There’s paperwork to get in order, esp. if you decide not to get married. Some of this you should already have in place.
Opinion: for the first child (i.e., without another small one around needing attention), I’d say the first 3 weeks could be handled well by the mother alone, while you could be more useful later on (as other suggested, you could use them to prolong as much as possible the ridiculously short maternity leaves some mother get so that the baby does not need to be thrown into a kite when (s)he does not even crawl yet), so I’d only take a few days/a week at first and leave the rest for later. Of course it depends on the baby, some need much more than others at the beginning.
I don’t disagree, but would also point out that the mother may need some help and also it is nice to enjoy being with your first child.
The baby is sleeping most of time early on anyway, but I found it wonderful to enjoy my baby napping on my belly (if only they slept that much for longer!). Of course, you still see the baby evenings and weekends, which is good as the baby changes a lot with each week early on, so you want to enjoy experiencing that.
TBH the best thing would be to first FIRE and then have children 
I was FI and then kids un-FI’d me 
Yeah, this would be nice! Tbh I am about 3 years away from FIRE’ing myself, and was very much intending to do so. With a child, that will naturally increase my the FI number. However, I do wonder by how much? Especially if I am not working, I can handle childcare, and also reduce other expenses around the house.
In fact, you think that you knew when the first come, but the second one just bring reality to a different level
I cannot imagine the next ones
Not to be pessimistic here ( I still have hope )
My first kid delayed my fire from 50 to 53 y/o, the second just blow up and push it to 60 (so not really nice number there).
I believe that the kids are not the only cause, but paying kita for 2 is a bit of a hammer
But I was also at the beginning of my journey you are almost at the end so good luck
Also known as : THE TUNNEL 
Two pieces of advice I would add:
Re making decisions for the baby: I think it should not be a problem if you do the paternity recognition before the birth, which is by the way something you probably want to do, as otherwise in case the mother dies during/shortly after birth it can be very complicated.
Another reason to move early with the paternity recognition is that it will force you to do all the paperwork to get into the civil registry if you are not already there. This will in turn speed up the release of the birth certificate after the birth, which would speed up the release of the documents for the baby - this is especially important if you plan to travel abroad with the baby soon-ish (and if you do - you should do some homework to see if your plans are realistic, depending on the nationality it can take months to get any document to travel).
For making decisions for the mother: as an anecdote, when my gf was giving birth she just put my name in the intake form for who would be responsible for taking these decisions for her, and the stuff said that the fact that we are not married does not matter. But YMMV
Good point, but I think this matters only for the supplementary insurance: so that the insurance is stipulated before potential health conditions are uncovered at birth (which might prevent you from getting a supplementary insurance later). For the mandatory insurance, I think the baby is covered from birth retroactively, in the same way a person moving to Switzerland is covered from the day they arrived?
Well, I don’t see any advantage to NOT do it before birth, when you have time to go through all the offers and when you still have good nights
Main advantage is: no health questionnaire (imagine they discover something at birth, the insurance might refuse to accept the baby, which would be stupid..).
Then, it’s not more expensive and you start paying only when the baby is here.
No disadvantage at all.
You find a lot of webistes talking about it, just ask the internet.
For me it’s pure safety and less stress for the big day. I wouldn’t do it otherwise.
with 2 you still can take on one each. with 3 or more, they outnumber you. with 2, you can use a standard car and easy to find one with 2 isofix. with 3 it’s starting to get cramped and even more fights…
Chance are, after a few months of one or (especially) more children around, you’ll want to go back to work and pay childcare, at least part of the time
Mother gets an extra month for “breastfeeding”, needs a note from the doctor (to be verified).
Believe me, after few months you will crave to talk with (a) other adults; (b) not only about baby stuff.
Congrats !
I can recommend you a good insurance broker specialised in children insurance.
They have some good comparison spreadsheets.
PM me if wanted.
Be careful with those kind of scam :
Malposition des dents ou de la mâchoire, problèmes de mastication: en Suisse, les parents n’hésitent généralement pas à offrir un nouveau sourire à leurs enfants, au moyen d’un traitement orthodontique. Mais, on le sait, une telle démarche coûte souvent une petite fortune. En général, le traitement dure entre deux et trois ans et coûte dans les 4000 fr. pour une correction simple. Dans les cas plus importants, les soins peuvent aisément atteindre jusqu’à 15 000 fr.
Comme pour les soins dentaires, les traitements orthodontiques ne sont normalement pas pris en charge par l’assurance de base (sauf s’ils sont occasionnés par une malformation ou une maladie grave). Pour parer à ces frais, il existe des complémentaires dentaires, généralement regroupées dans des packs d’assurances (médecines naturelles, achat de lunettes, etc.). Celles-ci coûtent généralement entre 10 fr. et 20 fr. par mois et sont parfois gratuites pour les moins de 3 ans ou lorsqu’un parent est déjà affilié.
Limité au tarif minimal
Afin de connaître l’étendue des prestations de ces complémentaires, nous avons comparé les offres pour enfants les plus demandées auprès de quatorze grandes caisses maladie (voir tableau). Globalement, les traitements sont remboursés à hauteur de 50% à 80% au maximum, et sont souvent plafonnés (par exemple jusqu’à concurrence de 10 000 fr. par an).
Le hic, c’est que plus de la moitié de ces complémentaires ne remboursent pas le prix réel du point tarifaire facturé, dont le maximum peut atteindre 5.80 fr., mais se bornent à 3.10 fr. par point, soit le prix pratiqué pour les traitements couverts par les assurances sociales. Dès lors, une assurance couvrant 80% des soins ne remboursera, en fait, que 42,8% d’un traitement facturé à 5.80 fr./point (voir «Couverture minimale réelle»). C’est plus de la moitié!
Bien choisir au bon moment
La Société suisse d’odonto stomatologie (SSO) connaît bien ce problème et recommande de comparer les prestations plutôt que les primes, avant de choisir. Pour ceux qui réalisent ensuite que le point remboursé est limité à 3.10 fr., il est conseillé d’en discuter avec le dentiste, afin d’envisager un traitement moins coûteux, ou de chercher un médecin qui pratique un tarif moindre.
La SSO conseille également de conclure la complémentaire suffisamment tôt (avant l’âge de 4 ans), ce qui permet, la plupart du temps, d’éviter un examen dentaire préalable, et donc un risque d’exclusion.
Wow I had no idea.
I will find it soon. The new brackets will arrive arrive in a month or so.
Congrats! lots of great advice already but maybe a different angle. Birth and postpartum can be a challenge and I wish your partner a great one but not bad to prepare for a bad one. Look into post partum depression in advance so you can pay attention to signs and support her. You can do alot more than you think in regards to baby. Her body and mind will be recovering so take as much as possible off her plate!
If you register to HUG, they have a great maternity department. They also offer 3 courses for couple and 1 for the dad. They could include you in the Accompagnement Gobal program which onboard you with few courses and meet the delivery room, meet nurses before the D day.
It was quite interesting to elaborate this birth plan.
One month before the delivery you could already prepare one suitcase with clothes change for the mom, the dad and the baby. I’ve also took some snacks and meal prep from the supermarket that you can keep with you just in case. Nurses could warm your food in their microwave if asked nicely. Maternité - Lieu de soins aux HUG à Genève - HUG
I would recommend to do lots of prep meal and froze them 2 weeks in advance on the due date. When you will return home, you will be happy not to cook. Cleaning will be already intense.
In case of C-section, you may read article on best practices to improve microbiote transmission from the mom to the baby
https://www.h-fr.ch/newsroom/blog/nos-recherches/recherche-sur-le-microbiote-il-ne-faut-pas-que-tout-soit-toujours-sterile
Do not feel oblige to welcome friends nor family in the first 4-6 weeks. This time together with the 3 of you will be gold moments. You do not want to take care of guests that doesn’t know what to do to help. It will also reduce germs exposure for the little one.
The nurse visit and breastfeeding technics advice will be enough.
Do not overbuy nappies as the baby may be allergic or not confortable with some brands.
If you buy new, buy an evolutive bed or pram. At the beginning the first baby clothes are worm only 1-2 months max so borough a lot from friends colleagues. Do not buy white/light body colour. It will stain a lot …
You can register to the Lets family Mama boxes. They will send you 4-5 gifts and educational content along the growth of the bavy. Coffret cadeau «maman» - LetsFamily
Migros will also send you a couple of items like a foldable changing kit.
Excellent subject for the next GVA meetup.