HELP - Delivering a baby in AMSTERDAM

[slim22]

Hello ladies, my friend is moving to Amsterdam soon and she"ll be 7 months pregnant.
When I lived there, all my friends had their babies at home under midwife led care.
She WILL NOT have that. Can anyone guide us as to how to approach hospitals / private clinics? Through GPs only or obstetricians with private practice?
ANY info will be greatly appreciated.
thx

[Expat2]

There is no private system here. However, I delivered at the VUMC and the Docs there will take over your care from the midwives at 36 weeks (perhaps sooner in her case). They will also offer an epidural 24 hours if she wants one (not all hospitals offer this). Anyone can deliver in a hospital, even with a midwife, however, you usually have to call around when you are in labour to see where you can get in unless you have already transferred your care. Not sure if any other hospitals offer this though?

The VUMC was great too, in terms of care. Tell her to call and ask for this. If need be, she can say she wants the certainty of getting an epidural (when the time comes, she doesn't have to have it) - that worked for me.

[annh]

I also had a baby at VUMC eight years ago but my understanding was that you still had a community midwife and she goes to hospital with you and takes the lead in the delivery. I found my midwife when I got there by registering with the local doctor's surgery and he recommended someone. If you still have friends living there, they might be able to recommend their midwife. However, your midwife does have to live in your local area (in order to be able to get either to your house/the hospital for delivery). Therefore, your friend might need to wait until she gets there and knows where she will be living. I had no problems having my baby in hospital once I made it known that was what I wanted. Although lots of people do have babies at home, I think the rate of home births is still only about a third so the other two-thirds are obviously still going to hospital.

[Expat2]

Annh - As far as I know, a community midwife is preferred but not essential now. The VUMC told me I could have had my care through them from day 1 - but might have been a couple of hundred euros out of pocket this way (apparently a horrifying thought to most Dutch). A friend also only ever saw a gyno at Amstelland Hospital. I think the best bet is to call the hospital and ask.

[Expat2]

Oh and you might want to warn your friend that, unless there is a reason to stay (eg c-sec), she will be discharged from hospital within a couple of hours of giving birth.

[annh]

Expat2, you may well be right. I have also remembered that the type of care you got when I was there depended soemwhat on nationality or job status as well. As a European with a husband on a local work cotract, we were paying into Dutch healthcare and so had a community midwife etc but my US friends whose husbands were working on different types of contract seemed to have all their care through the hospital.

Yes, indeed she will probably be discharged from hospital very quickly but you should tell your friend to get fixed up with kraamzorg (her midwife will tell her about it) which is a brilliant system where a sort of mothers help/nanny comes around to your house for up to 10 days afterwards for either a couple of hours or a full day and helps with the baby - shows you how to bath etc, takes baby for walks so you can sleep, helps with grocery shopping, preparing meals, cleaning etc. If you have an older child they will help keep them occupied and they tend to let the mum sleep while they dress baby etc - presumably thinking that if you have managed to raise one child already you don't need a tutorial in bathing!

[Expat2]

Second what Annh has said about the Kraamzorg. Tell her to sort that out as soon as she arrives as they are now booking out. I live in central Amsterdam and had DS in June and they had booked out a couple of months before my due date. She could google Kraamzorg and contact a few agencies before she arrives, or contact her insurance company to find the one they prefer (that is what I did).

Also, DH and I are considered residents here and pay the local insurance for the same care as locals (we are Aussies so not EU citizens). I just think as expats, they now expect you to 'demand' a bit more (ie no home birth, hospital care) and so have started to be a bit more accommodating towards it - from what I've heard, this is a fairly recent development. There is apparently a hospital in the Hague (Bronovo?) which is geared towards expat care too - although I have no experience of them.

[slim22]

thank you so much ladies!

I will link this page for her.

[chouchette]

Thank you so much for the great info. I have recently arrived in Amsterdam and I am 8 months pregnant and your advice has been very valuable.

Thanks again
x

[slim22]

take care