Support
A whole season of support: pregnancy and birth, the Wochenbett, and the years after.
7 min read · Last updated October 2026 · Written and reviewed by Emma, Birth & Mother
On this page
Month by month
An example, stage by stage. Every family's looks different.
01 / 05
Everything suddenly moves very quickly. There are appointments to arrange, information to understand, a gynaecologist and midwife to find, and decisions that seem to arrive all at once.
Beside you
We make a simple first plan together, so you know what truly needs doing now and can take those first steps with confidence. We talk through what happens next, and where to find a gynaecologist for your care.
02 / 05
As your pregnancy progresses, appointments become more frequent and decisions begin to take shape. You'll be introduced to a maternity system that may work very differently from the one you expected, with new terminology, unfamiliar routines, and choices about your care along the way.
Beside you
Together, we'll make sense of the German maternity system, so you know what happens when, who you'll meet, and what to expect at each stage. We'll read your Mutterpass together and prepare for appointments, so you understand your care before you walk through the door.
03 / 05
Everything starts to feel more real. You'll decide where to give birth, think about your preferences for labour, prepare for your baby's arrival, and wonder what to expect when the day finally comes.
Beside you
Together, we'll work through your birth preferences and the reasons behind each one, so you can make informed decisions during labour. I'll help you understand how birth works in your chosen setting, whether that's a hospital, birth centre or home birth, so you know what to expect when labour begins.
04 / 05
Labour takes its own time. There may be long hours, changing midwives, unexpected decisions, or a birth that takes a different turn from the one you imagined.
Beside you
I am one continuous, familiar presence throughout your labour, even as the people caring for you change. I can join you at home in early labour, and help you settle into your birth space, from arriving at the hospital to understanding what happens as labour progresses.
05 / 05
You're home with your baby, recovering, and working out your own rhythm as a new family. These first weeks are a time of healing, learning and getting to know one another.
Beside you
I care for you while you care for your baby, protecting your rest and creating space for your recovery. I support you as feeding becomes established, whether you're breastfeeding, expressing, combination feeding or bottle feeding, offering practical, non-judgemental support as you find what works for your family.
My time is set. What we do inside it is shaped around you, which is why everything here begins the same way: half an hour by video, to work out together what would actually help.
In person or by video
Preparing for birth, writing your birth preferences, and finding your way around maternity care in Germany: in person around Potsdam, or by video anywhere in Germany. Birth support is for babies due from 2027, and you can book it now.
Three two-hour sessions, one to one
When you understand your options and what to do if the day shifts, birth feels safer. The Power of Preparation is birth preparation one to one with me: labour and your body, the German maternity system, your partner's role, and your birth preferences.
Who it is for
For you and your partner, if you would like to prepare for birth in Germany together, in English, around your own pregnancy and the place you plan to give birth. Your partner is welcome at every session. Most partners arrive wanting to help and unsure how. By the end, they have a clear sense of their role.
Our time together
Three two-hour sessions. The first is about your body and birth. The second is about the room: the German maternity system, the interventions you may be offered, and your partner's role. In the third we write your birth preferences down. Research suggests that having your preferences written down, ideally talked through with your midwife, can help you feel more in control and better heard during labour.
€460for three two-hour sessions.
In person around Potsdam. Prefer to prepare from home? The same three sessions run live online, anywhere in Germany, for €390.
Two hours, in person or by video
You can prepare for a birth, but nobody can plan how it will go, which is why I talk about birth preferences rather than a birth plan. Birth preferences are a record of what matters to you, why it matters, and what you would like if the day goes another way. For a midwife walking in at the start of a shift, they are the quickest way to get to know you.
Who it is for
For anyone who wants the people caring for them to know what matters to them, in a language that may not be their own. Knowing a lot about birth is not the same as knowing what you would like when labour is intense, or when your preferences change, on the day or in the weeks before. That is what we work through together.
Our time together
Two hours, one to one. We go through what you would like and the reasons behind each choice, your rights, and the scenarios you are not expecting, with BRAIN for the decisions that come up on the day. Afterwards your preferences are written up on one page, in English and German, for your midwife and birth team.
My birth preferences
English · Deutsch
Meine Geburtswünsche
My priorities · Das ist mir am wichtigsten
How I would like to be spoken to · Kommunikation
In labour · Während der Geburt
After the birth · Nach der Geburt
€160for the two-hour session.
At home, in hospital or a birth house, around Potsdam
Giving birth in a German hospital usually means being cared for by the midwives on shift: people you have not met, who change as the hours go by, in a language that may not be your first. Birth Support means one person who knows you is with you the whole way through.
I don't count my time with you by the hour. From the day you book, we get to know each other across your pregnancy, and at your birth I stay with you continuously, from labour to the first hours after your baby is born.
Who it is for
For births from 2027 at home, in hospital or at a birth house in and around Potsdam, whether this is your first baby or not.
Our time together
Two meetings at your home, the second to bring your birth preferences together. Check-ins every week from 36 weeks. A casual meeting the week before your due date. On call from 38 to 42 weeks, day and night, with a named backup doula. With you all the way through labour, and for two hours after your baby is born. A visit at home in the first two weeks after the birth.
Where I support births
At home with a midwife of your choice, at Klinikum Ernst von Bergmann, or at Geburtshaus Apfelbaum or Geburtshaus am Neuen Garten in Potsdam. I can also travel to Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Havelhöhe and Krankenhaus Waldfriede in Berlin. Around Potsdam means within reach on the Potsdam transport network.
From €1,590for births from 2027. You can book now.
The Power of Preparation can take the place of the birth preferences meeting: you pay the difference, €300.
The first weeks at home
The postpartum (Wochenbett) is recognised in Germany as a recovery period of six to eight weeks. Read more about the fourth trimester in Germany.
An hour at a time, by video
The Wochenbett is the German word for the first weeks after birth, and it means far more than a stretch of time. It carries the understanding that a mother has been through something enormous herself, and that she needs looking after too. These sessions bring that care to you by video.
Who it is for
For mothers in the weeks and months after birth, anywhere in Germany, whether this is your first baby or your third, and however your birth went.
Our time together
An hour by video, weekly, or daily through the early weeks. There is no agenda except yours. Some weeks you will want to talk through feeding, or sleep, or the shape your days are taking. Some weeks you will want to tell me about the birth, or say the things that are harder to say out loud to the people closest to you. Some weeks you will arrive with nothing in particular and we will sit together while you feed. All of that is the session doing its work.
€70an hour, as often as you need it.
Ten sessions booked together are €630 instead of €700, to use across your first year, as Wochenbett or Motherhood Sessions 1:1.
Two two-hour sessions, in pregnancy or after birth
The 40 Day Recovery Plan is your own written plan for the first weeks after birth: your recovery, feeding, your wellbeing and nourishment, and the people and services near you who can help with each. Nobody can promise how those weeks will go. With a plan made in advance, you go into them supported, and better prepared for family life.
How it can help
A plan will not stop the hard nights or the questions that cannot wait. What it does is put the best care and support around you at your fingertips: who to call about feeding, which midwife, practitioner or service helps with what, and who can bring a meal. So when you need that support, you already know where it is, instead of searching at 3am or asking in the mothers' group chat.
Who it is for
For you and your partner, in pregnancy, or after the birth if those weeks have already begun.
Our time together
Two two-hour sessions, in person around Potsdam, by video, or after the birth in your home. Your plan is written down for you, and once your baby is born I check in with you to put it into action.
€385for two two-hour sessions and a check-in after the birth.
Visits of at least two hours, in Potsdam and Berlin
The first weeks at home are for recovering and getting to know your baby. Care at home means I come to you, for as many visits as you would like, booked by the hour.
Who it is for
For mothers giving birth in Potsdam or Berlin from 2027 who would like experienced support at home after the birth, for a few visits or for many.
Our time together
Visits of at least two hours, as often as you need them. Each visit follows what you need that day: unhurried feeding support, help with caring for your newborn, a few light household tasks so you can sleep, or space to talk about your birth.
As a gift
Hours of care at home can be given to a new mother as a gift. Write to me with the number of hours, and I will make up a voucher.
€50an hour, in visits of at least two hours. For babies due from 2027, and you can book now.
Twenty hours at home, in Potsdam and Berlin
The Wochenbett is a German tradition that takes recovery seriously: rather than getting back to normal as quickly as possible, you rest, you heal, and you are looked after. Rest & Restore brings that care into your home, across your fourth trimester.
Who it is for
For mothers giving birth in Potsdam or Berlin from 2027 who would like someone experienced at home with them in the months after. It carries out a 40 Day Recovery Plan made with me, or stands on its own.
Our time together
Twenty hours, used as you need them up to three months after the birth, in visits of at least two hours. Each visit follows what you need that day: feeding support, a few light household tasks so you can sleep, or time to talk about your birth. The four rituals are part of it: a warm oil and herbal compress, a herbal bath, a warm meal with a proper check-in, and time to tell your birth story. The ingredients, herbs and oils are included.
€1,150for twenty hours, or €1,050 once you have made your 40 Day Recovery Plan with me. For babies due from 2027, and you can book now.
The years after
Motherhood is not linear. It runs from the first positive test through birth, the postpartum weeks, the toddler years and long after, and it keeps changing us.
Matrescence Connection is a monthly meeting for women around Potsdam, at any stage of motherhood. This part of motherhood deserves space too: to be heard, to exchange knowledge, and to reflect, in English. We meet in a cosy coffee house, or on nice days we go for a walk. It is a connection session, and it is free to join.
Each meeting is planned in a WhatsApp group. Write to me for more information, and I will add you to the group.
One to one, by video
Motherhood Sessions 1:1
If you would rather talk one to one, about a birth however long ago it was, the changes of perimenopause, or preparing for another birth, we meet by video, an hour at a time, as often as you need. €70 an hour, or €630 for ten.
Enquire about these sessionsI am not a therapist. If it becomes clear during our sessions that therapy would be supportive, I will help you find a therapist who works in perinatal mental health.
For someone you love
Hours of care at home in the weeks after the birth can be given to a new mother as a gift, in Potsdam or Berlin, for babies due from 2027. Write to me with the number of hours, and I will make up a voucher.
Give hours of careComplex and surgical birth
If you are expecting a breech birth, a VBAC, or a caesarean, please talk it through with me, and I will tell you more about the support I can give you and your family.
Talk it through with me
A note on cost
If cost would otherwise be the deciding factor for you, please reach out. We will find a way.
Perinatal support that stays with you. Certified Nurturing Birth Doula.
A doula is a trained companion. I am not a medical professional and I cannot practise medicine, but my training prepares me for the intensity of birth and for supporting you and your family through labour. I understand the physiology of birth and the common complaints of pregnancy, and I am aware of its most commonly occurring complications, so I can help you make sense of what your body is doing and of what you are being told.
I work with your family as independent support alongside your care team: with your midwife, but not within the system and not for the midwife. I know the German maternity system well, and because I am not part of the hospital or bound by its protocols, I stay wholly with you, helping you understand what is being suggested and gently speaking up if something feels coercive or does not respect your wishes. I follow the doula code and hold myself to strict professional guidelines. If you are still looking for a midwife, Ammely is the national search, and if you are near Potsdam, I am connected with English-speaking midwives locally and can help you find one.
My craft is mothering the mother: tending your wellbeing, your rest, and your recovery so that you are free to tend your baby. In the early days of adjustment at home, I help you establish nursing and settle into caring for your baby.
I trained with Nurturing Birth in London, and what I value most in this work is continuity. One person who knows your story from the first call through the weeks after birth. Someone who speaks the language you think in, notices the smaller things, and creates space for the questions that can be difficult to ask elsewhere.
I bring that to births in and around Potsdam from 2027, and to the sessions I offer by video across Germany.
Ready to Begin
Finding a doula you feel comfortable with, and can truly trust, matters more than anything else. Whether you are preparing for birth, in the early weeks, or wondering whether doula care is right for you, I would love to hear from you.
Certified Nurturing Birth Doula