Re: new to Germany, looking for advice. Karlruhe
Verfasst: 19.01.2012, 21:59
Hi,
I'm also not in KA but in Heidelberg, but still hope I can answer you some questions.
I think most important for you:
- do antenatal care with a midwife, they usually have more time for you and probably will skip lots of things a gynecologist would do (i.e. monitoring during the last trimester, internals...)
- for having a homebirth you usually need to book a midwife rather early because they only do 3-4 homebirths/month so they might well be booked out.
- many German hospitals try to encourage a natural birth (or at least they pretend to do so). Usually there are information evenings for pregnant ladies so you can take a look at the hospital and the delivery rooms. In Germany a midwife has to attend to a birth (by law), a doctor needn't, so it's possible you won't see a doctor. If you have private health insurance you are likely to see a doctor though.
- you definitely need a midwife to look after you after the birth. Usually you stay in hospital for max. 4 days, after that a mw will come to your house to look if everything is going ok
Good luck with your pregnancy and everything!
by the way, our move to Germany from England was horrible...
I'm also not in KA but in Heidelberg, but still hope I can answer you some questions.
I think most important for you:
- do antenatal care with a midwife, they usually have more time for you and probably will skip lots of things a gynecologist would do (i.e. monitoring during the last trimester, internals...)
- for having a homebirth you usually need to book a midwife rather early because they only do 3-4 homebirths/month so they might well be booked out.
- many German hospitals try to encourage a natural birth (or at least they pretend to do so). Usually there are information evenings for pregnant ladies so you can take a look at the hospital and the delivery rooms. In Germany a midwife has to attend to a birth (by law), a doctor needn't, so it's possible you won't see a doctor. If you have private health insurance you are likely to see a doctor though.
- you definitely need a midwife to look after you after the birth. Usually you stay in hospital for max. 4 days, after that a mw will come to your house to look if everything is going ok
Good luck with your pregnancy and everything!
by the way, our move to Germany from England was horrible...