Hannah, 33, masseuse and tango teacher.
Single mother.
"It was a shock and it took me a few months to accept that I would be alone and a single mother. But my friends and parents supported me after the birth. It is hard to imagine what life will be like as a single parent; I believe it's going to be physically difficult, since you're to be alone with the baby for 24 hour a day. It would be nice to hand over child-caring responsibilities at times, but it will be just fine. "
" A positive aspect of being pregnant in Slovenia is that you have lots of medical care available; and a negative aspect is that you can experience birth only through the medical perspective. There is very little information given about the natural birth, and you really have to search to find alternatives. "
" It doesn't surprise me that birth rates are still low in Slovenia. Generally, the possibilities of development such as buying an apartment, getting a permanent job, are so hard to reach, that one is limited in the possibility to create a family. But if they take away the benefits we have, they can't expect higher birth rates! "
" What I learned from the books and something I didn't know before is that the pain is not a necessary part of giving birth. The hospitals focus on the small percentage that can go wrong. In order to prevent risks, they interfere with the natural process."
" I've lived in Spain, Germany, and USA and I know it's not normal to have the right of a fully compensated maternity leave. I was still always surprised and slightly shocked on hearing somebody was sent back to work after 6 weeks of paid or unpaid leave."
"  Maybe in context of the rest of the world, a fully compensated maternity leave is a privilege, but it is also an investment into society. You enable healthier development for the child and have a healthy population down the road. It is good for the society, for the country. "