Why Bevalcentrum Oost?
In the Netherlands, every healthy pregnant woman under the care of a midwife can choose whether they want to give birth at home or in a hospital.
Sometimes you cannot or do not want to give birth at home. Your house may not be suitable due to renovation. Or you might have the feeling you can better relax in the proximity a hospital. By all means, you are welcome in Bevalcentrum Oost.
Home births
Research has shown women labor more easily at home due to the fact that less stress hormones are produced in an intimate, quiet environment. Moreover, home births have shown to increase maternal satisfaction. In the comforts of your home and familiar surroundings, it is easier to relax, and you are free to move around according to your own wishes.
Relaxation during childbirth has a positive effect on the outcome and increases the chance on normal childbirth. Of course, there are always situations where a natural home birth is not possible.
Many people think that hospital births are safer because doctors and medical equipment are nearby. However, this is not correct. The midwife uses the exact same medical equipment at home as in the hospital.
Births at BCO
The BCO provides an alternative to hospital births. The birthing center offers all the freedom and comfort of a home birth, while ensuring that total medical support is standing by just a few steps away. All facilities within the BCO are designed to emphasize the normality of birth.
For example:
- your own midwife is continuously in your presence
- stools, birthing baths and balls are available
- non-institutional furniture such as double beds, large enough for both mother and father
- laughing gas is available for pain relief
- aromatherapy
- a maternity nurse coaches you as needed in childbirth and up to 3 to 5 hours after
- medical equipment is obscured from site, but present when necessary.
The BCO does not accommodate births with medical indications. These clients are transferred to the hospital facilities of the OLVG-Oost.
The first part of the labor process will happen at your own home. Your midwife will lead the birth and performs the first check at home. If the labor process is sufficiently advanced, your midwife will call the BCO to announce your arrival.
The people of your choice will attend the delivery of the baby; you will be assisted by your own midwife and a birthing center maternity nurse.
Difference between hospital births and birthing center
Childbirth in a delivery room of the hospital without medical indication, is called an outpatient childbirth (“poliklinische bevalling”). The advantage of outpatient childbirth is that you do not have to be transferred if a medical intervention is needed; a possible drawback is the medical environment and fewer facilities to give birth normally, such as a baths or nitrous oxide.
Medical interventions
During pregnancy and childbirth there are still reasons for a transfer to the hospital. Due to medical reasons you can be transferred to a clinical midwife or obstetrician. This is called a medical indication. During these deliveries you are often not accompanied by your own midwife. If during labor in the BCO a medical indication will arise, you can still be transferred to the medical delivery rooms of the hospital. From the BCO you will be transported to the medical delivery rooms in the OLVG by a swinging door on the same floor. At this point, the childbirth is under further supervision of the hospital.
Finally
Child birth at the BCO does not have to be pre-arranged. You cannot make a reservation in advance for a (specific) room at our birthing center.
As with outpatient childbirth, if all is well with mother and baby, you will leave the accommodation a few hours after giving birth.
Clients about Bevalcentrum Oost
We have about 130 deliveries a month at Bevalcentrum Oost. A few weeks after giving birth, we ask our clients about their experiences. The average rating we receive for our services is 9.3!
Besides that we also receive a lot of spontaneous ‘thank-you-notes’ and other personal cards. Below we have listed some of the reactions from our clients.
“My nurse … was absolutely amazing so was the whole experience!”
“We felt very welcome and not rushed at all, which was very nice. Thank you.”
“Everything was perfect, thank you very much”