Now that I am finally an “International Mama,” and not just a soon-to-be-mama, I finally feel qualified to add my 2 cents to the blog! Our girl arrived almost five weeks ago and is already wondering where her sausage and beer are (or at least, that’s how I interpret her crying).
Having never been pregnant before, I was pretty much clueless about how healthcare works for pregnancy. I could have guessed quite a few things about the care in the U.S. based on the experiences of friends, but I had absolutely no idea how things worked in Germany. I thought it might be informative for some of you to know how things are done over here just for a comparison to your own systems. I am not the first international mama on this blog to give birth in Germany. You can read about Christina’s experiences in this series of posts and Maria’s here and here.
Health Care providers - One important thing to realize here is that your O.B. will not be delivering your baby in most cases. You chose a doctor for prenatal care, but a midwife will most likely be handling the delivery whether you deliver at home or in the hospital. Should you require medical intervention, there is a doctor on call at the hospital who will care for you.
I chose my doctor by doing a search for English speaking midwives in my town. I contacted her via email, and she explained that she works in a doctor’s office and gave me the names of a few doctors in the area. Looking back, I also should have inquired with local friends and acquaintances who recently had babies here. In my case, I wasn’t happy with my first doc, and so I switched by the end of the 1st trimester to one I felt more comfortable with.
Since my OB would not be delivering the baby, we also had to decide where we would deliver, and since my husband was terrified of the home birth option, we talked with friends and coworkers about the quality of care at the hospitals they used. The consensus that we got from friends and based on some internet searches and info from my doctor, was that St. Hedwig was the best choice for us. They have a “Gerburt und Rundherum Team”, which is a group of four midwives who work very closely with the moms to help prepare them for the birth (giving advice on preparing the body, offering acupuncture, and other alternative preparation treatments). One of the four will attend the birth to give a sense of constancy, and they have a very holistic approach to birth. Our team at St. Hedwig is awesome! Other friends have gone with the other midwives at St. Hedwig and also had positive experiences.
Mutterpass - A ‘Mutterpass’ (mother pass) is a booklet given to women upon their first visit to the doctor. This booklet contains all of the medical information relevant to the pregnancy. The idea is that you always have it on hand in case it needs to be referenced by another medical professional. It makes switching doctors much easier as well as you carry your own medical records with you. Plus, it feels a bit like a ‘welcome to the club’ kind of gift, which is exciting for a first-time mom.
Home Birth and birthing centers - This works differently throughout Germany, but in Bavaria, home births are not that common. There is only one midwife in my town who does them, and if you should decide to try for a home birth, she will also take over your prenatal care. She will also recommend if you should call off the homebirth option due to complications and help arrange for a hospital birth. My town does not have a birthing center, but they do exist here. They are supposed to be more Holistic and more comfortable than a hospital.
Attitudes toward Birth - I can only make a comparison with what I have heard about attitudes toward birthing in the U.S., but it seems quite different here. I suspect it has something to do with the use of midwives. In our hospital, c-section rates are a little over 20%, and they do not assume that a woman must have a c-section on a second birth is she had one the first time around. Women are strongly encouraged to be active in their labor. Midwives encourage them to walk if they can, and there is an array of props available to help women find the optimal birthing position. Unless there are complications or you have an epidural, there is no assumption that you will be laboring in bed. This was something important to me, and I have found this attitude very comforting. They expressed that the women have most of the power in the birthing process, and they are only there to help facilitate the process. In the end of the day, the doctors are the ‘big boss’ in the delivery ward, but I get the sense that the midwives do their best to help women have as natural a birthing experience as possible. Water birthing is available in some hospitals as well. I my case, the baby was breech, but we were still able to have a natural delivery because the midwives at this hospital have experience delivering breech babies. They told me that in most other hospitals, they may have pushed for a c-section though, so I felt very lucky. Though admittedly, the expression on my face while in labor indicates that I wasn’t fully aware of how lucky I was at the time…
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Nicely written, and that is such a great picture of you and your girl.
I am living near Kaiserslautern now and i’ve been going to a German doctor I like. But I am moving For my job to Stuttgart at 38 weeks preg on may 15th where my husband lives. I have to find a new hospital, a new doctor and we are moving into a new house sometime Between may 15 and June 1…I’m due June 3rd!! I’m so freaked out (this is my first). I hate not being settled and in a foreign country and. I hope the baby doesn’t come early
Wow! That is a lot to handle all at once! Good luck. I can recommend some resources on natural birth (books and websites). Good luck finding a good set of midwives!