Second (Or Subsequent) Births Episodes

Send us Fan Mail 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. Hyperemesis gravidarum leaves her sick for months, and she learns how quickly a system can turn “protocol” into pressure when a mother is exhausted and vulnerable. We talk through what informed consent actually sounds like when your waters break, time starts t...

Send us Fan Mail 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 story spans two countries and two radically different experiences where she found her rhythm, her voice, and her power. Her first, an induction in Denmark marked by pressure toward an epidural that failed, and later, in Zurich, having to forgo her goal of giving birth at Delphy's Birth Ho...

Send us Fan Mail A birth can change your life. Two births can change your map. Andrea, a teacher and author living in Lenzburg, opens up about a first labour that moved faster than anyone expected, a cramped exam room at Hirslanden Aargau standing in for a delivery suite, and the cascade that followed: retained placenta, agonising uterine compression, a major postpartum hemorrhage, and surgery during the height of pandemic restrictions. With her partner sent home and information scarce, recover...

Send us Fan Mail 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 at Triemli Stadtspital in Zurich—one long and medically complex, the next fast and grounded in simple tools and trust. We start with the first pregnancy and a nerve-wracking NIPT delay over the holidays that coloured the months that followed. Labour opened with back pain and slow dilati...

Send us Fan Mail 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-paced banking career and a midwife-led hospital birth in Poland to a slow, deliberate, deeply supported home water birth in the Swiss mountains—finding a new kind of confidence along the way. Her story threads through motherhood, blended family life, and the tension between authority and i...

Send us Fan Mail The journey to motherhood transforms us in ways we never expect. For Johanna, an Australian expat living in Switzerland, what began as a dream-come-true pregnancy turned into a birth story filled with unexpected twists – from her water breaking in the bath to a husband who wouldn't answer his phone (and was immediately presumed dead), a taxi driver who got lost en route to the hospital, and ultimately, a challenging posterior labor that demanded everything she had. She gave birt...

Send us Fan Mail Clare shares her story of giving birth to her second child in Switzerland after moving from the UK, highlighting the differences between birth systems and the beauty of sibling relationships. Her marathon 67-hour labor culminated in a water birth at Hôpital de Morges after her initial birthing center plans changed. Moved to Switzerland 20 years ago with husband and 7-week-old son Max, who is now in his final year of apprenticeship Planned for a birth center birth with her seco...

Send us Fan Mail Simone shares her remarkable journey of giving birth to her two sons in two different countries (the Netherlands and Switzerland), revealing how cultural and systemic differences profoundly shape the birth experience beyond just the physical process. Born and raised in Amsterdam before relocating to Switzerland with her family First pregnancy transformed from planned birth center delivery to unexpected home birth in the Netherlands Second pregnancy culminated in a planned hom...

Send us Fan Mail Agata, mother of five children, shares her experiences of pregnancy and giving birth at Hirslanden Hospital in Zurich with remarkable honesty, self-awareness, and optimism. Originally from Russia, Agata met her German husband in the UK before settling in Zurich in 2011 Always wanted a large family- had her first three children in less than three years, followed by her fourth and fifth Learned to listen to her body during pregnancy, which helped heal her relationship with food...

Send us Fan Mail Ashley shares her remarkable journey through IVF, international moves, and a picture perfect birth which she was encouraged to share. Her story demonstrates how resilience, support networks, and finding peace in unexpected circumstances can create beautiful pregnancy and birth experiences despite complex logistics. Started trying to conceive naturally before turning to IVF after a year Completed two rounds of IVF with traditional Chinese medicine support First son conceived d...

Send us Fan Mail Delia shares her four powerful home birth stories that began when she was a young midwife trainee who discovered her pregnancy at 26 weeks. From catching each baby in her own hands to navigating birth as a young student, her stories exemplify trusting intuition and creating empowered experiences. Serendipitously discovering Ina May Gaskin's "Spiritual Midwifery" as a midwifery student and how that awakened her trust in physiological birth Working in the hospital during pregnan...

Send us Fan Mail Ellie shares her journey of giving birth twice at the University Hospital in Zurich, exploring both the emotional challenges of pregnancy and the profound differences between her two birth experiences. Through her story, she highlights the importance of advocating for yourself during labor and recognizing that babies arrive with their own unique personalities from day one. There are a few gorgeous moments in this podcast where you can hear her little one snuggling in for a feed...

Send us Fan Mail Mona, mother to three "little female dragons" - now aged 21, 16, and 7, shares her journey of three planned cesarean births in Bethesda and Kantonsp. Mona's uterus is uniquely shaped, which prevented her babies from turning naturally into the optimal birthing position. She shares how the path to planned cesarean birth did not change anything about her mothering and how they were positive experiences. Initially disappointed about needing a cesarean for her first birth after pict...

Send us Fan Mail Dipal shares her powerful birth experiences in India and Switzerland, highlighting cultural differences between healthcare systems while navigating a bilateral clubfoot diagnosis during her second pregnancy. Through both births, she demonstrates how preparation, knowledge, and supportive care providers created empowering experiences despite differing approaches to maternal autonomy and birth practices. First birth in Bangalore, India where episiotomies are routine, fathers are ...