German maternity care is thorough, well funded and almost entirely in German. It also has one bottleneck that catches nearly every foreign parent, and it happens in the first weeks.
So the process, in order.
First trimester: find a midwife
die Hebamme: the midwife. In Germany she is not only a birth attendant. She provides Vorsorge during pregnancy if you want it, may attend the birth, and provides Nachsorge, home visits after you come home, which is the part that matters most and is the part people miss.
Midwives in cities are booked out months in advance, frequently before the end of the first trimester. This is the single most time-critical thing on the list. Start calling as soon as you have a positive test, and expect to leave messages.
die Nachsorge: postnatal care at home. Your insurance covers it, a midwife comes to your flat, checks the baby and you, helps with feeding, and answers the questions you would otherwise be typing into a search engine at four in the morning. Arrange it while pregnant.
die Beleghebamme: a midwife who attends your birth at a hospital she has an arrangement with. Booked earliest of all.
The booklet you carry everywhere
der Mutterpass: issued at your first gynaecologist appointment and carried with you for the rest of the pregnancy. Every check-up, blood value, scan and measurement goes in it. Take it to every appointment, and take it to any hospital, because it is the first thing anyone asks for.
die Vorsorgeuntersuchung: the routine antenatal check-up. The schedule is fixed and covered by insurance: roughly every four weeks, then every two towards the end.
der Frauenarzt / die Frauenärztin: the gynaecologist, who runs the medical side in parallel with the midwife.
der errechnete Termin: the estimated due date, written in the Mutterpass and referred to constantly.
Around week thirty: decide where
der Kreißsaal: the delivery room. die Geburtsklinik is the maternity unit.
die Anmeldung zur Geburt: registering at the hospital where you intend to give birth, usually around weeks 30 to 36. You go in, they take your details, you tour the ward. Popular hospitals in big cities can close their books, so do this on time.
das Geburtshaus: a birth centre, midwife-led and outside a hospital.
die Hausgeburt: a home birth, legal and supported, though the midwife needs to be booked far in advance.
der Geburtsvorbereitungskurs: the antenatal class. Covered by insurance for the mother, usually chargeable for the partner, and it is where you will meet the other parents in your neighbourhood.
Before and after: Mutterschutz
der Mutterschutz: statutory protection. Six weeks before the due date and eight weeks after the birth, extended to twelve weeks for premature or multiple births. You may not work during it, and your job is protected.
das Mutterschaftsgeld: the payment that replaces income during Mutterschutz.
These weeks interact with Elterngeld, and the details are in the article on the three family benefits.
After the birth: the paperwork burst
die Geburtsurkunde: the birth certificate, issued by the Standesamt, the registry office. The hospital normally notifies them, but you collect the certificate.
Get several certified copies. Kindergeld wants one, Elterngeld wants one, your health insurer wants one, and you will want one for yourself. Asking for four at the counter costs almost nothing and saves a second trip.
die Anmeldung: yes, the baby has to be registered at your address too, the same Anmeldung process covered in the article on registering in Germany.
die Steuer-Identifikationsnummer: the child's tax ID arrives by post automatically a few weeks later. Keep it. Kindergeld cannot be processed without it.
The first year: the U-Untersuchungen
die U-Untersuchungen: the numbered series of child development check-ups, U1 through U9, running from immediately after birth to around age five. They are recorded in das gelbe Heft, the yellow booklet, which functions for the child the way the Mutterpass did for the pregnancy.
They are not optional in practice. Kitas ask to see the booklet, and several states follow up when appointments are missed.
das Wochenbett: the postnatal period, the first weeks at home. German practice takes it seriously as a recovery period rather than a return to normal, and the vocabulary reflects that.
der Rückbildungskurs: the postnatal recovery course, covered by insurance, and something midwives will ask whether you have booked.
Learning this vocabulary in advance
Save the stage with the word. Nachsorge is a fact as a translation and a plan as the midwife visits at home in the first two weeks, book her while pregnant.
Take the Mutterpass into Translate a page at a time. It is abbreviations and compound nouns, and it is the German you will look at most in nine months.
Then let repetition carry it. Forty words over a year, and they come back for the second child.
The short version
Call midwives in the first trimester. Carry the Mutterpass. Register at the hospital by week 34. Ask the Standesamt for four copies of the Geburtsurkunde.
And book the Nachsorge before you need it, because it is the most useful thing in this article and the easiest to leave too late.
Looking at a page of the Mutterpass and none of the abbreviations? Put it into Vokabulo. Free to start on iPhone, iPad and in the browser. 👶
