(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-27 13:13

HOSPITAL VS HOME?

As it turned out, complications meant a home birth was out of the question and I was induced in hospital on April 27 with an opiate-based pain relief available at the touch of a button.

Delirious for much of the experience, my most abiding memory is screaming at my journalist partner to put away his notebook just before baby Oscar arrived at 9.27 p.m., weighing 4 kgs.

Most of the women from my birth preparation class had a more Dutch experience: none were offered pain relief and one laboured at home for hours despite repeated calls to the midwife, who turned up less than an hour before the arrival of baby Kaya.

I must admit the Dutch brainwashing left me a bit disappointed I didn't have a chance to put my months of yoga practice and breathing exercises to good use in a natural birth.

But questions are now being asked about whether the country's philosophy increases risks during birth.

"Giving birth at home, a unique Dutch tradition, should not be a goal in itself. What really matters is a good result of the pregnancy for mother and child," Jan Nijhuis, Maastricht professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, wrote recently.

He argued that births should be centralised in about 30 to 50 maternity hospitals, staffed around the clock by gynaecologists, anaesthetists and other specialists.

Gynaecologists are also considering a new guideline that would give pregnant women the right to pain relief in hospitals, something they are currently often denied because anaesthetists are not on duty at night or because it is not seen as medically necessary during labour.

Petra de Bruin, the birth assistant or doula who ran my prenatal class, says she would like it to be easier to get pain relief, but defends the Netherlands' overall philosophy.

"It would be a shame to lose our Dutch system and treat birth in a medical way as if it is a disease. I think it is good to think of it as a natural process," she said.

One element of the Dutch system is universally supported -- the 'kraamzorg' or maternity nurse who offers after-birth care. David Cameron, leader of Britain's opposition Conservatives, is so impressed he wants to introduce similar nurses there.

Mine turned up just a few hours after we got home from hospital and set to work making dinner and teaching me and my partner how to swaddle Oscar to help him sleep.

For the next week, she did daily health checks on both of us, helped me breastfeed, and taught us how to bathe the baby and put him to sleep -- on his back by the window to prevent cot death and jaundice -- among dozens of other practical tips.

It was great to be cared for at home rather than in hospital and the nurse gave me such confidence. Perhaps, if I decide to have another baby, I'll go Dutch.

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