A freedom-oriented lifestyle blog

Category: Czech Republic (Page 2 of 3)

1878 days – a new chapter begins

1878 days are how long we have been voluntarily homeless, but this has now changed. After five years we now have keys and a contract for our own home. Home is no longer Sweden for us, but Prague. There are many reasons behind this, but one reason spells worldschooling, which is not allowed in Sweden. Other reasons we may perhaps share in the future, but for now we will make Prague, the Czech people and their culture our home in the world.
I don’t know how frequent our updates here will be, but we will still update you on Othilia’s development and special occasions.

We hope to see you in Praha!


1878 dagar är hur länge vi har varit frivilligt hemlösa, men detta har nu förändrats. Efter fem år har vi nu nycklar och ett kontrakt för vårt eget hem. Hem är inte längre Sverige för oss, utan Prag. Det finns många orsaker bakom detta, men en anledning stavas världsskolning, vilket inte är tillåtet i Sverige. Det finns också andra skäl, som vi kanske delar med oss till er i framtiden, men för tillfället kommer vi fokusera på att göra Prag, det tjeckiska folket och deras kultur till vårt hem i världen.
Jag vet inte hur ofta vi kommer uppdatera här, men vi kommer fortfarande att uppdatera bloggen om Othilias utveckling och speciella tillfällen.

Vi hoppas på att få träffas i Praha!

The keys to our home – after 1878 days it feels almost surreal.
Our home just after we signed the contract. Our home is on the upper floor.
This is our door. We feel so excited to open this new chapter in our life. We will not call ourselves nomads anymore, our homebase is here behind this door.

Zoo and the National Museum in November

November came and the sun had a harder time to stay up during the days. We had to dig up our winter clothes so that we could enjoy our last days here.
We managed to tick of a few things on our list, things we wanted to do before we left Prague. We wanted to take Othilia to the Zoo and see how it could be when the temperatures was closer to zero degrees Celsius. We went to the Tutankhamun exhibition at the National museum and we spent our last days here in Prague with friends.


November kom och solen hade svårare att hålla sig uppe under dagarna. Vi var tvungna att gräva upp våra vinterkläder för att kunna njuta av våra sista dagar här.
Vi lyckades bocka av några saker på vår lista, saker vi ville göra innan vi lämnade Prag. Vi ville ta Othilia till Zoo och se hur det kunde vara där när temperaturen var närmare noll grader. Vi åkte till Tutankhamun-utställningen på Nationalmuseet och vi tillbringade våra sista dagar här i Prag med vänner.

November was our month of departure so we had a few things we wanted to do before leaving this wonderful place. This photo is from our last day in Prague, the day after we started our journey North.
We took a day to visit Prague Zoo. The bigger animals, who were not used to the cold, were all indoors.
We saw the Horn bills and both of us thought it was a plastic dinosaur put at a random place in the zoo for entertaining. Then it moved and we got so surprised. This was an actual living bird – so cool!
The flamingos added some color to the grey of November.
We mostly looked at the animals that were indoors.
Othilia was not so impressed by most of the animals.
Comodo dragons, Othilia paid no attention to them. She enjoyed the vending machines and the flying bats in the Zoo.
We also visited the National museum in Prague.
They had an exhibition about Tutankhamun that we adults wanted to visit. The exhibition was filled with visual effects so Othilia liked it as well.
Othilia enjoyed climbing the stair in the museum.
It was our first time seeing this building from the inside. The national museum can be seen from Wenceslas Square and we have always wanted to see the building from the inside.
Wenceslas Square seen from the stairs to the National museum.
The Czech people have a great sense of humor. An add from one of the metro stations in town.
We had to update our wardrobe so we headed out to the mall in Cerny Most. They have awesome playgrounds for children.
They have a big area on the upper floor dedicated for children.
November also gave us the last day of lovely weather. So we headed out to explore a new area in Prague – Thomayerovy sady!
Thomayerovy sady has a small hill that we went up on.
The trees in November here in Prague.
Prague is building new houses and this area has developed tremendously since we saw it the first time a couple of years ago.
We had some adventures just outside of our house as well. A tram had a fire and Othilia was fascinated by all the lights outside our window.
Suddenly, our time in Prague was about to end. This was our last sunset here in Prague for a while. It was time fo us to travel North.

Park Mirakulum and the end of October.

We visited Park Mirakulum on the last weekend they had open for the season. It is an outdoor adventure park in Milovice, 40 minutes with car from Prague. We went there with our Libertarian friends in Prague and had a lovely day. Othilia was only 13 months, but there were still plenty of fun stuff to do for her.

Our trip to Park Mirakulum happened in the end of October and a few other things also happened that we will show photos from.
We had noticed that Othilia made huge developmental leaps during this period, leaps which started around our weekend in Budapest, so we wanted to throw her a small birthday party to update her toys. We also met fellow Swedish families in Prague at a pumpkin party, visited a farm in the middle of Holešovice and there will be pictures from Pontus morning walks in this blog post as well.


Vi besökte Park Mirakulum sista helgen de hade öppet för säsongen. Det är en äventyrspark utomhus i Milovice, ca 40 minuter med bil från Prag. Vi åkte dit med våra libertarianska vänner i Prag och hade en härlig dag. Othilia var bara 13 månader under vårt besök, men det fanns fortfarande massor av roliga saker att göra för henne.

Vår resa till Park Mirakulum skedde i slutet av oktober och andra saker hände också runt denna tid som vi kommer att visa bilder ifrån.
Vi märkte att Othilia tog stora steg i hennes utveckling under denna period, språng som började runt vår helg i Budapest, så vi kände att vi ville ge henne ett litet födelsedagsfirande i efterskott för att uppdatera hennes leksaker. I slutet av oktober så träffade vi också andra svenska familjer i Prag på en pumpafest, besökte en gård mitt i Holešovice och det kommer att finnas bilder från Pontus morgonvandringar i detta blogginlägg också.

The Mirakulum Park is a big playground for both children and adults. The different climbing areas are spread out in a forest so the setting feels like something from a fairytale.
The park is quite big in comparison to the price you pay to enter (10 Euro for adults, Othilia was to young to be a paying visitor).
All lot of things are for bigger children and grown ups.
And us parents had a lot of fun here.
But Othilia had so much fun there and she was so brave. Not afraid of heights at all.
Can you spot Othilia?
We were there with friends, but with kids in different ages it was hard to keep in contact. Astrid is the same age as Othilia so our families went around in the park together.
It was in the end of October and we had a lovely day with almost 20 degrees Celsius.
Astrid and Othilia!
A part of the park was designated for the youngest ones.
The park is beautiful!
The rest of October was about enjoying the weather in Prague, soon winter would come. Here is Othilia at the duck pond in the Stromovka park.
Othilia at the playground near our place.
She is so fascinated by balls and she steals older kids balls when they are around trying to play football. These boys were kind enough to lend Othilia a ball.
We were invited to a Pumpkin party at Lya Beer Café, which is owned by a Swedish guy from Gävle. While there I also meet another Swedish person, Malin, and we realized quite fast that we had gone to the same Gymnasium in Gävle. The world is small!
Othilia took a water break during the pumpkin painting. Her friend David showed her how to work the paintbrush.
We visited the club house for the Boys Adventure Club (Navigators). They were building it at an abandoned area in the middle of Holešovice.
Next to the Club house is the Metro Farm, a collaborative farm that volunteers are taking care of. They accept bitcoin for the eggs!
An artist has put his metal work in this areas, making this a wonderful oasis in Holešovice.
Othilia made huge developmental leaps so we needed to update her toys. So we celebrated her birthday again with a few gifts.
She loves her fishing puzzle!
We want to end with the usual morning photos of Prague from Pontus walks.
Prague on the last day of October.
The old town Square before all the tourists arriving. Next blog post will be in the month of November and this was the month where we departed from Prague.

Othilia in pumpkin land

A pumpkin exhibition at the botanical garden in Prague made us happy when the temperature dropped again in October. Autumn was temporarily back with colored leafs and more puddles for Othilia to jump in. We went to the pumpkin exhibition with our friends in the Prague libertarian parents group and the kids had so much fun.

We are now reporting from the middle of October and the weather changed back and forth between late summer weather and autumn weather so we tried to take advantage of all the nice days here in Prague – we knew that winter was coming.
Now a few pictures comes from the pumpkin land and from the nice late summer days in mid-October.


En pumpautställning i den botaniska trädgården i Prag gjorde oss glada när temperaturen sjönk igen i oktober. Hösten var tillfälligt tillbaka med färgade löv och fler vattenpölar för Othilia att hoppa i. Vi åkte till pumpautställningen med våra vänner i Prags libertarianska föräldragrupp och barnen hade så kul.

Vi rapporterar nu från mitten av oktober och vädret ändrades fram och tillbaka mellan sensommarväder och höstväder så vi försökte dra nytta av alla de fina dagarna här i Prag – vi visste att vintern var på väg.
Nu kommer lite bilder från pumpalandet och fina sensommardagar i mitten av oktober.

Othilia in pumpkin land.
Pumpkins in different colors matching the autumn.
We stopped at the pond where Othilia always tries to jump in.
Edward and Othilia plays in the South America garden at the botanical garden.
The botanical garden in Prague has also put up tipis near the South America garden.
The mothers inspecting the pumpkin garden.
The view over Prague from the botanical garden. Jana and O are enjoying the beautiful view.
The metal creatures are an art installation at the botanical garden.
The youngest kids in the hammock.
Then we said good bye to the botanical garden for this time.
Othilia looks so “grown up” in this picture, not a baby anymore. The weather changed quite a lot in the middle of October. One day we had to dress Othilia in her overall (I don’t know how to best translate this word to English, winter suit?)
The other days we could put Othilia in summer clothes.
We took advantage of the lovely autumn days and she got to be outdoors and play with Edward.
Our friend Lynn decided to come visit us in the middle of October. We were so happy to have her here and Othilia loved playing with her. Lynn was a great guitar teacher for Othilia as well as stroller pusher. We hope to see you soon Lynn!
I have to end the blog with Pontus amazing morning photos of Prague. I can’t get enough of them.
Next up for us was a trip down South and visit another city we like – Budapest. More about that in our next blog.

Opt-out – Hacker’s Congress 2019

Hacker’s Congress is always at Paralelni Polis here in Prague around the first weekend in October. This years theme suited us well (Opt-out) and we bought the tickets as soon as they were released. The price was a bit higher this year, but the quality of the conference was higher as well. They had much more sophisticated recording equipment and most of the talks were recorded. Some speakers declined to be filmed for obvious reasons, but the open talks are available here if you are interested.

More and more children attend each year, so this year Othilia had a friend near her age to play with. Older kids also had things to do at the conference so the attendees of the conference is turning into a mix of young hacker’s and families with children.

I will show a few photos from the conference, but I highly recommend you to visit their Youtube page and look at the recordings from the conference.


“Hacker’s Congress” arrangeras alltid på Paralelni Polis i Prag runt första helgen i oktober. Årets tema passade oss bra (Opt-out) och vi köpte biljetter så snart de släpptes. Priset var högre i år, men kvaliteten på konferensen var också högre. De hade mycket mer sofistikerad inspelningsutrustning och de flesta av föreläsningarna spelades in. Vissa av talarna ville dock inte filmas av uppenbara skäl, men de öppna samtalen finns här om du är intresserad.

Fler och fler barn deltar för varje år som går och i år hade Othilia en vän nära hennes egen ålder att leka med. Äldre barn hade också saker att göra på konferensen så deltagarna på denna konferens har förvandlats till en blandning av unga hackare och barnfamiljer.

Jag kommer att visa er några foton från konferensen, men jag rekommenderar dig starkt att besöka deras youtube-sida och titta på inspelningarna från konferensen.

Othilia checking out the Bitcoin ATM. The only accepted currencies at this conference are cryptocurrencies, mainly bitcoin and litecoin.
A summary of the Hacker’s Congress 2019
The history and background of Parelni Polis was presented. Václav Benda was a Czech Roman Catholic intellectual and mathematician, that lead the anti-communist dissident organization Charter 77 when Czechoslovakia was under Communist rule. He wrote the essay Parallel Polis (parallel cities) in 1977 and he is an important person to the crypto-space here in Prague.
Some words of advice.
Some words about Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra.
Some talks was live on Youtube and more are now available on Youtube.
Ken Schoolland was one of the main speakers at the conference. He is an Associate Professor of Economics at Hawaii Pacific University and the author of The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible.
Othilia chilling in the bean bag at Paralelni Polis. We couldn’t bring Othilia to the lectures so we had to divide the interesting talks between us.
Othilia had her friend Astrid (and her mother Hayley) at the Hacker’s Conference. They already met at last years conference, both just a few month old and in a sling back then. Now they are running around at Paralelni Polis.
We also took Othilia out to playgrounds so she wouldn’t be indoors all day.
Othilia is an expert at stealing other children’s balls (look how happy she looks :)). We bring her own balls to the playgrounds, but she is never interested in her own balls, only those of others.
Back to the conference! We got handed a Venezuelan Bolivar at the conference – this piece of paper is now worth less than 1 satoshi (0.00000001 BTC).
The people who put the conference together – a big thank you for all the work you put in to make this happen!
We will end this blog post with a few pictures from the morning walks Pontus does.
Troja bridge in the dark.
Some boats on the Vltava river is part of the public transportation system, so a regular ticket is enough to go from one side of the river to another. They also start to go quite early as you can see by the morning light.

Libertarians in Prague and the Kokořín Castle

We get to meet Czech libertarians every time we come here, we have even started our own chat group with Libertarian parents in Prague, so that our children can meet and play with each other. The group is still small, but we hope that it will grow slowly.
The beginning of October means that our favorite conference of the year is coming up and this also means that a bunch of our friends shows up and we get to hang out with them. This year we took them to the Kokořín Castle, a castle totally surrounded by forest, and it is a nice day trip from Prague.


Vi får träffa tjeckiska libertarianer varje gång vi kommer hit, vi har till och med startat vår egen chatgrupp med libertarianska föräldrar i Prag, så att våra barn kan träffas och leka med varandra. Gruppen är fortfarande liten, men vi hoppas på att den kommer att växa långsamt.
Början av oktober betyder att vår favoritkonferens går av stapeln och det betyder också att ett gäng av våra vänner dyker upp och vi får umgås med dem. I år tog vi dem till slottet Kokořín, ett slott som är helt omgivet av skog och som är en trevlig dagstur från Prag.

The weather got a bit colder in the beginning of October, so we needed to dress up a bit to meet other children in our Libertarian parents group.
Our first meeting was at a playground in a park in the South of Prague. They also have a man-made cave system for older kids to play in.
It doesn’t even look like we are in Prague anymore,
Prague has so many playgrounds and we love that with Prague, so child friendly.
Our first Libertarian parent/child meet up was with the first lady of Liberland (Jana) and a thought-criminal mother (Caroline) according to the Swedish state media. If you don’t know what I mean about thought-criminal, you should watch the YouTube video linked at the end of the blog post. It is hilarious!
Some early morning pictures taken by Pontus on his walks.
It is so nice to see a city slowly waking up to a new morning.
The weather turned into summer again and we got invited to our unschooling friends Martin and Zdenka. Zdenka is involved in the Czech un-/home-/worldschooling community, but we have a lot more common interests than that subject. They are also interested in biohacking and longevity so we had so much to talk about.
Their newest family member Astrid is so adorable. We have met a few babies named Astrid and even a Margit here in the Czech Republic. It is interesting to hear such Swedish names pronounced with a Czech or English twist on it.
This is the conference that keeps us coming back to Prague each autumn. It is always the first weekend in October, so this means that a lot of our friends tend to show up here in Prague in the beginning October.
We can even have a Swedish Libertarian meet up here in Prague.
The first weekend in October means that we are inside a building most of the day so we decided to go on an adventure out in the nature to counteract being indoors all day.
Carvings in the stone – date unknown.
our adventure took us to the Kokořín Castle. An old castle up on a rock in the middle of the forest.
You park at the river and then climb the stairs all the way up to the castle.
Kokořín Castle was built in the end of the 14th century.
It was heavily damaged in the Hussite wars (1419-1434) and stood as ruins until 1911 when a 7-year restoration took place.
The Kokořín Castle is open for visitors and we were able to climb up one of the towers.
The view is fantastic and a day out in the nature was just what we needed.

SVT (Swedish state propaganda channel, yes it is founded with taxes) found out that Swedish families are thinking and caring for their children’s future and calling us criminals for giving the advice to move abroad to be able to homeschool (it is still not criminal SVT to move from Sweden!). Our friend Caroline was “exposed”, because she is an administrator of a Facebook page about unschooling. It is hilarious to watch. Link to youtube (with English subtitles):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GFdbYfCGZI


Prague botanical gardens and Philosophy Europe Convention 2019

Prague has a botanical garden, and and we went there with our friends, the King family, and people from the worldschooling community. The botanical garden is up on a hill in Northern Prague, so when you reach the bottom half of the garden, the view is lovely – especially over Troja castle. Time-wise, we are still in September when we did all these things. I know I promised you October in our last post, but we’re not quite done with September yet 🙂

We also went to the Philosophy Europe Convention that focus on philosophy, Libertarianism and Austrian economics. It was the second time we attended this conference and we like how it is put together, both with workshops and lectures mixed with excursions in and around Prague with the group of participants that we now consider our friends.


Prag har en botanisk trädgård och vi åkte dit med våra vänner familjen King och människor från “Worldschooling”-gruppen. Den botaniska trädgården ligger uppe på en kulle i norra Prag, så utsikten är vacker när man når den nedre halvan av trädgården – särskilt den över slottet Troja. Tidsmässigt är vi fortfarande i september när vi gjorde det här. Jag vet att jag lovade er oktober i vårt förra inlägg, men vi är inte riktigt klara med september ännu 🙂

Vi deltog också i “Philosophy Europe Convention” som fokuserar på filosofi, Libertarianism och österrikisk ekonomi. Det var andra gången som vi deltog på denna konferens och vi gillar hur den är sammansatt, med både workshops och föreläsningar blandade med utflykter i och runt Prag med den grupp deltagare som vi nu betraktar som våra vänner.

Othilia in the botanical gardens! This is a good place to explore for small children.
Othilia and Edward have become friends!
The pond in the botanical garden with turtles and fishes swimming around.
They get along most of the time and she is following him around regardless if he wants it or not.
The botanical garden was ready for the autumn.
Othilia is our golden baby!
There are different areas in the botanical garden and a lot is created with the little people in mind.
The botanical garden ends with their own wine yard, where you can sit and have some wine and a lovely view.
Next door is the Troja castle and this is not a bad view to have while ending a day at the botanical garden.
Mornings in Prague, the sun goes up and Pontus is there to catch it.
Pontus always finds interesting things to take pictures of. This is a canoe slalom track in the river, this is not the only track in Prague we have seen so it seems that it is a more common sport to engage in here.
We had several meetings with friends from the Philosophy Europe Convention in the end of September and that brought us into the woods around the Karlstejn castle.
Othilia got to try riding daddy’s back when she wasn’t up for walking on her own.
We got to see the Karlstejn castle from the outside. The discussions we had in the forrest were so interesting and Othilia’s pace was not the fastest so we ended up getting to the castle outside of the regular visiting hours.
We also went exploring the city of Prague with our friends from the convention in between the workshops.
Part of the time were spent at playgrounds so Othilia would have something to do while the adults were talking.
We discovered a new part of Prague that we absolutely love – Vyšehrad.
The view is fantastic from the hill.
Prague from Vyšehrad
Ulrika looks skeptical, but it was because her attention got caught by passing people. The sunset is beautiful and Othilia is always lovely!
Basilica Lawrence is standing on top of Vyšehrad and the cellar of the church is more than 1000 years old. You can feel the wings of history up on this hill!

Next we will enter the month of October in our blog updates.

Back in our gem Praha

We are in Praha (Prague in Czech) and the fall is always busy for us here in Praha, the capital of the Czech Republic. I want to show you pictures from where we first arrived to Prague in September, the weather was beautiful and it is always nice to prolong the summer, which is quite short in Northern Europe.

Prague or Praha is the closest thing we have to a base and we realized that we have spent seven out of Othilia’s 13 first months here. Enjoy the birth city of our daughter!


Vi är i Praha (Prag på tjeckiska) och hösten är alltid uppbokad för oss här i Praha, Tjeckiens huvudstad. Jag vill visa er bilder från vad vi gjorde då vi först kom till Prag i september. Vädret var vackert och det är alltid trevligt att förlänga sommaren som är ganska kort om man befinner sig i nordeuropa.

Prag eller Praha är det närmaste vi har en bas och vi insåg att vi har tillbringat sju av Othilias 13 första månader här. Njut av vår dotters födelsestad!

The first thing we did was to meet up with friends and have a barbecue on a roof top. Stunning sunset that welcomed us to Prague!
Othilia loves her new play room and is is a fine climber of stairs. Our daughter is so brave and unafraid of things, but still so careful and asks to hold our hand patiently if she judges that she needs our assistance over some obstacle.
Pontus continues to wake up early in the morning and take a walk. He always takes pictures that we want to share with you. Here is Prague while waking up to a new day!
Malostranská in the morning
Pivovar Marina in the morning
Some mornings are more cloudy than others.
The Vltava river
Church of St. Anthony of Padua in the background
We are hanging out with the King family and the Vietnamese market had a food festival in September. We love Vietnamese food so we had to visit the festival and let Othilia try it out. She liked it as well!
We visited Othilia’s pediatrician and our daughter was 75 cm and weighed 9950 grams. We have a nice pediatrician that is in full sync with how we view the world and our lifestyle! We like that.
There is so much things to do her in Prague for kids, we have mentioned that before. Here is an exhibition out in the open at the Stromovka park about the the moon landings and the race to space.
And signs both in Czech and English. That is something you don’t see everywhere here in the Czech Republic.
End of September and we enjoyed the summer.
This was a short recap of the last days in September for us here in Prague. October was much more busy for us! And Othilia’s development accelerated to a pace none of us were prepared for. It is an exciting ride to be fortunate enough to follow a child grow up.

What are the costs of giving birth at a hospital in Czech Republic

Long time no see! Time is prioritized differently nowadays, but I will try to find time for some catch up.
We have gotten a few questions about giving birth in the Czech Republic and I’ve already written about the birth story of Othilia in our previous post, so in this post we will answer what the costs were for welcoming our girl into this world in this spot of the earth. I will also insert cute pictures of Othilia for you 🙂


Det var länge sedan! Tid prioriteras annorlunda nuförtiden, men jag kommer att försöka hitta tid för att komma ikapp med uppdateringarna nu.
Vi har fått några frågor om att föda i Tjeckien och jag har redan skrivit om Othilias förlossningshistoria i vårt tidigare inlägg, så i det här inlägget kommer vi att svara på vad kostnaden var för att välkomna vår flicka till denna värld på denna plats på planeten. Jag ska också infoga söta bilder på Othilia för er 🙂

Othilia just 3 weeks old holding “mormors” (maternal grandmother’s) finger.

First to note is that I have a maternity add-on insurance that covered most of the expenses associated with the birth of Othilia. You can either pay out of pocket and then send in receipts and get money back, but birthing a child can get really costly quite fast, if complications occur, so  we chose to set up a direct billing between our insurance company and the hospital, so that all our bills covered by my insurance would be paid directly by the insurance company.


Först att notera är att jag har ett graviditetstillägg på min försäkring som täckte de flesta av kostnaderna i samband med Othilias födelse. Man kan antingen betala ur egen ficka för att sedan skicka in kvitton och få pengar tillbaka, men att föda ett barn kan bli riktigt dyrt ganska snabbt, om komplikationer uppstår, så vi valde att inrätta en direkt fakturering mellan vårt försäkringsbolag och sjukhuset. Det betyder att alla våra räkningar som omfattas av min försäkring skulle betalas direkt av försäkringsbolaget.

Home from the hospital recovering from the blood loss, still very pale in the face but happy to be able to hold my girl while standing up.

The direct billing set up took us a couple of weeks, mostly due to summer vacations and that we had chosen a hospital that not so many foreigners with private insurance chooses. There are other hospitals in Prague that are more used to this kind of procedure and I think they can handle these sort of requests faster. We chose Rakovnik due to their reputation of being so woman-friendly and let us have the kind of birthing we wished for – a more natural and relaxing birth with our own private midwife and me being in control every step of the way, but with a medical team standing by if complications would occur.    


Att sätta upp den direkta faktureringen till försäkringsbolaget tog oss ett par veckor, främst på grund av sommarsemestrar och att vi hade valt ett sjukhus som inte så många utlänningar med privat försäkring väljer. Det finns andra sjukhus i Prag som är mer vana vid denna typ av förfarande och jag tror att de kan hantera sådana sorters förfrågningar snabbare. Vi valde Rakovnik på grund av deras rykte om att vara mycket kvinnovänlig och låta oss få den typ av förlossning vi önskade – en mer naturlig och avkopplande förlossning med vår egen privata barnmorska och där jag är i full kontroll varje steg på vägen, men med ett medicinskt team i bakgrunden som är snabbt där om komplikationer skulle inträffa.

Othilia visited IKEA in Prague during Christmas preparation.

So what were the costs:

  • Birthing costs: from check in at the delivery ward to be rolled down to the maternity/child ward –
    ~27000 CZK (1050 Euro), direct billing
  • Complications due to major blood loss from early detachment of placenta: Surgery and two blood transfusions. ~18000 CZK (700 Euro), direct billing
  • Private midwife:  4 prenatal appointments, delivery package (taking care of my whole birthing 27 hours), 2 postnatal appointments (breastfeeding etc), translation and transportation costs –
    ~16000 CZK (620 Euro), out of pocket payment, got back after handing in the receipts.
  • Othilia’s care and new born tests at the mother/child ward (testing for different genetic diseases, hearing test etc)-
    ~4000 CZK (150 Euro), direct billing
  • Private room for me and Pontus: Meals and snacks for us both for 2 nights and 3 days –
    ~4000 CZK (150 Euro), not included in my insurance so we paid this by ourselves.

Så vad var kostnaden:

  • Förlossningsskostnader: Från incheckningen på förlossningsavdelningen till att jag rullas ner till bb –
    ~27000 CZK (1050 Euro), direkt fakturering
  • Komplikationer på grund av stor blodförlust från tidig avlossning av placenta:  Operation och två blodtransfusioner – ~18000 CZK (700 Euro), direkt fakturering
  • Privat barnmorska: 4 möten före födseln, förlossningspaket (barnmorskan tar hand om hela min förlossning på 27 timmar), 2 möten efter födseln (amningshjälp etc), översättning och transportkostnader –
    ~16000 CZK (620 Euro), betala ur fickan för att sedan få tillbaka
  • Othilias vård och tester för nyfödda vid sjukhuset (test för olika genetiska sjukdomar, hörselprov etc) –
    ~4000 CZK (150 Euro), direkt fakturering
  • Privat rum för mig och Pontus: Måltider och mellanmål för oss båda för 2 nätter och 3 dagar –
    ~4000 CZK (150 Euro), ingick inte i min försäkring så vi betalade detta själva.

Othilia 2.5 months old after a bath.

Total was 2670 Euro, where 150 Euro was paid by ourselves. This is what four prenatal appointments, a 27-hour birthing, complications with surgery, a three day stay post-delivery  and two home visits after birth costed in Czech Republic. I’ve heard that this is the price level to give birth here in the Czech Republic. If you skip the private midwife and don’t experience any complications the cost could then come down to 1350 Euro.
You can find more posh hospitals in Prague which can be a bit more expensive, but they also have a less good reputation if you are considering a more natural birth and want to be in control of your own birthing.  However, this is only what I’ve heard, so if you have experience with other maternity hospitals in and around Prague, please share your experience here.


Den totala kostnaden var 2670 Euro, är vi betalade 150 Euro själva. Det är vad fyra prenatala möten, en 27-timmars förlossning, komplikationer med operation, en tre dagars vistelse efter leverans och två hembesök efter födseln kostar i Tjeckien. Jag har hört att detta är prisnivån för att föda här i Tjeckien. Om du inte anlitar en privat barnmorska och slipper komplikationer så kan kostnaden komma ned till 1350 Euro.
Du kan hitta mer “lyxiga” sjukhus i Prag som kan vara lite dyrare, men de har också ett mindre gott rykte om du funderar på en mer naturlig födelse och vill ha kontroll över din egen förlossning. Men det här är bara det jag har hört, så om du har erfarenhet av andra förlossningssjukhus  i och runt Prag, snälla dela med dig av din erfarenhet här.

Othilia 3 months and has grown in to the size 62 clothes.

I’ve also written about why we choose to give birth in Prague and a few other things we were dealing with in order to welcome our Othilia. I can recommend reading both blog post if you are an expat (or Czech) thinking about giving birth in Prague.


Jag har också skrivit om anledningarna till att vi valde att föda i Prag och några andra saker vi hade att göra med inför välkomnandet av vår Othilia. Båda bloggposterna jag kan rekommendera att läsa om man som expat (eller tjeck) planerar att föda i Prag.

Othilia today almost 6 months and she is wearing size 68 now!

Week 40 of pregnancy and how grief can affect an unborn child

A lot of things happened during the last week before our due date and we wanted to make a blog post about how grief can affect an unborn child. This is what went on during week 40 of pregnancy for Ulrika and “Det lilla livet”.


Flera saker hände under den sista veckan före vårt beräknade förlossningsdatum och vi ville göra ett blogginlägg om hur sorg kan påverka ett ofött barn. Detta var det som hände för Ulrika och “Det lilla livet” under vecka 40 av graviditeten.

We have weekly appointments with our midwife to check the status of both Ulrika and “Det lilla livet”. Ulrika’s diastolic pressure has been on the rise the last couple of weeks, so when she entered week 40 the disastolic pressure hit 90, which puts Ulrika in the risk zone of getting preeclampsia. Ulrika had also started to feel pain in her hands in the morning, probably because of increased edema, so now Ulrika wanted to decrease her blood pressure. No protein in her urine was present so that was a good sign. Ulrika’s midwife recommended nettle tea, lots of fluid and rest before a second blood pressure would be taken a few days later at the week 40 appointment at the hospital.


Vi har veckovisa besök med vår barnmorska för att kontrollera statusen för både Ulrika och “Det lilla livet”. Ulrikas diastoliska tryck har stigit de senaste veckorna, så när vi kom in i vecka 40 så var det disastoliska trycket 90, vilket sätter Ulrika i riskzonen för att få preeklampsi (havandeskapsförgiftning). Ulrika hade också börjat känna smärta i händerna på morgonen, förmodligen på grund av ökat ödem, så nu ville Ulrika minska på blodtrycket. Inget protein i hennes urin var närvarande så det var ett gott tecken. Ulrikas barnmorska rekommenderade nässelte, massor av vätska och vila innan ett andra blodtryck skulle tas några dagar senare vid vecka 40 besöket på sjukhuset.

The same day Ulrika’s mother called and told us that the day we have been waiting and dreading for probably had come. We have known for a few months that Charlie was sick and the vet couldn’t say how long time he had left, but she told us that we would know when it was time for him to go. Ulrika has been preparing for this day, but she did not realize how hard the grief would hit her. Here is Charlie with Filip in “Stugan”, his favorite place in the world.


Samma dag ringde Ulrikas mor och berättade för oss att den dag vi har väntat och fruktade för förmodligen hade kommit. Vi har i några månader vetat att Charlie var sjuk och veterinären inte kunde säga hur länge han hade kvar, men hon berättade för oss att vi skulle veta när det var dags för honom att gå. Ulrika har förberett sig för denna dag, men hon insåg inte hur svår sorg som skulle drabba henne. Här är Charlie med Filip i “Stugan”, hans favoritplats i världen.

Our friends Rebecca, Daniel and Tova surprised every one by coming to Prague for a day, so Ulrika didn’t have to think about what was to come the same day. Interestingly, we have met and gotten to know both the King family and Rebecca, Daniel and Tova in Bali, so it was nice that they got to meet each other. We had a lovely day with them before they continued their journey. In the evening, Ulrika got the word that Charlie had fallen in to his last sleep without pain with the help of a vet.  It was now that the grief really hit her.


Våra vänner Rebecca, Daniel och Tova överraskade alla genom att komma till Prag för en dag, så Ulrika behövde inte tänka på vad som skulle komma samma dag. Intressant är att vi träffat och lärt känna både Kingfamiljen och Rebecca, Daniel och Tova på Bali, så det var trevligt att de träffade varandra. Vi hade en härlig dag med dem innan de fortsatte sin resa.
På kvällen fick Ulrika meddelandet att Charlie nu hade fallit in i sin sista sömn utan smärta med hjälp av en veterinär. Det var också nu som sorgen kom.

The next day we had an appointment with a pediatrician to enrol “Det lilla livet”. It was the final thing we had to fix before we were completely prepared to welcome her in to this world. Not all hospitals in Prague require you to have a pediatrician, but ours do. We found a really good pediatrician that was totally supportive and understanding about our way of life, so “det lilla livet” now has a pediatrician for every time we will be visiting Prague in the future. Here in Prague, a lot of doctor’s have their own private practices and they often sit in doctor’s houses (läkarhus).


Nästa dag hade vi en tid med en barnläkare för att skriva in “Det lilla livet” hos den personen. Det var det sista vi behövde fixa innan vi var helt beredda på att välkomna henne till denna värld. Inte alla sjukhus i Prag kräver att du har barnläkare, men vårt sjukhus gör det. Vi hittade en riktigt bra barnläkare som var väldigt stödjande och förstående för vår livsstil, så “det lilla livet” har nu en barnläkare för varje gång vi kommer att besöka Prag i framtiden. Här i Prag har många läkare sina egna privata mottagningar och de sitter ofta i så kallade läkarhus.

We celebrated the finalization of the documents needed for the birth with a carrot cake at our favorite café in Prague 1. Ulrika was happy but also really sad and she finally understood how hard the grief was hitting her in the evening when a long-time companion came back, stress-induced gastritis.


Vi firade slutförandet av de dokument som behövs inför födelsen med en morotskaka på vårt favoritkafé i Prag 1. Ulrika var glad, men också väldigt ledsen och hon förstod till slut hur svårt sorgen drabbade henne på kvällen när en gammal följeslagare kom tillbaka, stressinducerad magkatarr.

The following day was Ulrika’s week 40 appointment at the hospital and now the diastolic pressure was down to 80, which is a really good thing. However, Ulrika was not surprised. She had been monitoring her protein in the urea every day, still no trace of it, and she had felt that the pain in her hands and swelling had gone down. She had searched the scientific literature about nettle tea and blood pressure after her midwife’s recommendation and had found interesting articles, which made her want to at least try it. So for the 2.5 days between the two blood pressure measurements, she had been consuming a lot of nettle tea (5-6 big cups a day). If this helped we don’t know, but we do now that her blood pressure is no longer in the risk zone of developing preeclampsia.


Följande dag var det dags för Ulrikas vecka 40 besök på sjukhuset och nu var det diastoliska trycket nere på 80, vilket är en riktigt bra grej. Ulrika var dock inte förvånad. Hon hade övervakat hennes protein i urin varje dag, fortfarande inget spår av det, och hon hade känt att smärtan och svullnaden i händerna hade gått ner. Hon hade sökt igenom den vetenskapliga litteraturen om nässelte och blodtryck efter hennes barnmorskas rekommendation och hade hittat intressanta artiklar vilket gjorde att hon vill åtminstone prova det. Så de 2.5 dagarna mellan de två blodtrycksmätningarna hade hon konsumerat väldigt mycket nässelte (5-6 stora koppar om dagen).  Om detta hjälpte vet vi inte, men nu är  hennes blodtryck inte längre i riskzonen för att utveckla preeklampsi.

It was when we attached the CTG-equipment we learned about how grief can affect an unborn child. Ulrika had been really sad since Charlie’s passing and driving out to the hospital thinking about  how one life ends while another life begins was terrible. Charlie fell just before the finish line and there will forever be no period of time where both Charlie and “Det lilla livet” both inhaled the same air on this planet. There will only be a Charlie time and “Det lilla livet” time, separated by only a few days in eternity. The grief was in every part of Ulrika’s body, she could feel it and so could apparently “det lilla livet”.
Our daughter’s irregular baseline heart rate was 180 and everything above 160 is classified as tachycardia (heart beats excessively), so unless Ulrika couldn’t calm down, we would be admitted to the hospital. Grief is a stress mode where you release a lot of adrenaline in to your system and Ulrika’s increased production of adrenline made “det lilla livets” heart rate increase. This is why it is so important not to be stressed during a pregnancy.
Ulrika’s doctor was very understanding and we got two hours to drink lots of fluid, eat lunch and calm down before a second CTG would be performed.


Det var när vi satte på CTG-utrustningen som vi lärde oss om hur sorg kan påverka ett ofött barn. Ulrika hade varit väldigt ledsen sedan Charlie somnade in och när vi körde ut till sjukhuset så tänkte hon på hur ett liv slutar medan ett annat liv börjar, vilket var hemskt. Charlie föll strax före målsnöret och det kommer för alltid inte finnas någon tid där både Charlie och “Det lilla livet” andades samma luft på denna planet. Det kommer bara at finnas en Charlie-tid och “Det lilla livet” -tid, åtskilda av bara några dagar i evigheten. Sorgen fanns i hela Ulrikas kropp, hon kunde känna det och så kunde tydligen “det lilla livet”.
Vår dotters oregelbundna hjärtrytms-baslinje var 180 och allt över 160 klassificeras som takykardi (onormalt hög hjärtfrekvens), så om inte Ulrika kunde lugna ned sig, så skulle vi bli inlagda på sjukhuset. Sorg är ett stressläge där man släpper ut mycket adrenalin i systemet och Ulrikas ökade produktion av adrenalin resulterade i att “det lilla livets” hjärtfrekvens ökade. Det är därför det är så viktigt att inte stressa under en graviditet.
Ulrikas doktor var mycket förstående och vi fick två timmar på oss att dricka mycket vätska, äta lunch och lugna ner sig innan ett andra CTG skulle utföras.

The two hour away from the hospital and the realization of what Ulrika’s grief was doing to “Det lilla livet” had a positive effect. The baseline was back to a regular heartbeat of 140 and we could now go home.
Today (September 5th) is the calculated due date for “Det lilla livet” and we will not update the blog before our daughter is here.


De två timmarna utanför sjukhuset och insikten av vad Ulrikas sorg hade för effekt på “Det lilla livet” hade en positiv effekt. Baslinjen för hjärtfrekvensen var tillbaka på en stabil 140 och vi kunde nu åka hem.
Idag (5 September) är det beräknade förlossningsdatumet för “Det lilla livet” och vi kommer inte uppdatera bloggen något mer innan vår dotter är här.

In memory of Charlie pälsklingen Englund, 20061119-20180829.

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