Do you want to give birth at home or in the hospital? Or maybe somewhere else? Then discuss that

with your midwife. She can list all the pros and cons with you and, together with you and your partner, see what suits you well. You don't have to commit anything definitively. So if you still want to give birth somewhere else once the contractions have started, you can always decide differently.

Deliver a baby at home

The care you need is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, anywhere. This system of highly qualified service is unique in the world. At home you are in your own environment and you and your partner have more control over the delivery. In this way you determine the circumstances in which you want to give birth and you are in a familiar environment. Dilation will be faster if you feel safe and comfortable.

Delivery in hospital outpatient

An outpatient birth also starts at home. You consult with the midwife about when you go to the hospital. This is usually when the contractions have started well. The midwife usually comes home first and then arranges for you to go to the hospital. You go with your own transport.

One reason to give birth in an outpatient setting is that you may feel more comfortable there. Or maybe you live too small or there are other annoying circumstances that make giving birth at home not ideal.

The advantage of an outpatient birth is that if the help of a gynecologist is necessary during the delivery, you no longer have to be transported to the hospital. If the help of an anesthetist is needed during the delivery, you will be transported to another department if necessary.

The personal contribution for an outpatient birth differs depending on your insurance.

Home birth just as safe

A home birth is safer than a hospital birth if properly selected by the obstetrician. From the research, published in the authoritativeBritish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, it appears that there is no higher infant mortality rate in babies born to women who give birth at home and that there is a lower risk of serious complications than women with a planned delivery in hospital. More than half a million Dutch women took part in the study between 2000 and 2006. From a medical point of view, these women were all able to give birth at home and were supervised by a midwife. During the corona time, there have been many more home deliveries and these figures have remained the same. This again confirms that home birth is safe.

Clinical hospital birth

A delivery under the supervision of a gynaecologist is necessary when there is a medical indication for this. This medical indication is determined by the obstetrician, the obstetrically active general practitioner or the gynaecologist.