The Swiss do love their bureaucracy

In addition to finally trying to get the baby's room together - and one reason why I haven't felt a great sense of urgency about this is because we already know the baby will be sleeping with us for the first several months, we already have a changing table, a bouncy chair, a Stubenwagon (that's not ours, it's just an example of what a Stubenwagon is), and there are clothes in the house - I've also pulled together all the documents I'll need to bring to the hospital and put them in a bright yellow folder labeled "Dox to bring to Spital" (I guess Small Boy is not the only one who mixes languages) placed prominently on my desk.

Interested in what documentation you need to provide when you give birth in Switzerland? Read on! (I wrote about many of these documents in this post.)

All patients must bring:

• your blood group card (you get this from your OB after your first pre-natal appointment)


• completed naming card for the child (we've got a girl's name picked out but boys' names are killing us. We used the best two names on Small Boy!)

In addition to the above, married patients must provide:

• your Familienbüchlein - this literally translates as "little family book" and the less literal translation would be the family record book. It serves as your identification when you interact with all sorts of civil authorities and must be kept updated.*
  
• the Niederlassungsbewilligung for both partners - I still don't have a proper translation for this. It confirms that you live where you say you live and must be kept updated. (When we moved next door, R needed to get a new Niederlassungsbewilligung - as an Ausländerin I don't have one of these, I have an Ausländerausweis [visa] instead).

Single patients, on the other had, must provide:

• the Niederlassungsbewilligung of the mother


• recognition of the father, when known (I believe this is in compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child)

Foreign patients (that's me!) must bring (in addition to the blood group and naming cards):

• Ausländerausweis (i.e. your visa/permission to reside in Switzerland)


• both passports (I think they assume all foreigners are married to other foreigners, because I'm pretty sure they weren't interested in R's passport when Small Boy was born)


• a copy of your marriage certificate (again, I think they're assuming I'm married to another foreigner because the Familienbüchlein should cover this)**

I'm working on the cover all your bases system and bringing everything we have that's on that list - meaning the Familienbüchlein and R's Niederlassungbewilligung and his passport and our marriage certificate (we were married in the US) and my passport and my Ausländerausweis. That really should cover it.

On the other hand, if anything happens to that folder R and I will, in the eyes of the state, have ceased to exist. Small Boy's passports, US social security card, Consular Report of Birth, and Swiss national ID card are someplace else, so I guess he would continue to exist. On the other hand, he's attached to R's Niederlassungbewilligung, so maybe he wouldn't. Or maybe in the US but not in Switzerland?

* For example, births must be registered with the appropriate civil authorities within three days (the hospital does this, which is why they need all this information) and deaths within two days.

** This list of documents required to give birth in a Swiss hospital is one of the reasons I always thought "Natascha's" mother was undocumented. Let me rephrase that - I'm sure if you showed up with no papers the hospital would still treat you and care for the newborn but I suspect they would be obligated to report the patients' undocumented status. But I'm not sure about that. Something to research in all of my free time.