Deliver where?
In the Netherlands you can usually choose yourself if you want to deliver at home or in hospital. Investigation teaches us that giving birth at home is safe provided a well considered assessment has been made by the midwife.
The most important matter is that you feel at ease and are able to relax as much as possible.
The fact is that relaxation is very important to make the delivery proceed smoothly. Some women are able to do this best at home, others in hospital. This is different for each woman.
The choice regarding the place you prefer to deliver does not always have to be made during your pregnancy, but can also be made at the moment the delivery has started. It may feel good to make this choice the moment you have contractions, because you then feel if it is still comfortable to change location or to stay at home. If it is not your first delivery, the dilation may proceed quickly. If the dilation proceeds too fast, it may be that the midwife decides not to leave home anymore.
However, we suggest to think about the various options before delivery starts.
If you consider delivering at home, discuss this with us, so that we both can see if this option is sensible and possible as well.
Reasons for not delivering at home are, amongst others:
- Your living circumstances do not allow this (e.g. flat without elevator, winding staircase, bedroom being too small)
- Too much loss of blood during previous delivery and/or placenta which did not release spontaneously
- Various other problems in connection with (a) previous delivery(ies)
- Your BMI (combination length/weight) is too high
Also during delivery situations may occur through which we have to move to the hospital. This can happen during dilatation, but also during pushing or after the birth of the baby.
In case you have to or wish to deliver in hospital, we closely work together with HMC Westeinde (The Hague), the Haga Hospital, (The Hague) and the Langeland Hospital (Zoetermeer). Within our region these three hospitals can be reached easily and fast under almost all circumstances. If you want to deliver in hospital without a medical reason, we call this an outpatient delivery. We guide outpatient deliveries the same way as we would do at home. Keep in mind that there might be costs involved in an outpatient delivery. Consult your insurance company about this. It sometimes happens that the hospital of your preference is fully occupied. In that case we choose one of the other hospitals mentioned above.