nedavno stigao i zaista lepo izgleda. Njegova prednost je u tome da je on više od kreveta jer može da se transformiše u stolicu, sto, klupu i sl. a u stvari je kolevka. Naravno, mi smo veoma radoznali i unapred se radujemo isprobavanju svih ovih mogućnosti a nadamo se da će se i bebana radovati, tj. da će joj biti lepo u njemu.

U dečijoj sobi će biti dečiji krevet u kome bi malena trebala da spava čim bude prerasla kolevku i velika komoda za njene stvari sa gornjim delom (80×100 cm) za prepovijanje. Trenutno smo u procesu naručivanja pa ću o tome pisati kasnije. Uglavnom bi trebalo voditi računa o sledećem:

- krevetac i sto za prepovijanje ne smeju biti blizu prozora, na promaji ili preblizu grejnog tela (grejalica, TA pec, radijator)

- komodica treba da bude prostrana i funkcionalna kako bi u i na nju stale sve stvari koje cete koristiti u toku dana i noci (sigurno nekoliko meseci)

- krevetac treba da bude okrenut tako da bebi nikada ne ide sunce u oci.

- optimalna temperatura sobe je 22 stepena, a prvih dana kada beba dodje iz porodilista moze da bude i do 24 stepena.

- vazduh u toku zime moze da bude dosta suv i zato na grejna tela treba stavljati posudu sa vodom ili vlaznu pelenu.

- Nikada ne ostavljajte ukljucenu grejalicu i bebu samu u sobi i nikada ne ostavljajte bebu samu na stolu za prepovijanje.

Ovde postoje razna obeležavanja dobrog i funkcionalnog nameštaja a neka od njih su:

- TÜV i GS koje dodeljuju nezavisna udruženja za testiranje a kojim se garantuje da je nameštaj funkcionalan.
- CE dodeljuje sam proizvođač (na žalost ne postoji nezavisan zavod za kontrolu kvaliteta koji to proverava) i tim znakom označava održavanje evropskog standarda.
- RAL označava celokupan kvalitet nameštaja i dodeljuje ga nemački institut za osiguravanje i obeležavanje kvaliteta na osnovu unapred utvrđenih kriterijuma.

I za kraj o tome kako će beba spavati. Jedna majka mi jednom reče: bebe mogu (ili ne mogu) spavati svuda. Toliko o tome za sada.

Trenutno stanje: 31 nedelja, 63 kg (gojenje mi baš ne ide od ruke :-)), sledeći lekarski pregled: 27.8.