Okay, I was warned that things were "different" here, and I heard horror story after horror story about having a baby in Germany. If this was my first I wouldn't have been so scared because I would know no other kind of care other than what I received here, but I have had 2 children in the States. I don't have much of a choice so I have to deal with what I will receive. Well I've visited my German Dr. twice so far and have nothing to complain about. The care is different, but no worse or better. The Dr and most of the nurses speak very clear English and are very friendly. Dr. Staudlbaur has a very firm and confident handshake and has a sense of humor even when I make jokes in English. So the language barrier is not as big of a deal as I thought it would be. So now onto the "typical" appointment... I arrive they give me a cup, no difference there. I hand over my Mutterpass (Mother Pass) which is a book that I carry around everywhere that is essentially my pregnancy medical records so if I'm somewhere away from my Dr. I have all of the pertinent information with me. It's something the Dr's in the States might want to consider. Then I wait in a waiting room filled with German magazines... at least I can look at the pictures ;) I'm then weighed, blood pressure measured, and my iron level tested... again no difference (except the weight is in kg not pounds). **When I got home I converted the kg to pounds so I could check, but I knew I had lost some weight just by looking at the kg... I dropped more than 1 kg in the 4 weeks** Then I'm done with the nurse. The Dr comes in... looks over my Mutterpass, asks if I have any concerns then I hop on the bed for my ultrasound where he measures 3 things: the baby's head, abdomen, and the umbilical cord. The look on the Dr's face when he measured the head was... well... interesting... his eyes got real wide and he said "this is a big baby". He measured the abdomen, and it was right in line with the head "big baby" he then told me that the baby is measuring the average size of a baby at 34 weeks 5 days, when I'm only 32 weeks 3 days. The baby weighs 5 pounds already!! Then he switched to a 3D ultrasound I wasn't expecting that... sorry, but seeing the baby in 3d is SOOOOO cool. The baby was hiding behind his little hands which made it difficult to get a good look at his face, but you could still see his little chubby cheeks. I didn't think I would care so much about the 3D ultrasound, but I was seriously impressed.
BIG, but cool difference, ultrasounds at EVERY appointment. The Dr didn't listen for the heartbeat with the doppler thingy like they do in the States, but he saw the heart on the ultrasound... that's just as good right. I thought I was done, however the nurse escorted me into another room where she gave me a sexy spandex belt to wear and bring to all my appointments. Then she hooked me up to a fetal heart monitor that monitored the baby's heart rate and contractions for a half hour. I thought to myself, "so that's why he didn't use the doppler." I laid on my left side and rested while I listened to the thub thub thub of the baby's heartbeat. Very thorough I think. I don't think laying on a bed for a half hour would go over well for the fast paced life of an American. I didn't mind though. I felt more at ease that everything was well with the little booger inside me, much more at ease than hearing the heartbeat for 2 seconds like I would've in the States. So again care here is "different" but no better and no worse. The big question is how significant will the differences be when they start doing internal exams, and even bigger when the baby is actually delivered. We will see, but so far I'm feeling much more comfortable about it.
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