Swiss Birth Stories
Our mission is to share diverse birth stories from across Switzerland in a way that empowers the storyteller.
We create a supportive space where each person is in control of their own narrative. By recording and sharing birth stories in Switzerland, we hope to inspire those planning their own birth, offer insights for birth workers, or allow listeners to reflect on their own birth experiences.
Tune in to hear real, personal, raw birth stories
Recent Episodes
Cesarean Birth Home Birth Birth Centre Transfer NICU Hospital Birth Induction Epidural Fast Labour Breech Preeclampsia & HELLP Hyperemesis gravidarum Postpartum hemorrhage High-risk pregnancy Infertility & IVF Miscarriage & loss Second (or subsequent) births Twin or multiple births Mental health Triemli Hirslanden Aargau Hirslanden Zurich Geburtshaus Delphys Geburtshaus Zollikerberg Spital Zollikerberg HUG Genève Spital Uster Kantonspital Winterthur Universitätsspital Zürich Spital Lachen Hôpital de Morges Spital Burgdorf Emmental Bethesda Spital Basel Midwife led birth unmedicated Maternal Type 1 Diabetes Hirschsprung Disease Geburtshaus Terra Alta Clinique de La Source Cystic Fibrosis Water birth Clubfoot VBAC
38
Oct. 16, 2026
Katie: Two Unmedicated Water Births at Triemli in Zurich, Midwife-Led Care and Feeling Strong Postpartum
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes Katie’s two midwife led births at Triemli Stadtspital in Zurich share a surprising thread: both times, a skilled and observant midwife noticed what was standing between baby and this world, and on
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Sept. 30, 2026
Alexandra: Pregnancy as an Athlete, Long Labour, Unplanned Cesarean Birth and Postpartum Recovery in Switzerland
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes Alexandra, a footballer who moved to Bern six years ago, shares her pregnancy, birth and postpartum experience just seven weeks after having her son. She explains how she chose an English-friendly
36
Sept. 7, 2026
Jessica: Matrescence, 1 Birth Centre and 1 Home Birth in Switzerland
Send us Fan Mail Matrescence is the profound physical, emotional, and psychological transition of becoming a mother and it's a big focus of everything we do at Swiss Birth Stories, but it's also a huge part of Dr. Jessica Laine Carmeli's expertise. In this episode, she discusses pregnancy, out-of-hospital birth, breastfeeding, and motherhood. She describes severe hyperemesis in her first pregnancy, medication-supported nausea management in later pregnancies, and contrasts NHS hospital-based midw
35
Aug. 26, 2026
E35: Anna - Two births, breech pregnancy, unplanned cesarean birth, VBAC
Send us Fan Mail Anna, a Swiss mom living in Zurich, shares two very different birth stories of her two daughters. Pregnant soon after deciding to try, she miscarried, then conceived again and prepared with yoga, a birth course, and a doula. Her first baby stayed in the breech position; she switched from Klinik im Park to Triemli Stadtspital Zürich to attempt a vaginal breech birth. Anna tried various turning methods, and began labor after a castor oil cocktail, but after slow dilation and the b
34
May 27, 2026
Kaitlin: From Textbook to the ICU. Preeclampsia, HELLP, and Finding Your Footing Postpartum
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes Her pregnancy is “textbook” until a routine late-pregnancy check reveals high blood pressure and protein in urine, and suddenly every day feels like a decision point. We’re joined by Kaitlin, an
33
April 10, 2026
Valentina: Two Births; Hospital and Home Birth Transfer. Hyperemesis, Sibling Bonds, Induction, Breast Feeding, Tandem Feeding and Knowing Your Rights.
Send us Fan Mail Subscribe for more Swiss Birth Stories, Write a review, and share this podcast to help more parents in Switzerland and beyond find the show. @swissbirthstories @lilybeezurich @juliathedoula.ch www.juliathedoula.ch www.lilybee.ch www.swissbirthstories.com Born on a tiny river boat in Colombia during a tropical storm, Valentina grows up across continents and later lands in Switzerland working in maternal health and gender equity. Then pregnancy hits and theory becomes real.
32
March 23, 2026
Lisa: From Recurring Loss to Hard Choices to Motherhood. A Rare Diagnosis, Donor Egg IVF Across Borders, and a Birth That Tested Every Limit.
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes What an episode. When Lisa is told again and again that her recurring miscarriages are “just bad luck,” she knows that's not it. She follows her intuition, pushes for deeper testing, and finally
31
March 12, 2026
Giulia: Long Labour, Unplanned Cesarean Birth and A Diagnosis of Hirschsprung's Disease
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes Wow, what a story. You will want to stick around for the postpartum discussion and her incredibly brilliant moment which left not a dry eye on the recording that day. A birth plan can be thou
30
March 3, 2026
Kateryna: Choosing Home Birth in Switzerland
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes What happens when a healthcare system’s “just in case” meets a mother’s calm, clear questioning: “what’s actually happening right now?”, "How is my baby doing?" Originally from Ukraine, we me
29
Feb. 11, 2026
Emily: From Infertility due to PCOS to Joy, Support and Healing.
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes After five years of trying, Emily and her husband's fertility journey ends not with another treatment cycle, but with an act of surrender and faith. And then, a positive test surprises them two
28
Jan. 29, 2026
Ana: A Heart-Shaped Uterus, Walking Epidural and Finding Her Power
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes A clear plan helps, but the real story begins when birth asks you to adapt. Anna joins us from Zurich to share how she chose motherhood on her own terms, navigated a heart-shaped uterus without
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Jan. 8, 2026
Diana: 2 Births in Zurich- A Fast First Hospital Birth And A Taxi Delivery For Her Second Baby
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes What happens when labour quickly goes from quiet to unstoppable and the only “birth room” around has four doors and a meter running? We sit down with Diana, a Brazilian living in Zurich, to reli
26
Dec. 12, 2025
Sara: The Power Of Words, Choices and Care. Two Different Births, One in Denmark, Another in Switzerland.
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes Sara is a researcher and doula in Zurich. What if the difference between a hard birth and a healing one was a few well-chosen words, a handful of choices and a team that truly listened? Sarah’s
25
Nov. 26, 2025
Andrea: What If Your Second Birth Rewrites Your First? How A Fast First Labour, Postpartum Hemorrhage, And Hashimoto’s Led To An Empowered Second Birth
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes A birth can change your life. Two births can change your map. Andrea, a teacher and author living in Lenzburg AG, opens up about a first labour that moved faster than anyone expected, a cramped
24
Nov. 13, 2025
Ladina: Continuity Of Care, Sibling Bonds, And The Unexpected. Two Different Birth Experiences at Triemli in Zurich.
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes Plans rarely survive contact with labour, and that’s exactly where this story shines. We sit down with Ladina, a Swiss parent who grew up in the US and Brazil, to trace two very different births
23
Nov. 6, 2025
Henar: A High-Risk Label Rewritten By A Tenacious Mother- Informed Choices, Type 1 Diabetes, and an Unplanned Cesarean Birth
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes This episode is a must listen for every pregnancy. Henar's story of finding answers, self-advocacy, hard work and tenacity, as well as leaning in when things went differently than planned holds
22
Oct. 30, 2025
Joanna: Rethinking Authority, Confidence and Where We Give Birth. One Hospital Birth in Poland and One Home Birth in Switzerland.
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes Joanna is a small business owner living in Glarus with her family. She owns Moon and June, a non-alcoholic apertif made in Switzerland. A decade can change everything. Joanna went from a fast
21
Oct. 23, 2025
Maggie: How A Planned Twin Cesarean Became A Grounded, Joyful Birth And A Gentle Postpartum
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes Maggie Wyss, PhD, is a researcher, writer, and international health expert exploring the intersection of gender, health, and society. Her work is centered on how women navigate complex decisions
20
Oct. 16, 2025
Kristina: Pandemic Pregnancy to Empowered Parenting: Resilience, Gentle Support and Connection
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes If you’re craving a nuanced, practical take on birth, breastfeeding, and entrepreneurship/work- light on dogma, big on real-life problem-solving then this is the story for you. A long labour,
19
Oct. 8, 2025
Josefina: How an unplanned NICU Journey Reshaped a Mother’s Identity, Priorities and Voice. Preeclampsia, Premature Birth and the Slow Bloom of Bonds.
Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes Josefina is a certified pre- and post-natal yoga teacher and a pregnancy and postpartum corrective exercise specialist (PCES) living in Appenzell, Switzerland. The plan sounded elegant: move
About the Hosts
Julia Neale
Doula | Hypnobirthing Specialist | Postpartum Educator
Christine Bliven
Doula | Childbirth Educator | Baby-wearing Consultant
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