You can prepare for childbirth in different ways: buy things for the baby, go to courses for expectant mothers and do yoga, swim in the pool. If the birth is for the first time, it will be useful to find out what awaits you in the maternity hospital and how this institution works.
Instructions
Step 1
Choose a maternity hospital in advance, even if you do not intend to conclude a contract with an insurance company. Make a list of nearby maternity hospitals, read reviews on special forums. You should not take risks and choose a maternity hospital that is far from you. Unless you plan to go to it in advance (by contract) or settle nearby. After all, childbirth is a very unpredictable process, like the situation on the road.
Step 2
You can come to the maternity hospital with contractions on your own by car, or you can call an ambulance. In the second case, if you do not have a contract with a certain maternity hospital, the ambulance team can take you to that institution, which will be contacted and there will be empty seats. You, of course, have the right to ask for the desired place, but no one will give guarantees that you will get there.
Step 3
Take a bag with the necessary things and documents with you. Put rubber slippers, socks, a mobile phone, a bottle of clean drinking water in the bag. Put in a transparent folder for documents: passport and its copy, exchange card, insurance policy and its copy, birth certificate or contract for childbirth. If you are giving birth under a contract, call your doctor before going to the hospital.
Step 4
Upon admission to the hospital, you will be met at the emergency room. If you are brought to the ambulance, you will not have to sit in the queue (if there is one). You will be handed over to nurses immediately. And those who came by themselves sometimes have to wait - it all depends on the hospital and the level of its workload. In the emergency room, you will be examined by the doctor on duty (or your personal gynecologist) and, if he confirms that labor has really begun, the nurses will draw up all the necessary documents. You will be given a nightgown and a dressing gown, you can leave your things to the attendant or leave them at the post - they will be handed over later. You will be given all the obligatory hygiene procedures (perineal shaving, enema), an ultrasound scan and an electrocardiogram may be prescribed.
Step 5
After all the procedures, you will be taken to the rodblock. You will wait "in the wings" either in the prenatal ward or directly in the delivery box - it all depends on the equipment of the maternity hospital. You can get into a single box, or you can get several neighbors. If the workload of the hospital on this day is high, it is possible that you will even have to sit in the corridor, unless, of course, you have a contract for childbirth that provides for comfortable conditions. During the period of contractions, you will be given a sensor to monitor them, so you will have to lie down. If the hospital has more modern equipment, you may be offered to wait out the contractions on a fitball or even in a small pool.
Step 6
The midwife and the doctor who will take over the childbirth will come to you to meet you, to do the necessary procedures. If you would like to have an epidural, an anesthesiologist will be invited to your office. In the case of a normal course of childbirth, no specialists look at the woman anymore. No one will sit with you, which is why the presence of a loved one is so important - massage your back, give a drink, call a doctor. If you are lying in the delivery room, at the time of the birth itself, the bed is transformed into a chair. And if you were in the prenatal ward, you will have to go to the delivery room on your own.
Step 7
After giving birth, the baby will be examined by a neonatologist, who will do all the necessary procedures, and a doctor will work with you at this time. After that, the baby will be attached to the breast and will give you time to enjoy the first minutes of communication. An hour after giving birth, if all is well (there is no bleeding in the woman in labor), you and your baby (if the maternity hospital practices the joint stay of the mother and child) will be transferred to the postpartum ward, where you will rest. Stay in a maternity hospital for normal childbirth is from 3 to 5 days, after a cesarean section up to 7 days.
Step 8
If you have a planned or emergency cesarean section, you will pass the delivery room and immediately go to the operating room. Relatives are not allowed there, but after birth, dad will be allowed to hold the baby.
