You are receiving this brochure in order to gain more knowledge about the coming procedures and facilities you will have to deal with as parent(s). Besides giving you an overall picture about what you can expect during your pregnancy, we also provide information about the birth itself and the period in the hospital afterwards.

Information for parents-to-be

During the pregnancy it is important to arrange the following matters for the days after giving birth.

Maternity care

It is important that the maternity nurse visits you at home every day. She will help you to look after and take care of your baby, performs checks and – if required – will help you with light household chores. Register with one of the maternity nursing organizations early in pregnancy. You can contact your health insurance for more information.

Midwives are responsible for the care in pregnancy, during labor and post-partum.
It is important to sign up at a midwifery care practice (“primary care practice”) in your environment. The primary care midwives are responsible for the obstetric care up until six weeks post-partum. If your pregnancy checks are being performed in the hospital for a medical reason, signing up with a primary care practice is still important.

Giving birth at home or in the hospital

Becoming a mother is a very profound experience, regardless of this being your first, second or next child. Giving birth remains a special and intimate event. For this reason, many women prefer to give birth to their baby in a familiar environment, such as their homes. There may be personal or medical reasons, that make you feel more comfortable in the hospital. It is possible to have a hospital birth with your own midwife, if she is attached to the obstetric collaboration: Verloskundig Samenwerkingsverband Reinier. If, during the course of your pregnancy, you receive care in the hospital for some medical condition, you will give birth in hospital.

You can find more information about our mother and child center as well as an overview of midwives in our area on our website: www.reinierdegraaf.nl.

Pay attention to the following
If you are expecting to have a short-stay hospital birth (called ‘poliklinisch bevallen’ in Dutch), with the assistance of your own midwife, make sure you have a ‘patiëntenpas’, a pass made at the Patient Registration counter in the main hall, before the baby is due.

Costs and insurance

Your insurance policy will tell you which charges can be claimed from the insurance company.
There are different charges for:

• Short-stay hospital birth (‘poliklinische bevalling’)
• Hospital birth for medical reasons
• Hospitalization during pregnancy
• Own contribution for hospitalization after the birth.

The care you are receiving from your midwife, usually won’t affect your deductible excess.

It may be the case that you’ll have to be admitted due to medical reasons after giving birth. Your child can stay with you, on condition of good health. A rate is charged a day, called ‘Gezonde Zuigeling’ which would translate to ‘Healthy baby’ at your insurance policy, this won’t affect your deductible excess. Costs for your children are excluded from deductible excess.

If your child has to be admitted to hospital after childbirth, you can stay at the department ‘Neonatologie’ to spend the night to be close to your child, this is only the case if there’s enough space available and if your own health allows this. A rate is charged a day, called ‘Gezonde Moeder’ which would be translated to ‘Healthy Mother’ at your insurance policy. This rate is completely covered by your insurance policy, but does affect your deductible excess. If you don’t want this to be the case, you can stay with your baby during the day, but sleep at home during the night. In this case you have to make sure the midwife will check on you at home. If you do want to stay with your baby, the maternity care will be provided in the hospital by Careyn. This is for a maximum of 8 days, if indicated, this can be extended by one or two days.

The amount of days you or your child will stay at our hospital, will be deducted from the amount of days or hours of maternity care, that you are entitled to at home.

Staying child

Did you give birth recently and are you staying in our hospital because of a treatment you’re being admitted to? If that is the case we give you the opportunity, in discussion with your doctor, that the baby can stay with you during this admission. We’d like to explain who’s responsible for taking care and or/ medical care of your baby.
The medical care of your baby during your stay at our hospital and during the postpartum period (the first 10 days after childbirth) is under the responsibility of the doctor.

For more information, please contact the patient administration: 015 - 260 37 94.

Note
Don’t forget to register your baby after birth with your health insurance company. When you report the birth of your baby at the municipal office you will receive a social security number (“BSN-nummer”), which is required for application at the health insurance company.

A proper preparation

Even though you might be planning to have your baby at home, just to be on the safe side you should allow for unexpected (medical or personal) developments which might necessitate you going to hospital. In that case, being prepared will help make your stay in hospital more pleasant. There are many things you can arrange and organize in advance. When you are admitted to hospital, it is useful if the medical staff has various contact information for you. The accessibility of your partner is the most important, these sorts of things should be arranged in advance.

Have you packed your bag? You’ll be glad you did!

We encourage you to pack your bag in advance with all the necessities you’re going to need in hospital. Doing this will make it less likely that you forget something of importance.

What you should think of

• Pregnancy card given by your family doctor or the midwife
• Health care insurance card and ‘patiëntenpas’, given to you at the Patient Registration
• Proof of identity
• Diet instructions and medication
• Toiletries
• Sufficient nightdresses or T-shirts (and a T-shirt for the birth itself), warm socks and plenty of underwear
• Bathrobe and slippers
• If so desired: camera, your mobile phone
• Something to read, some sweets or snacks
• Baby clothes (romper, shirt, pants, coverall, hat, coat, socks and blanket)
• For reasons of security, it would be better to leave jewelry, money and other valuables at home.

Possible examinations of you and your child

It is possible that certain tests will need to be carried out during the pregnancy or around the birth. You might need to have an ultrasound scan (sometimes called an “echo”). With the aid of sound waves, your baby can be measured and the placenta can be located. A picture will be visible on a TV screen, so you and your partner can see it as well.
If it is necessary to check the baby's heartbeat, a CTG examination will be carried out to monitor the fetal heart rhythm and the uterine activity. You will be able to hear the baby's heart beating. Ultrasound scans and CTG examinations are non-invasive, safe and painless. Both tests might be performed during a regular pregnancy check or during a short admission on our ‘daycare’ department.

Participating in scientific research

In the hospital, there are various ongoing scientific researches. With the results of these researches, we hope to improve the quality and the care for mother and child in the future. When you are under the supervision of the gynecologist during the pregnancy or when you are giving birth, you might be eligible for participation in one of the researches. Your permission for participation will then be requested. Your participation would be appreciated.

It's happening…

During your pregnancy you will have arranged with the midwife, doctor or gynecologist when and how you should get in touch.
Below are some guidelines so that you know when to get in touch with them:

• After an hour of contractions that occur every five minutes and last about one minute;
• Once your waters have broken;
• If you have any vaginal bleeding;
• If the baby’s movements are suddenly reduced
• If you have any doubts or worries. At that moment you can discuss with them whether it is necessary to come to the hospital.

Care by a primary care midwife

If your pregnancy is being monitored by your primary care midwife, this is the person you should contact. When appropriate, she will get in touch with the delivery room to report that you are on your way to hospital.

Hospital care

If your pregnancy is being monitored by a gynecologist, you should follow the instructions he or she gives you and/or the guidelines above. If necessary you can phone the Obstetrics Department yourself on 015 - 260 33 30 to discuss if coming to the hospital is appropriate at that point.

The birth

On arrival at the hospital, please report to the Reception Desk. Outside the hospital are wheelchairs available. It might be wise to take a Euro coin with you for this. You can temporarily park your car at the ‘Kiss and Ride’ zone. Your partner accompanies you to the ward. After the pregnant woman is settled at the mother and child center, the car may be parked in the garage. Depending on the situation you will be admitted to either the daycare center or the delivery room.

A meal for your partner

During the delivery your partner can be served a free meal. The days after the partner can use a payed meal.

Present during delivery

When you are in labor, and during the birth an obstetric nurse of maternity care provider will help you, together with one of the doctors and/ or hospital midwives. Also student midwifes and obstetric nurses or doctors in training might be there. We will ask your permission for this.

Placenta

After the birth your placenta (the afterbirth) will either be destroyed, used for research, or you can take it with you.

After the birth

When the baby is born, you and your partner will have some time alone with the baby in the delivery room. You can go home from the delivery room or you’ll be transferred to the maternity ward. In the maternity ward you will have your own room. The baby will stay with you, unless the medical situation of the baby doesn’t allow for this. If the baby needs to go to the neonatal unit temporarily, we’ll try to have mother and baby together as soon as possible.

Visiting hours department mother and child

For the current visiting hours it is best to check our website, www.reinierdegraaf.nl or ask the medical staff.

Neonatal unit

Your baby might need admission on the neonatal unit for various reasons. For example, when your baby is born too early or if its birth weight is too low. The baby can be given the special care it needs at the neonatal unit. Our hospital works from the view of Family Centered Care, where we strive to keep the child and parents as close to each other as possible. You will be actively involved in the care for your child. As a parent, you are welcome to be with you child 24/7.

Breast-feeding or bottle?

Choosing whether to breastfeed or formula feed your baby is one of the things to think about in the pregnancy. Whatever you decide is completely up to you. Nurses at the delivery room, maternity ward and neonatal care unit will help you with breastfeeding, using a breast pump or preparing formula. During office hours, a lactation consultant is available for a specialized advice. If you chose formula feeding the hospital has Nutrition 1. If you prefer another brand, you can purchase this at your local supermarket or drugstore and take this with you. You can also bring your own bottle and cleaning brush to let your baby get used to his/her bottle.

For more information on breastfeeding and bottle-feeding, check our website: www.reinierdegraaf.nl.

Prenatal visit to lactation consultant

In some cases we offer individual prenatal support by one of our lactation consultants. We can provide information on how to arrange this on your demand.

Registering the birth

The birth of your baby will need to be entered in the Register [Burgerlijke Stand] at Delft Town Hall within three days of the birth. Saturday and Sunday are not counted in these three days. You receive a birth certificate from the hospital, take this with you to the Register, your ID and, a marriage booklet [‘trouwboekje’] or certificate of acknowledgement. You can contact the ‘Klant Contact Centrum’ at Stationsplein 1 Delft. Be sure to make an appointment at www.delft.nl. In some cases it is possible to register the birth online.

How long will you stay in hospital

Unless there is a special reason for you to stay in hospital after the birth, you will normally be able to go back home within a few hours. This is what we call a short-stay birth or ‘poliklinische bevalling’. If you have a medical birth, the actual period of time of your stay will depend on a variety of circumstances. The medical staff will discuss a plan with you.

Going back home

If it is no longer medically necessary, you will be discharged. This can be during the day, evening and night.

You are discharged;
From the delivery rooms, within four hours after delivery, when there is no medical indication for longer stay
Or;
from the maternity ward, after the necessary time of observation .
Time of discharge at the maternity ward in the morning is between 09.30 AM and 10.00 AM.

Before you are discharged, you must ensure that your midwife knows that you are leaving hospital. It is also important to notify the home nursing association (“kraamzorg”) in advance of the date and time that you expect to be home. When you leave the hospital you will be given written notes to be passed on to the midwife and maternity nurse. If necessary, you will get an appointment for a check six weeks post-partum.

Registration

After being rendered anonymous, all data relating to mother, baby, and the birth are sent to the National Obstetrics Register, which is a part of the National Information Centre for the Health-care Sector [Stichting Informatiecentrum voor de Gezondheidszorg, SIG] for the purposes of quality control. This quality control program was set up on the initiative of the Delft Gynecologist Partnership.

Having a baby, how it works in the Netherlands

The link below provides a clear explanation, in 4 different languages

English	https://www.degynaecoloog.nl/informatiefilms/having-a-baby-in-the-netherlands/
Arabic	https://www.degynaecoloog.nl/informatiefilms/?????-???-??-??????/
Polish and Turkish	https://www.kennisnetgeboortezorg.nl/een-baby-krijgen-hoe-en-wat-in-vijf-talen/

Important telephone numbers

Reinier de Graaf Gasthuis 015 - 260 30 60
Maternity ward 015 - 260 35 35
Urgency or discomfort during pregnancy 015 - 260 33 30
Start of labor 015 - 260 32 30