I will be giving birth at Triemli using their midwife-led service. I received the packet of paperwork which included extra options. Has anyone used these and could comment on whether they are worth the additional costs?:

1. Zimmerkomfortzuschlag: single room supplement-- seems to include a bed/breakfast for my spouse if available for 350 CHF per day. For this I have to give a 1500 CHF depot in advance.

2. Photography: apparently they will take and offer some professional newborn photos. How are the quality on these? Should I schedule a separate newborn shoot, or are these usually quite nice and sufficient?

Thanks for your help :-)

We've had two babies born there (last in 2016 - things may have changed), from our experience:

1) In Switzerland it seems customary to spend 1-2 days in hospital after an uncomplicated natural birth. The room option you mention is about staying in a private room, where your wife would be by herself without any other mothers. The default option (without fully private insurance or paying for the room upgrade) would be a room with something like between 2 and 4 mothers in total. If your wife prefers privacy / quiet / being alone with the baby then this can be a good upgrade. If your wife would prefer sharing a room with 1-3 other women and their babies then not required. It will also depend on how busy it is, as I would imagine they naturally spread out the mothers as much as they can in any case (especially in the current situation).

We wanted privacy and quiet (relatively speaking with a newborn) so took the private room. I could also imagine people who don't enjoy quiet and solitude would prefer the shared room. Ask your wife what she prefers Also decide if it's worth the money.

I'm not aware if the food is upgraded. I think the food was still the same. Also worth noting this is only about upgrading the room (as far as I know). The medical care etc all stays the same as per your insurance level. (just to reassure the medical care we received from basic insurance was perfectly fine - you just don't get to chose which Dr you see and when.)

2) You can the photos taken on their website! Here's the link for the October babies:
https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/triemli...e/2020_10.html

I had my son at Uster Spital, so I can't give any advice regarding Triemli in particular. However, I can say that after my son was born, I found myself desperately wishing that I had a private room in the hospital.

For one thing, my roommate's husband was in the room with her all day long, every day as well as a large amount of other family members, and they would watch TV very loudly. And all I really wanted to do was sleep but was unable to in part because of their noise. I remember at one point counting that she has six family members in our tiny little room. Also, I had had a C-section but my roommate didn't, so while she was feeling somewhat normal and in good spirits, etc., I most certainly wasn't. I felt like I had just been hit by a truck. I also had no privacy in terms of medical stuff because of her husband and family members constantly being in the room. It was unbearable, to be honest; and it made an already very stressful situation just all the more stressful.

Again, no experience with this hospital, as we have birth in Klinik im Park, but I couldn't imagine sharing a room. Also if you need to stay longer for any reason, then it's compounded.

Photos are always a rip off, but go for them. You will always remember the day they are taken and the quality is always pretty good!

I did not give birth at Triemli but I prefer a single room because:

1) My delivery was not complicated but had barely slept for the last two nights and was exhausted. I needed to sleep desperately. My husband being there and being able to take shifts was great.

2) This is the most special part of initial parenting life. You want to be calm with your baby and not disturbed by others.

I did not prefer but I believe all these hospitals do offer to take care of your baby for a couple of hours instead of you and many people do opt for that and were grateful for a chance to get rested. (1) depends also on your husband's preferences and availability.

I did stay in hospital even though I am very very picky person and love my comfort, my stuff, etc. Reasons it turned out to be good for my first delivery:

1) many mothers suffer initial incontinency and heavy bleeding. Things get dirty. Even with a relatively easy delivery I felt quite week for the first weeks. It is great to have someone help with the cleaning around and you don't need to worry about spoiled sheets

2) breastfeeding help - lots of nurses change, some will tell you useless or wrong things, but there will be plenty of useful advice to pick as well. Being exposed to different opinions you get a chance to see what works best for you. Also some breastfeeding positions require multiple checks until perfection

3) you get doctor and pedetrician visit there. If there's anything you are worried or want to ask there're plenty of people around.

4) despite liking it or not you get food served and no dishes to wash

photos - I got a session at hospital but did not purchase them, they were the worst photos of my baby, not sure how they managed to get that bad photos :S it was "baby smile"

1. We payed the deposit for the private room, but when I went gave birth there wasn't one available, so I had to share. I got the deposit back. I think that happens frequently.

2. We used their photographer and were happy with the quality. They will come to your room to offer to do the shoot. It's very uncomplicated, which is nice when you are caring for a newborn.

Even if you pay a deposit, there is very less chance to get a private room. Because Trimeli is very busy and handles more than 2,000 births a year. That's why we opted for Spital Zollikerberg. There is also no guarantee without supplementary insurance but more chances. Luckily we got the family room

https://www.spitalzollikerberg.ch/au...maternit%C3%A9

Paid photography service was available as well.

I would recommend Spital Zollikerberg if it's not too inconvenient to reach for you.

I had a private room both times, don't know what I would have done otherwise. My husband was with me almost all the time, so we'd have probably disturbed the roommate had we been with someone else. Even though he's a very quiet guy, his simple presence would have embarrassed or disturbed the roommate. I feel for you. It was a rather stressful situation both times. Some women are very lucky and they feel tip top very soon, not everybody does though.

Regarding n1: we did not feel it was worth the extra costs, esp. since a) single room is not guaranteed and b) you can get a single room anyway (which happened to us for some part of the stay)

n2: their photography service did not work well for us because the hospital environment is not really relaxing for such a photo session and the photographer only had little time. It also took more than 2 months and a lot of hassle to get the pics, so we felt it was not worth the price. I would recommend taking some pics yourself (just to have some from the hospital) and then get a professional session at home. The difference in quality is massive. E.g. https://www.ksenia-photography.com/ did an excellent job for us but you can just google to find many options

Thanks all-- this is very helpful!