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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Giving birth in Germany- Experiences?

10 replies

Missingpotatocroquettes · 18/03/2024 15:57

Hello,

First post here. Recently moved to Germany to live with my husband and unexpectedly found myself pregnant a good few years before we planned. Stupid one-time mistake, I know, but we're living with it and keeping the baby.

I'm now 8 weeks and 6 days pregnant and our first pregnancy appointments is at 11 weeks and 3 days. Having lots of sickness, nausea, fatigue and a few fainting episodes in the meantime. Lots of fun when I'm alone in a new country, no nearby friends or family and no car. Husband also works very long and unpredictable hours with some nights away from home, and is sometimes not contactable during these nights away too.

I'm really really worried about how I'm going to manage in pregnancy, especially towards the end of the third trimester. Also worried about the language barrier when we go to hospital, neither of us speak good German. I honestly wish I could come home and do the whole pregnancy in the UK but that's not an option.

Has anyone given birth in Germany? What was your hospital experience?

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Busyhedgehog · 18/03/2024 18:51

First of all, congratulations. :)
Secondly, I wouldn't worry about the language too much. Most of the hospital around us have experience with foreigners and tend to have English-speaking staff as well. Several of my colleagues have given birth at our local hospital, for example, and they've had really good experiences and have rated their care highly.
Unlike in the UK, you tend to either end up in a single or double room even if you aren't covered by private insurance. You also tend to stay three or four days and most of the stuff for the baby is being provided. So no reason taking in nappies and formula and several outfits or things like that.
First of all, find yourself a midwife. These are covered by your insurance and they can provide pre- and post-natal care and support. We've got quite a few English-speaking ones in our area. They can do some of your prenatal appointments, which means you don't need to go and see your OB/GYN for them. That's your choice, though.

I'm currently 22 weeks and have opted for midwife care for the time after the birth, only. I see my gynaecologist for the other appointments. I'll most likely sign up for the birth at our local hospital although I could also opt for one of the larger ones a bit further out. (We are 30 minutes from Frankfurt.)
I'm doing aqua natal sessions at our local pool but have chosen not to go for birth preparation classes. It's my second one and I'm not too fussed about attending them. I'll probably go and do some sessions once the baby is here.

Good luck with everything and don't worry about it too much. :) In terms of maternity care and parental leave/rights, Germany is a much better bet than England.

PuttingDownRoots · 18/03/2024 18:56

My DD is nearly 13 now, so some things have probably changed!

  • no Gas and air during labour.
  • longer hospital stay... this can be good or bad. In my case, I went a bit stir crazy, but they wouldn't let me leave.
  • very cute little hospital outfits!
  • they like to really wrap the babies up. They had duvets in hospital for example! And people will comment if they don't think you have enough layers on the baby (and mine was born at height of summer!

Good luck.

Missingpotatocroquettes · 18/03/2024 19:42

@Busyhedgehog Thank you for your reply! That does make me feel better, especially about the language barrier. Unfortunately, I don't think my insurance does cover a midwife :/ It's American and through my husband's work. Good luck with your pregnancy too!!

@PuttingDownRoots Thanks for the reply! I don't think I'll mind staying in hospital for a few days, I've been reading horror stories about people getting home and then having complications so still being in hospital will be reassuring.

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Busyhedgehog · 18/03/2024 19:51

@Missingpotatocroquettes Ah, ok. We've got the normal public insurance tjay everyone has to have anyway, so everything's covered. You might want to check with your insurance company then. Good luck. :)

bluecomputerscreen · 18/03/2024 19:59

fennel tea

that's what a relative told me.
aparently good for breastfeeding. and to be given to a colicky baby as a remedy.

lolarun · 18/03/2024 20:07

I recently had a baby over here and compared to what I’ve heard from friends back home the hospital care and post natal care is more thorough.

i was in hospital for 5 days and a midwife visited me at home at least weekly for about 6 weeks after.

I have to say I think I would have struggled in hospital without German just because I’m not sure many nurses spoke English, and nor did the lady sharing my room- all the doctors did though. But I am not in a very cosmopolitan area so you might have more luck if you’re in a big city.

feel free to message me if you think I can help with anything specific or explain how anything works :)

SockQueen · 18/03/2024 21:00

My sister has had two babies in Germany - a very quick vaginal birth in Berlin and a CS in Düsseldorf. The actual delivery care sounds fairly similar, but the after care much better - private rooms, better food etc. Antenatal was shared between her obstetrician and a midwife. She speaks fluent German and her husband is German though, so not quite the same situation as yours!

LadyGreySpillsTheTea · 18/03/2024 22:09

Hmm, it worries me a bit that you have no local social contacts, because that helps things so much. Where are you based? Most larger towns will have a branch of the International Women’s Club, and the members there will be able to give you far more helpful relevant info for your specific area. Or take a look at Toytown Germany online - the large cities also have specific sections there.

The caveat for all my advice is that I had my kids here yonks ago, so things might have progressed in the meantime. And I had mine at a birth house rather than a hospital, precisely because I found the hospital settings unnecessarily clinical but still wanted a medical setting with two midwives.

I went to both pregnancy yoga and a Geburtsvorbereitungskurs - maybe find out if either of those are offered in English near where you are. After the birth you are entitled normally to do a Rückbildungskurs starting 4 weeks after birth (basically a weekly mother/baby yoga course specifically to get your organs back in the right place). It’s possible that the insurance will pay for all three of these, so you’d need to check if yours does cover them - even if not I would do it in your position if you can find it in English, because I think the social contact would help you..When my babies were 2 months apiece I also went to a mother/baby class called PeKip, which is nominally to encourage baby development but is actually all about bored middle-class mums socialising. DH took DD1 baby swimming too, that was ‘their’ thing.

I’m a bit surprised you don’t have an appointment until after 11 weeks. Is that with a gynaecologist or at a hospital? For both my pregnancies I went to the gyn as soon as I knew I was pregnant and she did a scan to check that all was as expected, and that it was a singleton. Then you get another at 12 weeks, and I had one at 16 weeks and then the high def one at 20 weeks. The 20 week scan should be done at an obgyn practice with a doctor who is specialised in pre-diagnostic medicine, to look for anomalies.

So what kind of insurance do you have then? If it’s American presumably it’s some kind of private care, and they are often more generous than the ‘gesetzlich’ insurances ( my friend who was privately insured automatically got a private room instead of one with two beds, for example).

One thing I will say is that German healthcare is technically way better than in the UK, but there is far more responsibility on the individual to arrange where to go and what to do. So you need to be looking yourself at all the local hospitals and look for reviews, go to open evenings, ask searching questions about their c-section or epidural or water birth rate, depending on what you prefer. That’s why recommendations from an international women’s club would be helpful.

You need to be looking for a good Kinderarzt already, there are multiple tests (Untersuchungen) throughout childhood, and the U1 is straight after birth in hospital, the U2 is at 6 days if I recall, so you need to arrange who will do that if you’re out of hospital already. Our Kinderarzt came to do a home visit (which is otherwise very unusual for German doctors).

best of luck with it all, and do stay in touch on the thread if you need any more help.

Missingpotatocroquettes · 10/04/2024 14:04

@LadyGreySpillsTheTea hi, I'm sorry I never saw your post!! That is all very helpful advice, thank you.

To answer questions, the largest city I'm close to is Nuremberg.

My ob is not at a hospital, it's just one doctor with his own practice. I had my first appointment last week, it wasn't until 11 weeks because they were closed for three of weeks. All was fine though, thankfully. Baby was wriggling around and I have another appointment in two weeks.

My insurance is through the US army so tricare. The army clinic just gave me a referral to a German OB and then I had to contact them to make the appointment. I will double check everything our insurance includes, I think I get extra dental appointments though and a breast pump for free.

I already have another referral to the hospital where I'll give birth at. I did get to choose but honestly there's not much choice because we're quite out of the way. From everything I've heard and researched, it is a good hospital and they do have a nicu. Unfortunately, no option for home birth because it is not allowed in government housing. Obviously, if I accidentally gave birth at home I wouldn't get in trouble but we can't plan for it.

I don't think I have to worry about finding a kinderarzt because they can then go to the army clinic for all those tests.

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LadyGreySpillsTheTea · 11/04/2024 09:17

Hi Missing, thanks for the reply. Honestly, if you're US military then I have no idea what part of the German system applies to you and what doesn't. You really need to talk to other US army mums about their experience - maybe they have their own forum, or are members of the International Women's Club too. Would you consider paying for an English-speaking doula who knows the system and can guide you through it and advocate for you in hospital, for example?

Do you have a health card that you present for each visit (this is standard), or do you get an invoice that you have to pay and get that reimbursed by your own insurance?

It's pretty normal for your regular OB to be in private practice rather than in a hospital. Some OBs offer the high definition (anomaly) scan at 20 weeks themselves, others don't and refer you on to a specialist practice.

Another really useful service offered by standard German healthcare is family support after a birth, so if your partner has to work in the 10 days after the birth, an agency worker will come to your house to care for you and the baby because you're supposed to be recovering in that period. Same applies if you have older children and are ill - you can apply for someone to come and look after them, funded by the insurance. I'm not sure if your insurance will cover that though.

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