As this pregnancy has progressed it's been interesting to find out more and more how the Dutch handle births. They pretty much send you home from the hospital ASAP. As long as all goes well with the labor and delivery, you are usually headed home within hours of giving birth. Because of this you receive some help at home the first week after your baby is born. A kraamzorg, basically a nurse, comes in and her prime responsibility is to take care of the mother and baby. The kraamzorg comes to your home for 4-6 hours a day for about a week after the birth of your baby. They help you, give you advice, and will do some light housework for you. So, when in Holland do as the Dutch, right? So, we've arranged for a kraamzorg to come into our home after our baby girl arrives. Two weeks ago I spoke to one of the coordinators for the kraamzorg to see what I can expect. I was told to go purchase this:
It's called a kraam pakket. Since we don't have Dutch insurance it wasn't automatically sent to us. Inside the box there are different items to be used after or even during the birth of the baby. There's a clamp for the umbilical cord and alcohol to be used on the umbilical stump. There are several mattress protectors - just in case we end up with a home birth! :) Exciting stuff. I was also informed on the phone to go pick up a bunch of these: 
What is it? Well, we have 4 of them and they are used to raise our bed. You see, we want to make sure that it's comfortable and convenient for the kraamzorg to take care of me while I'm resting in bed. So, they call these blocks (I was envisioning cinder blocks from my college days when we'd hike up our beds) to raise the bed to 70 cm high. Kind of interesting. Never mind I'm recovering from delivering a baby and will have to hike myself in and out of the 70 cm high bed. It should be interesting.... So, the Dutch way has some definite differences from the American way of having a baby. I've heard many positive experiences and a few not so positive experiences. Hopefully ours will turn out to be a positive experience. Either way, it is definitely going to be a once in a lifetime experience! :)
It's called a kraam pakket. Since we don't have Dutch insurance it wasn't automatically sent to us. Inside the box there are different items to be used after or even during the birth of the baby. There's a clamp for the umbilical cord and alcohol to be used on the umbilical stump. There are several mattress protectors - just in case we end up with a home birth! :) Exciting stuff. I was also informed on the phone to go pick up a bunch of these: 
What is it? Well, we have 4 of them and they are used to raise our bed. You see, we want to make sure that it's comfortable and convenient for the kraamzorg to take care of me while I'm resting in bed. So, they call these blocks (I was envisioning cinder blocks from my college days when we'd hike up our beds) to raise the bed to 70 cm high. Kind of interesting. Never mind I'm recovering from delivering a baby and will have to hike myself in and out of the 70 cm high bed. It should be interesting.... So, the Dutch way has some definite differences from the American way of having a baby. I've heard many positive experiences and a few not so positive experiences. Hopefully ours will turn out to be a positive experience. Either way, it is definitely going to be a once in a lifetime experience! :) 
4 comments:
Once in a lifetime?....unless you get pregnant again 6 weeks after the baby is born and then after the baby just before you head home! ;) Good luck!
I'd be willing to share my year - since it doesn't seem like I'm in control of this anyways...
Hmm...I have to admit I'm a little nervous for you! But I'm sure they're very capable over there and things will go fine, even though they don't do things the same way we do!
So excited to see this cute little one (and her big sister too!)
Speaking as one who had a positive birthing experience--I have gone back for seconds! You'll have a wonderful experience, no doubt--even if it doesn't quite go according to your plan. You'll end up with a beautiful baby girl in the end. Different is not a bad thing, it's just different :) Just think of the fun stories you'll be able to tell oneday!
Oh my goodness...how interesting and how brave you are!! ;-) I remember being scared to have a baby outside of Utah and it all went fine and you'll be great over there. We sure can't wait to see pictures of her!!! Good luck with everything...and don't forget to take a running leap to get up to your bed!!!!
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