If you have experienced a healthy, normal pregnancy and the delivery proceeds normally, you can choose between a home birth or an outpatient birth (in the hospital or birth center) in the Netherlands. We supervise births at home, at the Sint Franciscus Gasthuis, and at the Sophia Birth Center. To be allowed to give birth at home, your home must meet a number of conditions. Therefore, please discuss this with us so that we can assess whether your home is suitable for a home birth.
It is important to realize that the first part of the dilation period always takes place at home. Depending on the speed of labor, the midwife will signal when it is time to go to the hospital. You are expected to arrange your own transport to the birth center or hospital. If you do not have a car, you can call a taxi. If you wish to have an outpatient delivery, please take into account a personal contribution towards the costs. The amount of your personal contribution depends on your insurance. Should a hospital delivery be necessary due to a medical indication, no personal costs will be charged.
Home
In a familiar environment, you can relax well as a birthing person. This benefits the dilation period. If you choose to give birth at home, we will visit you at home during the dilation phase to closely monitor progress and support you in coping with contractions. Towards the end of dilation, we will remain at home and will start preparing the equipment for the delivery. We will then also call the maternity nurse to assist during the delivery. There are a number of requirements to be able to give birth at home. Delivery may not take place higher than the first floor, and your home must be easily accessible to an ambulance, meaning windows facing the street. If your bed is located higher than the first floor, there must be a lift available that can accommodate a stretcher. Additionally, a maternity kit and baby essentials must be present, and the bed must be elevated (70-80 cm). We assume that our home workspace is neat and hygienic, and that, for example, smoking does not take place inside the house. If these requirements are not met, you will still have to give birth in the hospital at your own expense. Ultimately, the goal is to guide the delivery as well, safely, and responsibly as possible.
Sophia Birth Center
The Sophia Birth Centre is a collaboration between Kraamzorg Rotterdam & Surroundings, Erasmus MC, Verloskundigen Rotterdam West, and our colleagues from Verloskundigen Rotterdam Oost. We will support you during your delivery at the Sophia Birth Centre. A dedicated team of maternity nurses works there, and there is a calm, familiar atmosphere. You can give birth within the walls of the hospital in your own way, with the atmosphere of home. Should the assistance of a gynecologist be required during or after the delivery, you will already be in the hospital and taken to the delivery rooms (on the other side of the corridor). Please be aware that during busy periods at Erasmus MC, it may be necessary to transfer you to another hospital unless it is an emergency. If you have to give birth in the hospital, it is still possible to spend the postpartum period at the Sophia Birth Centre afterwards. You can find more information about the birth centre at Geboortecentrum Sophia.
Outpatient delivery in the hospital
We supervise outpatient deliveries at the Sint Franciscus Gasthuis. You are essentially renting a delivery room there. During the dilation phase, we first visit your home to check on the progress of dilation. We support your delivery in the hospital together with a maternity nurse. If necessary, we consult with the clinical midwife or doctor. If care needs to be taken over, you remain in the same delivery room. It is not necessary to register in advance for a hospital delivery.
The medical birth
If medical problems arise during pregnancy or childbirth, there will be consultation with the gynecologist, and the rest of the care will be taken over by the hospital if necessary. You will then have to give birth in the hospital under the supervision of a doctor or clinical midwife. If the delivery goes well, you can usually go home soon.
