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Preparing for Labor

A few topics need to be addressed before you go into labor.

General Tips

Some General Tips

  • Create a shared calendar for the baby and add dates to the calendar so that you and your partner can manage and see the events. We use Google Calendar.
  • Create a shared cloud drive folder for the baby so that you and your partner can manage and access related documents together. We use Google Drive.

familienportal.de also provides a checklist

Checklists related to birth

Work, leave, and parental allowance

Checklist for Work, Leave, and Parental Allowance

  • Inform your employer about your plans for maternity leave or parental leave.

    Plan your parental leave with your partner. We recommend you check the parental allowance first before doing so.

  • Confirm with your employer about the details of maternity leave or parental leave.
Elternzeit (Parental leave) in Germany

In Germany, the parental leave can be up to 3 years but rule apply12. Parents can take full hours off or do part-time work during parental leave.

See the following pages for more information:

  1. Familienleistungen. BMFSFJ. https://www.bmfsfj.de/bmfsfj/themen/familie/familienleistungen (accessed 8 May2025).
  2. Parental Leave. Handbook Germany : Together. https://handbookgermany.de/en/parental-leave (accessed 8 May2025).
Elterngeld (Parental allowance) in Germany

How much do you get?

A calculator:

Parental allowance calculator with planner. Federal family portal. https://familienportal.de/familienportal/meta/egr#/allgemeine-angaben (accessed 8 May2025).

Where to apply?

Hospital Checklist

There is no need to stress out about the hospital. Our experience with the hospital (St. Elisabeth-Krankenhaus Köln-Hohenlind) was very positive. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The whole process was so smooth that we didn't even need to worry about or thinking about what we need to do. The hospital staff always reminded us on the next steps. And they all speak English.

Checklist for Hospital

  • Contact and register with the hospital.

    The hospital planned with us the dates and processes. Remember to write down these dates on your calendar.

  • Pack your hospital bag.

    • Find a list that is suitable for your hospital. You can find ours below this checklist.
    • Make sure you have all your important documents sorted out and reachable. This can help you speed up the process of getting into the hospital.

  • Find your way of keep track of baby activities. It can be pen and paper, or an app. Because you will need to track the feeding and diaper changes of your baby while in the hospital.

    We use the Baby Daybook app.

What's in our hospital bag?

We packed the following in a suitcase. It was a correct decision because we had to move among different rooms in the hospital.

  • Clothes

    • Comfortable clothes for yourself

      If you decide to breastfeed, pack some cloth that is soft and doesn't irritate your skin. See the section on Breastfeeding>Nipple Pain for more information.

    • Clothes for the baby

      Apart from the normal clothes, pack something that can allow your baby to go outside. We had to take the baby to a different location for checkups so we needed a hat.

  • Bonding top

    We used this Hoppediz Baby Bonding Top.

  • Toiletries

    • Toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, ...
    • Shampoo etc
    • Bathrobe, slippers, and towel

  • Water bottle that allows easy drinking when lying down.

    We used this Klean Kanteen bottle.

  • Phone charger

  • Cash!

    For us, we needed cash for the birth registration at the hospital. They didn't accept cards.

We packed our documents in a separate small bag since we still needed to use them before we went to the hospital.

  • Important documents
    • ID card
    • Health insurance card
    • Mutterpass

  1. Parental Leave. Handbook Germany : Together. https://handbookgermany.de/en/parental-leave (accessed 8 May2025). ↩

  2. Elternzeit. BMFSFJ. https://www.bmfsfj.de/bmfsfj/themen/familie/familienleistungen/elternzeit/elternzeit-73832 (accessed 8 May2025). ↩

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