With the search for a midwife in Berlin becoming more and more challenging, Doulas are becoming a good alternative for pregnant women in the city who are looking for that extra support in English (or whatever their mother tongue language may be). The provide pre-natal service, continuous support during labour/birth and post-natal support as well as breastfeeding guidance. 

My aim for the 'Pregnant in Berlin' section of this site is to try and make some aspects of being pregnant and having a baby in Germany a little less overwhelming. With this in mind, I thought I'd write an overall information post full of tips on how it works having a baby in Germany and more specifically, Berlin. 

It would be impossible for me to keep track of all the the different pregnancy/ pre-natal classes starting and stopping in Berlin, however, here is a list of all the organisations and people I know that are offering (at the time I write this) pregnancy/pre-natal yoga or Pilates in English in the city. Please be aware that class availability changes regularly, so always check their website / contact them about current classes. 

Some yoga classes will be paid partially by certain health insurance providers here in Germany. Learn more about this coverage here.

If you know of any others that should be added or offer such classes yourself and would like to be added to the list, get in touch.

Berlin is home to a number of hospitals and many of them offer facilities for giving birth in. I am going to highlight a number of Berlin's hospitals that have been used (and recommended) by friends and acquaintances. This post will be focusing on St. Joseph Krankenhaus in Tempelhof.

Being pregnant away from family and friends can be tough, especially so if your friendship group doesn't consist of other parents(-to-be) and if you don't know many people in Berlin. 

Never fear though, there are still many ways to get to know other pregnant women, as well as parents both on and offline. In fact, Berlin is full of many opportunities to get to know other mums (and dads), pretty much wherever you are. Here are my tips on where to go/join...

What is a Beleghebamme?

During pregnancy in Berlin there are a number of decisions to be made. When it comes to choices of midwife (Hebamme), some women choose to look specifically for a Beleghebamme to assist them in pregnancy, at the birth and once the baby is home. If you are unsure what a Beleghebamme is, you can read more about it in my post about how to find a midwife in Berlin.

I have been asked a couple of times for recommendations of an English-speaking gynaecologist/OBGYN (Frauenarzt) in Berlin and I am always a little careful with giving such recommendations. What one person appreciates in a doctor, can be different to someone else, however, I have decided to pull together all the recommendations I've found from others of English-speaking gynaecologists in Berlin. 

A lot of people, when moving to Germany, do not at first realize that the health system here is very different to that in the UK or US for example. I will try to explain how the system works here, however, there are of course always individual cases and all particularities cannot be explained in one post!

At some point in your pregnancy in Berlin, you will start considering your birth options. For those of you who are interested in birthing houses (Geburtshäuser) as an option, here is a list of Berlin's birthing houses along with an explanation of what a Geburtshaus is, their website and contact details and details of any info evenings available...

Towards the end of pregnancy, the end is in sight and you are encouraged to start thinking about what to pack in your hospital bag. Whether this will be your first labour or whether you have given birth before, in your home country, knowing what to pack in your hospital bag when giving birth in Germany is important. This post details the kind of items that are useful when giving birth in Germany, as well as the must-have documents for applying for the baby's birth certificate at the hospital.