Nice renovated lobby and the cafe looked fancy (and the doughnuts looked amazing!)
We toured one of the three hospitals we are able to choose from in the area to have our baby. We will tour all three and then decide. Today was tour #1 at HSK. Most of the Americans stationed here do not choose this hospital for whatever reason. It is the only one of the three that has a NICU, so I found it interesting that not many people chose it. The comments we heard were along the line of "it felt more like a hospital", "its just too big", and "it didn't feel comfortable". None of these comments really held any ground with me. I personally think I'd like my hospital to feel like a hospital and the bigger the better, right?
After our tour today, however, I think we left a little turned off. The lobby and cafe were nice, but the rest of the hospital was very old - low ceilings harsh fluorescent lighting, endless hallways of white, very little natural light, and just very old and institutional feeling. Add some flickering fluorescent lights and you'd have the start of a good scary movie scene.
The rooms where we would be after we had the baby - where we'd stay for 1-3 days, seemed very uncomfortable. Not where I'd like to be for 3 days. It was tight and the waiting room outside was much worse.
So, I hold out final judgement until we see all three, but that's the deal with #1 from initial glance. Two other things we'll need to consider are: (1) if we want to pay for a private room so that Jason can spend the night with me it'll be around 150 euros per night at this hospital - ouch! (2) If anything were to go wrong and we chose a different hospital, the baby would need to be rushed here to the NICU and I would have to stay put where I was. That's a little scary. I have no reason to think anything will happen at the moment, but its something to consider.
After our tour today, however, I think we left a little turned off. The lobby and cafe were nice, but the rest of the hospital was very old - low ceilings harsh fluorescent lighting, endless hallways of white, very little natural light, and just very old and institutional feeling. Add some flickering fluorescent lights and you'd have the start of a good scary movie scene.
The rooms where we would be after we had the baby - where we'd stay for 1-3 days, seemed very uncomfortable. Not where I'd like to be for 3 days. It was tight and the waiting room outside was much worse.
So, I hold out final judgement until we see all three, but that's the deal with #1 from initial glance. Two other things we'll need to consider are: (1) if we want to pay for a private room so that Jason can spend the night with me it'll be around 150 euros per night at this hospital - ouch! (2) If anything were to go wrong and we chose a different hospital, the baby would need to be rushed here to the NICU and I would have to stay put where I was. That's a little scary. I have no reason to think anything will happen at the moment, but its something to consider.
This is where we'd be after the baby came for 1-3 days (if all goes well). Our insurance doesn't pay for a private room, so it would cost 150 euros to take this whole room and I think even then its not a guarantee that you'll have it (if they get busy)
Some other interesting/random factoids about having a baby in Germany:
(1) The maternity wards are completely run by midwives. Your OB will not deliver your baby - ever. Its just not how it works. There are doctors on hand in case things go wrong and all 3 hospitals are able to perform emergency c-sections if necessary.
(2) Our baby won't be a German citizen. They've stopped allowing that. At one time we had the opportunity to have apply for dual citizenship, but not anymore for whatever reason.
(3) They do a "walking epidural" here which is different from in the US. In the US you're stuck in bed once the epidural is administered b/c you're numb from the waist down. Here you can get up and move around and go to the bathroom. It kind of makes me worry that it wont be strong enough though! Eek!
(4) This is luckily not something we need to worry about (I had the doc triple check last visit that she was in fact a girl!), but circumcisions are illegal here. You can get them done on post, but not on the economy. Its the same in England.
(5) They don't give you a hospital gown when you go into labor. You're expected to bring something to wear or just go all-natural. This seems very weird to me.
(6) Again, this doesn't apply to us, but Germans have to choose from a pre-approved list of first names for their babies. I believe this list is quite long, but there aren't any babies named Pepsi, Optimus Prime, or Happy Rayne born over here as a result :)
That's all that's coming to mind at the moment, but I'm sure there are more!
(2) Our baby won't be a German citizen. They've stopped allowing that. At one time we had the opportunity to have apply for dual citizenship, but not anymore for whatever reason.
(3) They do a "walking epidural" here which is different from in the US. In the US you're stuck in bed once the epidural is administered b/c you're numb from the waist down. Here you can get up and move around and go to the bathroom. It kind of makes me worry that it wont be strong enough though! Eek!
(4) This is luckily not something we need to worry about (I had the doc triple check last visit that she was in fact a girl!), but circumcisions are illegal here. You can get them done on post, but not on the economy. Its the same in England.
(5) They don't give you a hospital gown when you go into labor. You're expected to bring something to wear or just go all-natural. This seems very weird to me.
(6) Again, this doesn't apply to us, but Germans have to choose from a pre-approved list of first names for their babies. I believe this list is quite long, but there aren't any babies named Pepsi, Optimus Prime, or Happy Rayne born over here as a result :)
That's all that's coming to mind at the moment, but I'm sure there are more!
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