In this episode I talk to Jessica Strickmann, an on-call midwife, a Beleghebamme, working in Berlin Sankt Joseph hospital. She is the founder of the Erdmutter Kollektiv, a collective of on-call midwives offering prenatal care, birth care and postpartum care to families all over Berlin. She lives in Berlin with her three children. I was really excited to have Jessica agree to this interview, because she is nothing less than a rockstar in the pregnancy and birth world in Berlin.

I had to cut this interview in two parts as we had so many topics to discuss. In this first episode, listen as Jessica explains the difference between a Beleghebamme and a “normal” midwife. She will also talk us through the pregnancy care the midwives offer as well as the relationship between midwives and gynecologists during pregnancy, and what you can do if they don’t get along. Jessica will explain the various options in terms of birth places when you have a Beleghebamme and how Covid changed the way parents want to give birth.

04:00 Presentation of the Erdmutter Kollektiv

08:40 What is the difference between a “normal” midwife and an on-call midwife?

13:24 What is included in the pregnancy care from the Beleghebamme?

15:40 The relationship between gynecologist and Beleghebamme. And what to do if they don’t get along!

23:35 Where can women give birth with a Beleghebamme?

28:00 How Covid changed were parents want to give birth

30:40 Risk conditions where you should not consider a home birth and what you can do to replicate the comfort of a home birth if you have to go to the hospital