A week or so ago, Markus and I went and took a tour of the maternity ward at the hospital in Weiden. It was nice, but I do have just a few reservations, but I think I can get over them quickly.
To start off with, we went straight into the birthing areas. They have two birthing rooms, which have different things to either help you get fully dilated, or get more comfy while you're pushing...Ok, too much info for the guys out there...sorry. All in all, I really liked the rooms. They have a separate room with a tub that you can use to just help relax you through the contractions, or you can give birth in it. Pretty cool.
Another nice aspect is that, if need be (cross your fingers that I don't need it), the c-section room is right next to the birthing rooms, so in an emergency, little girl will be out in about 3-7 minutes. Not bad.
What is also nice is that new mothers can stay for 3 or 4 days (it might even be longer). It isn't like in the US where they try to get you out ASAP. Also after a c-section, you stay there for 7-10 days...a week is the minimum though.
We were then taken to the baby room. You can, of course, keep your baby in your room, or if you need to sleep, you can give your baby to the nice ladies and they'll bring her in when she needs to be fed.
Now on to the part that I didn't really like. The patient rooms. There are 6 or 7 patient rooms with 2 beds and then 1 or 2 family rooms. The family room is what I would really like to get. There is room for Markus to spend the night too, and a nice big couch...it costs a bit more each night, 45 Euro, but I think it would be well worth it! These rooms I liked. The other patient rooms...not so much. They are pretty small, and have two beds in them. That is fine. My problem is that there aren't any curtains between the beds.
My mother-in-law, bless her heart, is trying to convince me that this is such a wonderful thing since you can talk with the other ladies and that, in and of itself, is worth having the double room. I keep telling her that is great for her, but not for me. And since little girl is coming in September (9 months after Christmas, I know) there are loads of other pregnant ladies in Weiden who are going to be giving birth at around the same time. So, if there are lots of women, then instead of just having 2 beds in the room, there could be 3. Great, making the small room even smaller. And then I heard that they don't really open the windows, so it can get super stuffy in there...and then with 3 ladies and 3 babies...I think that I'm just freaking myself out more than how it really will be. Time will tell....
However, I must say, after chatting with a few friends who have given birth in the UK/Ireland, I'm pretty happy about the situation here in Germany. One of my friends was in a room with 9 other women...good lord. And then the stories from mom when she gave birth in the US to Matt and I...hmmm...thinking about it, it won't be so bad. I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed though that I get one of those family rooms...
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Did you get a chance to ask about c-section and Darm-schnitt rates at the hospital? I think Germany has gotten much beeter in the past twen years, but their darmschnitt rates were outrageous! That seemed to be the motivation for the doctor that developed the epi-no.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget, if you feel great after the birth, you can always go home and rest there with the midwife stopping by eavery day for the first ten days or so (basically, they just come until you don't need them anymore). Some people, I'm sure, thought I was nuts or some kind of super woman for doing that, but it was not the case. I had proseco in the fridge and was waiting to toast to our girl! But really, it was wonderful to sleep in my own bed with my husband that night. Well, we didn't actually sleep much, but we stayed awake together.