{"id":8075,"date":"2016-04-17T12:18:05","date_gmt":"2016-04-17T11:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/"},"modified":"2016-04-17T12:18:05","modified_gmt":"2016-04-17T11:18:05","slug":"a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A Slovenian woman&#8217;s experience with pregnancy and childbirth in the Netherlands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>I am sharing the experience of a Slovenian woman who moved to the Netherlands and &#8220;survived&#8221; her first pregnancy and birth there. I am very grateful to her for sharing this story with me and allowing me to publish it. This allows me to present their midwifery practice to all of you through the eyes of a layperson. There, home births are &#8220;normal&#8221; and hospital births are common for those who encounter complications during pregnancy.   <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Looking at the positive test, we were both a bit surprised. Of course, we had planned it somehow, but no one imagined it would happen so quickly! What now?  <\/p>\n<p>Since I live in the Netherlands, I had to figure out how prenatal care works here. Luckily, I have friends who have already given birth here and they were helpful. I filled out a form on the midwifery clinic&#8217;s website and waited for them to call me back. At the first check-up, a friendly midwife explained that here, all low-risk and uncomplicated pregnancies are managed by midwives. Right at the start, they told me I could choose between a home birth or a hospital birth.    <\/p>\n<p>I had my first check-up around the 7th week, where they confirmed the pregnancy and scheduled me for around the 11th week to determine the due date. Standard ultrasound scans are also the domain of midwives here. Of course, you also get pictures that you can later stick on the fridge and proudly show everyone your little speck!&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p>My midwives (I still call them that, even though my last check-up with them is in a week) were truly great. Appointments were supposed to last 15 minutes, but they always took the time to explain things further if necessary. A standard check-up consisted of measuring the belly (specifically the size of the uterus from the pubic bone to the top), listening to the heartbeat with a Doppler, and palpating the uterus and, later in pregnancy, the baby&#8217;s position. They also measured my blood pressure and checked my iron levels. Most of the time, however, was dedicated to talking. We talked about breastfeeding, how the pregnancy was going, and how I was feeling. At first, I was somewhat distrustful because I was used to a slightly different attitude from medical staff in Slovenia. It&#8217;s not that I didn&#8217;t have a good doctor and gynecologist, but there, everything was always perfectly planned down to the minute and I always forgot to ask things I was interested in. Here, I always came armed with a list of questions, which usually led to new questions, and they always had answers for me and managed to calm me down perfectly if I felt something was wrong.       <\/p>\n<p>When my pregnancy started to get complicated in the 31st week and I was referred to the hospital, I really started to miss those conversations and especially the feeling that someone had a really good overview of me, the little being inside me, and the pregnancy in general. I missed that personal relationship I managed to establish with &#8216;my&#8217; midwives. As for the hospital experience, I don&#8217;t even know what to say. The nurses were (mostly) wonderful and worked very hard to make me as comfortable as possible. The doctors were kind and the level of expertise was truly high, but in the end, that didn&#8217;t help much because I basically saw a different doctor every day, which slowly became exhausting. I started to get the feeling that this pregnancy would last forever, even though I had a scheduled induction in the 37th week. The endless check-ups, anticipating complications, and especially the lack of that personal relationship was truly draining. I was most sad because I knew that none of my midwives, whom I knew and trusted, would be there for the birth.       <\/p>\n<p>As for the birth experience&#8230; The birth was fast, induced with the help of synthetic oxytocin, and I already hope that the next birth will take place without it. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<p>At the end of this &#8216;story&#8217;, there is of course a happy ending. In mid-March, a healthy baby boy was born, who is already giving me and his father gray hair and bringing an immense amount of joy.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>The boy was born in April 2013, and now he is already joined by a little brother, born in February 2015 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>Read more: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/midwifery-in-northern-norway-an-experience-from-a-freestanding-midwifery-unit\/\">Midwifery in Northern Norway \u2013 an experience from an independent midwifery unit<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am sharing the experience of a Slovenian woman who moved to the Netherlands and &#8220;survived&#8221; her first pregnancy and birth there. I am very grateful to her for sharing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1206,467],"tags":[1208,1262,1231,1275,1350,1219,1328,1351],"class_list":["post-8075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-birth-stories","category-uncategorized","tag-birth","tag-experiences","tag-family","tag-mother-3","tag-netherlands","tag-pregnancy","tag-pregnant-woman","tag-slovenian-woman"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Slovenian woman&#039;s experience with pregnancy and childbirth in the Netherlands - Moja babica<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Slovenian woman&#039;s experience with pregnancy and childbirth in the Netherlands - Moja babica\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am sharing the experience of a Slovenian woman who moved to the Netherlands and &#8220;survived&#8221; her first pregnancy and birth there. I am very grateful to her for sharing...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moja babica\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-17T11:18:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/12992230_10154204232782566_279439950_n.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Moja Babica\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Moja Babica\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Moja Babica\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/46bf75de5eb3b67c0b77225ea1888362\"},\"headline\":\"A Slovenian woman&#8217;s experience with pregnancy and childbirth in the Netherlands\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-17T11:18:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":748,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/12992230_10154204232782566_279439950_n.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"birth\",\"experiences\",\"family\",\"mother\",\"netherlands\",\"pregnancy\",\"pregnant woman\",\"slovenian woman\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Birth stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Slovenian woman's experience with pregnancy and childbirth in the Netherlands - Moja babica\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/12992230_10154204232782566_279439950_n.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-17T11:18:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/46bf75de5eb3b67c0b77225ea1888362\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/12992230_10154204232782566_279439950_n.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/12992230_10154204232782566_279439950_n.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":960},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Slovenian woman&#8217;s experience with pregnancy and childbirth in the Netherlands\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moja babica\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/46bf75de5eb3b67c0b77225ea1888362\",\"name\":\"Moja Babica\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/be893c794d631b03a2b2d6918f203034.jpg?ver=1779826237\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/be893c794d631b03a2b2d6918f203034.jpg?ver=1779826237\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/be893c794d631b03a2b2d6918f203034.jpg?ver=1779826237\",\"caption\":\"Moja Babica\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mojababica.si\\\/en\\\/author\\\/bakica\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Slovenian woman's experience with pregnancy and childbirth in the Netherlands - Moja babica","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Slovenian woman's experience with pregnancy and childbirth in the Netherlands - Moja babica","og_description":"I am sharing the experience of a Slovenian woman who moved to the Netherlands and &#8220;survived&#8221; her first pregnancy and birth there. I am very grateful to her for sharing...","og_url":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/","og_site_name":"Moja babica","article_published_time":"2016-04-17T11:18:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":960,"url":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/12992230_10154204232782566_279439950_n.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Moja Babica","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Moja Babica","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Moja Babica","@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/46bf75de5eb3b67c0b77225ea1888362"},"headline":"A Slovenian woman&#8217;s experience with pregnancy and childbirth in the Netherlands","datePublished":"2016-04-17T11:18:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/"},"wordCount":748,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/12992230_10154204232782566_279439950_n.jpg","keywords":["birth","experiences","family","mother","netherlands","pregnancy","pregnant woman","slovenian woman"],"articleSection":["Birth stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/","url":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/","name":"A Slovenian woman's experience with pregnancy and childbirth in the Netherlands - Moja babica","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/12992230_10154204232782566_279439950_n.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-17T11:18:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/46bf75de5eb3b67c0b77225ea1888362"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/12992230_10154204232782566_279439950_n.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/12992230_10154204232782566_279439950_n.jpg","width":960,"height":960},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/a-slovenian-womans-experience-with-pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-the-netherlands-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Slovenian woman&#8217;s experience with pregnancy and childbirth in the Netherlands"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/","name":"Moja babica","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/46bf75de5eb3b67c0b77225ea1888362","name":"Moja Babica","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/be893c794d631b03a2b2d6918f203034.jpg?ver=1779826237","url":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/be893c794d631b03a2b2d6918f203034.jpg?ver=1779826237","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/be893c794d631b03a2b2d6918f203034.jpg?ver=1779826237","caption":"Moja Babica"},"url":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/author\/bakica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mojababica.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}