Babies in Brussels

[SalM]

Hi all, wanted to say thanks for all your advice re houses / areas to live etc. My husband and I came to Brussels last week and settled on a house in La Hulpe. It seems like a lovely area and it will save hubby having to fight with too much traffic on his way to work in LLN. We should be moving in 1st Aug, I'm quite excited about the move now!

I now have a couple of other questions, I hope you dont mind. I've contacted several Maternelles in the area and have had a positive reply from 4 so I think we're coming back in a week or so to go and look at them all. Does anyone have any recommendations for Maternelles here? There ones we heard from are:
Ecole Communale "Les Colibris"
Ecole Fondamentale Libre Notre-Dame
Ecoline Rosieres
Ecole Communale de Maubroux - from the websites I like the look of this one.

As well as Maternelles, I need to start thinking about Creches. I will be having a baby in October and returning to work April / May next year so will need to start thinking about these as well. I did do a google search but havent come up with much. Anybody have any suggestions of places to look?

And my last question...So we'll be arriving in Brussels 1st Aug and baby due 4th Oct, which doesnt give me much time to get doctors / hospitals sorted etc. Anyway aside from that, I read somewhere that Mutuelle cover doesnt start until 6 months after you join, does this mean we'll be liable for the costs associated with giving birth? And if so, any idea how much are we talking about? We will have health insurance though hubbys job as well.

Sorry for all the questions! I have contacted BCT but wasn't able to proceed with registration until now as I didnt have a local address to give them.

Many thanks!!

Ixelles is going to be the most expensive of your areas, also the most difficult to get a good school place in even if enrolling a long time in advance, most difficult to get parking, public transport not so good, but Tenbosch and etangs areas increasingly popular with young families. Auderghem has loads of cheap apartments near the metro plus top part of Watermael and schools easier to get into in are near the metro line, Etterbeek pretty good too for public transport, schools variable but if you are quick enough and enrol the year before entry, you should be fine, only parking again an issue. WSL can be more expensive for property but again good choice of schools and public transport.

I would be very very wary of the agent wanting to suggest to you properties, sounds like what relocation agents do, the result is often not what you want but what they are finding hardest to rent.

If you can read French, this is a good example of a rental contract

mrw.wallonie.be/dgatlp/dgatlp/Pages/Log/DwnLd/FichesLocation/Fiche%20Modele%20de%20bail%202007.pdf

I'm back, with a lot more caffeine in my bloodstream.

Definitely negotiate the rent, properties are usually priced with the bargaining process in mind. Avoid estate agents as much as possible, they rack up prices. I found that the best way of finding a property is to drive around and look at "For Rent" signs posted on windows, but as you're not in Brussels yet, that obviously isn't an option. But 1000euros is not a bad budget at all. Do you know anyone who works for the European institutions? They have an internal classifieds website, and occasionally there are good deals to be found (people being posted abroad renting their houses etc).

Definitely try and go direct to landlords. Even on Immoweb, often landlords advertise their properties personally and also use an agent or several agents. The Agents get the first month's rent as commission, no other contact after that, so it is in the landlord's interest to avoid the agent if possible as they lose a month's rent and might be open to more negotiation as a result.

Also with charges, they vary enormously, not just in amount, but what they include. Sometimes it's just charges for the common areas, sometimes it includes water and / or heating (in this case they read the individual meters on your heatin once a year and you pay more or get a refund, the charges include and "allowance" usually based on previous consumption). Heating is very expensive here, so if you know for example 150 out of 250euro per month goes on heating, then the charges will be a bit more reasonable. This charges malarky does make it difficult to compare prices though.

Best, I live in Auderghem and am around from Tuesday onwards. I'll pm you my phone number in case you want any advice or even a cup of tea if you have time!

I had my bag stolen in Ixelles last week and the policeman said "you can't leave anything for five minutes in Ixelles".

I second (or third?) avoiding estate agents if possible. We managed to do this when we bought our house/

Re the heating: www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/news/110630_electricity_bills_high

PS again
price for a decent apartment should work out at 90 euro per 10m2 including charges (without heating/electricity), so 100m2 should cost 900 euro per month.

You'll see from Immoweb that, apart from money going further in Auderghem, the main differences are the likelihood of a parking space for no extra cost there and the apartments are modern, whereas Ixelles and Etterbeek have many more period apartments with less likelihood of lifts.

Hi just to say I live in St Gilles and love it.. very central, a bit cheaper than ixelles and great markets etc as well as close to the eurostar. But perhaps some bits are not so ahem chic so you'd need to be careful. There's some very nice areas up near the hotel communal, and between st gilles and louise.

Also I noticed that someone said it's difficult to have a home birth/ midwives here (sorry can't remember who). Not true at all. There are plenty of independent midwife practices and some birth centres.

What I did the first time was to go with an independent midwife to the hospital st elisabeth, the nice thing about that was that I knew the midwife well, she came to our house to check me out and so that we could go to the hospital at the right time and then stayed with me throughout the labour at the hospital

A lot of people also have a physiotherapist that stays with them throughout the labour.

Thanks everyone! Headed onto the ferry now, will keep all your advice in mind and update later to let you know how we get on.

Sorry not been on for ages, I wish it would ping you a message when there are more posts...it probably can and its just me being crap!!

Well we've been busy busy trying to get everything sorted, still going round in circles about NI / social security contributions for me (I'm not self employed, just employed and paid by a UK company although working in Belgium from home, makes things that bit more complicated!!).

BIOM - hope you manage to find somewhere to live on your trip, and congrats on your baby. I'm now 27 weeks and looking huge, this is going to be one big boy!!

Havent even started on midwife / baby / hospital thing yet. Its on the long list of things to do. I'm quite tempted with a home birth, the idea of staying in hospital after the birth for 5 days doesnt really appeal and then we wouldnt need to worry about what we do with DD when I do go into labour, if we dont have any relatives staying with us.

As for the BCT, I'm also registered for the pregnancy in Belgium class in Sept so hopefully I will get to meet you there. They only said I couldnt complete the registration and pay the joining fee until I could tell them what my address would be in Brussels and my arrival date for the welcome pack to be sent to.

Arriving on 1st August and cant wait!

SalM and Best, so you're both coming in August! Let us know when you've arrived so we can get the welcome bunting out!

thanks Longtime, not sure how I'm managing to arrange all this without the help of wine, am so ready for a bottle now!!

Hi all! Well this has been one of the busiest weeks of my life, but the good news is we have found our apartment (in Etterbeek) and even managed to get contract completed. Saw such a variety of apartments but both knew and agreed as soon as we set foot in ours.

Thanks for all the advice on dealing with estate agents/landlords, we feel we've got a good deal and somehow without compromising on any of our criteria. The appointment that wouldn't give us an address did indeed turn put to be dodgy, of course the apartment we'd been lured in with was gone and we then drove in circles behind the guy only to be shown one crappy flat!

Have given our details to removal company so looking on course to move over week beginning 1st august (although if I can get my 12 wk NHS scan I may come a few days later).

SalM that's great to hear you're going to the same BCT class, will be great to meet you and chat about "having a baby in Belgium" (we've just got the CDROM from here www.chsbelgium.org/publications.htm which has loads of practical info)

Checked with my husband's employer and our health insurance has already started so they advised us just to pick a doctor and get receipts for everything. Any recommendations of doctors/hospitals/midwives in the Etterbeek area from those of you who've had your baby in Brussels?

Longtime, sorry I didn't get in touch we just didn't stop all week! Will text you my number, would love to meet up for a coffee once we've moved.

Thanks again to all, I cannot wait to move now!

Best, can you pm me your exact address? Etterbeek's quite big so it would be helpful for doctor/hospital addresses.

Great that you're both on the same BCT course. The BCT has been a big part of my life. I can't praise it highly enough.

Best
you are right in the middle of a choice of hospitals - Edith Cavell, St Elizabeths, Ixelles, St Michel, St Luc. People tend to choose whichever hospital their gynae works from, rather than on locality. BCT pre natal counsellors could give you a list of gynaes. I have never given birth in Belgium so cannot help, but there is a British gynae called Mr Hutchings who works out of St Luc in WSL and this hospital is a large university teaching hospital plus it is accessible by metro from Ettebeek - stop Alma - for pre natal appointments.

Hope you didnt get lured also into a fixed term contract you cannot get out of - we have just signed for our new house, had a landlord trying to persuade me to sign for 3 years fixed, would not negotiate, in the end had to walk away, now have a standard 9 year one and NO rent rise in 9 years - written into the contract, amazing deal.

Oh and Etterbeek I am sure is a great choice, I like it alot there. My friend has a hair salon there on Ave d Auderghem, if you ever need your hair cut in English

That's a lot of hospitals! Better start doing my research, thanks Natation. No we were careful and checked the lease, we have the 3 month 1st year, 2 month 2nd year etc penalty but not liable for entire 3 years.

Would love to know name of your hairdresser friend, can you PM me. Having hair cut before I leave but will be in desperate need of someone by autumn!

Longtime I have PM'd you more specific location, thanks again.

I gave birth three times in Edith Cavell but as natation says it rather depends on your gynae than you. My gynae speaks English but is soooo busy and lives in Uccle so not so easy to get to. I visited my son every day in St Luc back in May and it is easy to get to on the metro. You'd have to change once from where you're going to be living but it's easy.

Well that's us here in Brussels! Move went well and looking forward to spending some time settling into our apartment and exploring the city.

SalM - hope your move has gone well.

Thanks to all for all the practical advice which has made this move a lot easier.

Glad the move went smoothly! Hope you get settled in soon. Can't remember if you did already, but if you PM me or Longtime with your details we can add you to the local MNetter list. And we must organise something soon.....

Best, I'm not in Brussels at the moment but I'll get in touch once I'm back. Hope everything goes smoothly.

Hi Best & SalM,

Another newcomer - we arrived in July. I have 3 children, my youngest is 9 weeks. Hope you have both settled well and your pregnancies are not putting too much extra strain on you.

Feel free to PM me if you would like to get in touch.