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Emily's resources and contact info are below this description :

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 weeks later!

Emily, a UK–Italian psychologist living in Uster, ZH, invites us into her honest, layered journey through PCOS, infertility, a late breech pregnancy, and an induction at Spital Uster that swung from serene to urgent in minutes.

We talk about the moment her waters broke, why a 36-week conversation about pain relief changed everything, and how a calm, epidural-supported labour turned into a rapid forceps delivery that brought her son safely earthside.

The harder chapter began after birth. With a tailbone injury, stitches, and a very large newborn, Emily couldn’t sit, lift, or walk without pain. Bonding looked different. Her husband took the nights and nappies; her Italian family moved in, filling the home with meals, care, and the steady wisdom of a great-grandmother in her 90s. Together, they built a real village.

Emily shares how accepting help became both a psychological hurdle and a lifeline, and how strength training tailored for PCOS helped rebuild her body and confidence.

Threaded through it all is a theme that challenges modern myths of control: faith alongside science, surrender alongside planning, and the radical idea that a baby’s life is valuable before it achieves anything at all. If you’re navigating fertility uncertainty, planning an induction, weighing pain relief options in Switzerland, or bracing for the variations of postpartum recovery, Emily’s story offers practical insights and a grounded reminder that community is medicine.

If this conversation moved you, subscribe, leave a quick review, and share it with someone else. Your support helps more parents find these stories and feel less alone.

Emily's resources:

Dr. Emily Reeves

Certified Psychologist

Time for Peace Psychology Practice (Uster)

www.timeforpeace.ch

Her personal trainer:

Justina: https://justinatraining.com/

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Ana's resources are under this description.

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 panic, and prepared through hypnobirthing, swimming, yoga, and an English antenatal class at Triemli Stadtspital in Zurich city.

What follows is a vivid, vulnerable account of labour: nausea between contractions, a walking epidural that brought crucial rest, and the moment where language clarity changed care.

As pushing stretched on, meconium and decelerations raised the stakes. The team considered a surgical birth before using a kiwi vacuum to help her daughter arrive safely.

Those first minutes were fleeting; NICU monitoring separated mother and baby, while Anna faced a retained placenta and an operation under general anesthesia. She wakes to the ache of a ventilated throat and a surge of doubt, then rebuilds confidence with compassionate midwives, pumping support, and steady skin-to-skin. Milk starts slow, then arrives in force at home, just as day-three hormones crash and cluster feeding rewrites the night.

We talk practical truths and tender ones: why clear communication matters in a second language, how boundaries around visitors protect recovery, and what pelvic floor rehab can do for strength, continence, and a gradual return to running. Anna’s reflections land with weight—becoming a mother as a chance to redefine identity and model courage for her daughter. If you’re expecting, supporting a birth, or processing your own story, this conversation offers grounded guidance, emotional honesty, and a reminder that resilience grows in the grey areas.

If this story resonates, follow Swiss Birth Stories, subscribe for more real-world birth insights, and leave a review to help others find us. Share this episode with someone who needs a compassionate, unvarnished look at birth and the postpartum journey.

Ana's resources:

Rückbildung & Yoga kurs: https://www.hebammenpraxis-zuerich.ch/standorte

Trainer pre/postpartum: https://www.sportzonezuerich.ch/

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Please connect with us! See below for how to contact and interact with us:

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Diana's resources are below this description:

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 relive two unforgettable births: a swift, positive first delivery at Spital Zollikerberg in Zurich and a second that arrives in a taxi during rush hour- no midwives, no doctors, no time, just instinct and inspirational courage.

We start with the ease of her first birth and the rare gift of a newborn who slept long stretches from night one. Then the scene changes: a surprise second pregnancy collides with early COVID restrictions, shifting hospital rules, and the logistics of caring for a toddler while working from a small apartment. Diana shares how she chose her care team and hospital based on continuity, NICU proximity, and realistic worst‑case planning- decisions that brought steadiness when everything else felt uncertain.

The heart of the story is the taxi birth itself: contractions that spike in minutes, a neighbour (in his late 40s and childless) turned improvised birth partner, a driver with his own special birth story, and Diana putting a hand down to catch her own baby and arriving back in her body and senses at the perfect time.

Once home, relief meets a new challenge as her newborn is monitored for gastrointestinal issues and her toddler battles salmonella. We talk about the hidden demands of postpartum in a pandemic, how a strict feeding schedule surprisingly boosted milk supply, and the emotional work of integrating a fast, intense birth.

With a trauma‑informed midwife, Diana reframes the experience: intensity can still be healthy, and instinct under pressure is real strength. Along the way, we celebrate the unlikely bond with the taxi driver, the family rituals that keep the amazing story alive, and the deep connection that grew between two closely spaced siblings.

If you love real birth stories, practical perinatal insights, and honest talk about resilience, you’ll feel right at home. Subscribe, leave a review to support the show, and share this episode with someone who needs a reminder that calm can live inside chaos.

Support the show

Please connect with us! See below for how to contact and interact with us:

To share your story: https://www.happydayhypnobirthing.ch/swiss-birth-stories

All episodes:

https://swissbirthstories.buzzsprout.com

Our websites:

www.swissbirthstories.com

www.juliathedoula.ch

www.lilybee.ch

Instagram:

@swissbirthstories

@juliathedoula.ch

@lilybeezurich

Tiktok:

@swissbirthstories