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The ultimate Berlin hospital tour



Germans are well known for being well organised and planning things way in advance. For instance, they know where they’re going on vacation and book it a year before or invite to parties like a whole month in advance (some non-German friends of mine have commented like why would they do that, chances are that you forget about it… I know, just don’t ask…). And they get stressed about it, too. Anyway, that has a lot of advantages but it can also get really annoying. And so is the case when looking for a hospital or clinic for the delivery.


I don’t know how it works in other countries or in Latin America. I only know in Colombia, your obgyn will be with you, no matter where you want to give birth. But you’re free to tell me otherwise. In Germany, you are completely free to choose where to give birth. For those very nature related, it can be at home with the midwife. This was not for me just because I didn’t want to even think about the whole mess afterwards and due to the fact, that we decided to stay in the same small apartment we moved in when we came to Berlin. There is also the possibility of going to the so called “Geburtshaus”, birthplaces where also midwifes are in charge of everything. And of course, there are the hospitals/clinics and I think most of the people still prefers them, me included.


Meeting our criteria...


Right after announcing the pregnancy, some German friends asked me if I had already chosen a hospital. And I, in my typical Colombian easygoingness, was like, take it easy dude, isn’t it too early to know all that? Soon I learned that I actually should hurry up in order to get registered in the hospital of my choosing. Not only, because there are actually very popular ones where everybody wants to give birth and because I was having my baby in summer, and that is THE birthing high season in Berlin. Additionally, some hospital have quite an early deadline for registering. We were happy that one of Hubs's colleagues was also searching for an hospital to that time and lent us a special edition of Eltern Magazine with all informations about hospital with birthing stations in Berlin.


In order to know which one would be best for us, we needed to do a hospital touring through Berlin. Most of them offer so called “information evenings” announced on their websites which actually means, only one evening in the whole month and most of them take place at exactly the same time in every hospital. That is not very parent-to-be-friendly, isn’t it? Sometimes only the midwives are in charge of providing informations, sometimes the doctors. So my husband and I had to order our criteria. We wanted one as close as possible from our place and the chosen one must have “all the toys” and by that I mean a full equipped neonatology department. I know one should always stay positive but it’s not bad to be prepared for any eventuality. To that time, I also was so afraid of labor and felt that I wouldn’t be strong enough to push properly, that I didn’t exclude the possibility of a scheduled C-section (more on that in another post), so I needed the doctors at the hospital to give me a certain degree of trust on that. And it should be a real medical labor department, because some of them are also very “nature related”.


So we decided to visit only three of them. Two with neonatology department and one without, the latter following the recommendation of a very good friend of mine who had given birth there. Before visiting them and founding out that it would be one of the most crowded events in the city, we did some research on each of them. We were very surprised as we found out that the most popular one, where allegedly everybody wants to give birth, the Sankt Joseph Krankenhaus in Tempelhof, and actually the closest to our place, had so many bad reviews that we even got a little bit scared and almost decided not to go. But, as you know, people are free to write whatever they want on the internet, so we tried to stay neutral and give it a chance. Fortunately, the other two had better reviews – there was hope.


When you attend an information evening, it is divided in three parts: the clinic team tells you about their work philosophy and methods and roughly what is going to happen after registering for the delivery, a tour of the grounds which is actually reduced to the reception area and the fully equipped labor rooms (C-section is a taboo word but for natural delivery they would almost fulfil all your wishes regarding the most curious birthing artefacts), and a Q&A part.


The first one we visited was the Martin-Luther-Krankenhaus following the advice of my good friend. It was rather a small clinic but a very nice one, almost cozy, for us the best looking and the doctors and midwives gave a good impression. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a neonatology department and in case there would be any complication, the baby would need to be transported to another hospital, so no way! We had to dismiss it.


It's all about chemistry!


Some weeks later the information evening in the two remaining hospital took place on the same day with less than two ours of difference and we were so crazy to attend both of them. Don’t do that, ever! To that time those were the two hospitals with the biggest number of deliveries per year with around two thousand each, which my obgyn was not very fond of.


The first one was the clinic at the Sankt Joseph Krankenhaus, the one with the bad reviews. That place was about to explode! Soon we confirmed our fears. Well, more than fear it was skepticism. Because when looking for a hospital for the delivery, it’s all about chemistry: with the place, with the doctors, with the midwives. And there were lots of signals telling us that we didn’t belong there. The midwives were in charge of most of the event. The only doctor there, a woman, spoke very shortly and when we were allowed to ask questions, mine, about c-section and perineal tear, were practically dismissed as they were “very unpleasant questions that shouldn’t be addressed in this place”. I was so shocked by her rather unprofessional, dry reaction. I think if there is a place and a situation to address those topics and become fully informed about what is going to happen to us and our bodies during labor, it is there, isn’t it? And what is more, there, I realized how little informed many pregnant couples are! When I asked the perineal tear question, two people in the back yelled to the front “what is perineal tear, please?!”. Jeez people! You’re about to give birth! Hubs found the whole thing quite terrible. We just wanted to get out of there!


We were already exhausted but decided to drive to the last hospital in our list, just to get it over with. It was the Vivantes Mutter-Kind-Zentrum Neukölln and the farthermost, about half an hour drive from home by good traffic but at that moment we didn’t care anymore. We were late but we managed to get the most of the important information. The clinic didn’t look as nice as the very first one but they were full equipped and the labor rooms were big and agreeable, most of them with a bathtub for water births and just in front of them there where the operations rooms and the neonatal department.


During this visit we learned that these hospital tours also allow a kind of demographic study of the Berlin population as you are able to see in advance which kind of people visits them and among which part of the population your baby is going to be born. While in the first two hospitals we mostly found seemingly well-educated and middle class couples, in the latter case the meeting was full of either people from different countries, mostly Turkish, and – pardon for this rather political incorrect term - German white trash, something we found kind of funny but also a little worrying. At the end we didn't care because all we wanted was to be well treated and good quality. And this time the doctors, an Obgyn and Pediatrician, were in charge. And as I heard them talking and answering the visitors’ question in such an open, trusting and friendly way, I didn’t have to think twice. We knew that this was our place – and we were so relieved! A week later we went to our last appointment with our prenatal diagnostic doctor who totally reassured us by telling us that that was definitely the best decision. And so was one of the most important baby planning items checked!


Now, I actually wanted to tell this story later, but regarding the place of birth of our second son, the search was thank goodness very easy and simple. By now, we had moved from central Kreuzberg to the east Friedrichshain, practically on the border with Lichtemberg. So, for practical reasons, this time we did not want to go all the way to Neukölln again. I started asking among my neighbors if they could recommend either Vivantes Friedrichshain or Charité Mitte, the only two hospitals that came to my mind in that moment. And this time we were so lucky that on of my neighbors recommended me her midwife, who happened to work at Charité Mitte. Fortunately, she was available to take care of my and my second baby and she really was the best match I so much had wished for for my first son. But that is another story. Long story short, since she worked at Charité Mitte, it was clear, that she would recommend us to register there, what we happily did, since there were chances that she could be on duty when the baby was coming and she, and another very good friend of mine, gave good references about the hospital. She offered to schedule one of our control appointments in the hospital so we could get to know the place and register and we were positively impressed. Although compared to other hospitals we visited before the space looked smaller, it had underwent a refurbishment and looked very modern and new, which we liked a lot. One day when I was in the sixth month of the pregnancy, I cought the most horrible gastrointestinal virus which dehidrated me in less than two hours and I ended up at the delivery station of Charité Mitte, and since they needed to observe that everything was fine with me and the baby before I could go back home, I had to stay a night at the station. It was great. I felt so well treated and cared for. And that was more than enough to be sure that I wanted to give birth there.


So Girls and Boys, the hospital quest is all about feeling good the very moment you plant foot in there and get to speak with the ones who could be in charge of taking care of you and your baby, depending on what are your worries and preferrences. And, dear people, don't shy away from asking all the questions that are important to you! It is the job and duty of the hospital staff to clear your doubts because, at last, your life and that of your baby will be in their hands.


How was it in your case? Did you make a tour? Was it easier or more difficult? Feel free to ask if you have any questions!

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