Looking at my stats page, it is interesting to see the different searches that bring people to my site.
Maternity clothes
The most common seems to be about where to buy maternity clothes in Stockholm. I have actually found this quite hard – the don’t think the choice here is so good. Zara used to have maternity wear but they have stopped selling that here and Polarn O Pyret have also stopped selling maternity clothes (but then I never bought from there anyway, as dressing in the same patterns as my newborn baby was top of my priority list). I used to buy most of my pregnancy outfits either at H&M or online (ASOS has a fantastic range as does Isabella Oliver).
I have also posted a few different Polyvore boards with maternity clothes that I’ve found online and loved:
- Winter maternity wear
- Stripy maternity wear
- Maternity glam
- Maternity leave wear
- Maternity work wear
- and I’ve also found some sites for designer maternity wear.
Best hospital for birth in Stockholm
Another popular search query is: the best hospital in which to give birth in Stockholm. I know I only have experience of two, but I would definitely say that the BB Stockholm ward at Danderyd Hospital wins hands down. It might have changed slightly now (as they now don’t have the same admission policy as before: no complications, no caesarians, no twins), but when Little O was born there, it was wonderful to be able to spend three nights in our little cocoon getting to know him. Even though he was born in the middle of a baby boom in Stockholm, we had a private room after the birth, where Husband and I could stay for the three nights with Little O and the staff were on hand with any problems or questions that we had.
Things were a little different when Baby E was born as it was all so quick that we did not have time to make it to Danderyd and went instead to Karolinska. Our experience there was probably not the norm as Baby E was born in an examination room (yes, it was that fast) and the ward was full so we slept in a birthing room, with Husband on the bed with the rubber sheet and me being woken by a gas mask hitting my head each time I turned over. We still received the same great care that you get when you give birth in Sweden, but it just had that more hospital feeling then BB Stockholm.
Pregnancy tests
Another search that brought someone here was for “pregnancy test sweden”. This is something that I found a little odd at first here. When I took a home pregnancy test and found that I was pregnant with Little O, I immediately contacted my doctor and tried to book an appointment for her to do a test and confirm. But that just doesn’t happen here. Instead, you get straight in contact with a midwife and have a booking-in appointment with her. She then does tests for iron levels, various diseases (HIV etc), whether you are in fact pregnant and so on. So, really, all you need to do is get yourself to the apoket (chemist) and buy a home pregnancy test; then, if you are pregnant, contact a midwife. I would highly recommend the midwives at BB Stockholm – I think they are wonderful.
Toddlers in Stockholm
Someone searched for “taking a toddler to Stockholm”. Absolutely no problem! This city is so incredibly child-friendly and there are so many things that you can easily do with a toddler here. I find Barn i Stan a great resource for what to do with children in the city.
Nappies
I love Libero nappies, so I think it’s great that someone found their way here by searching for that (although I cannot ever remember declaring my love for them on here). We tried out lots of different nappies for Little O but always ended up back with Libero, and so Baby E has not really been in any others. I also love the Libero club as on the site you can type in the code from the inside of each nappy pack and earn points. And we all know that points mean prizes! So far, I have redeemed points for a Lamaze toy, a Sweden football bodysuit, Duplo bricks and many 50kr vouchers off nappies. Also, if you’re a member of the club, Libero will send vouchers every few months. I don’t think I have paid full price for a pack of nappies since Baby E was born!
Everyone has babies in Stockholm
Hmmm, yes, that is very true! But there are very good reasons for this: as I said above, the city is wonderfully child-friendly, the state is also child-friendly, offering great maternity packages that encourage parents to take large chunks of time off with their children but also ensuring that they can return to work when they want and providing (very) low-cost nursery schooling that means that parents (mothers predominantly) can go back to work without the risk that most (if not all) of their salary goes on childcare.
Loreen feet
Absolutely no idea on this one… I guess it has something to do with her performing barefoot? I know that I mentioned her once in a post and I guess I have also written about feet at one point. I just hope that the person searching for her feet was not too disappointed to arrive here!
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