I thought some of you may be interested in the whole pregnancy care of The Netherlands. I have only been to the doctor once and this was just an intake appointment. No prodding or looking inside. In fact, in the last 28 weeks I have not once had anything more invasive than allow the mid wife to feel around on my belly. I’ve only taken one urine test and they took a blood sample at 9 weeks. I go to the midwife every 3 weeks where she takes my blood pressure, measures my stomach, finds the heart beat, checks the position of baby, and asks if I have any questions. I’m pretty sure check up appointments in the U.S. look a little different but since this is my first baby I don’t really know. I had an ultrasound at 20 weeks and I will have another ultrasound at 32 weeks. They were able to check all measurements of the baby and development which was very reassuring and high tech.
But like I said in my previous post having babies in The Netherlands is considered very natural and if there were problems or unusual symptoms the care would be escalated.
I don’t have much more to report as everything has been quite normal and in one mid wives’ words a “boring, normal pregnancy is the best pregnancy.” And, I’m still riding my bike. I wondered how this was possible for pregnant women but those grandma seats are much more comfortable than my increasing waddle.
Have kids, must travel 