On Friday we toured Paulinen Clinic here in Wiesbaden. I went into this tour thinking that I wouldn't want to deliver here, and like HSK (Hospital Choice #1), left with a different opinion than I came in with.
The comments I had heard from other Americans prior to our tour was that "It feels like a hotel", "Its more comfortable", and "Its kind of like a birthing center". The idea of it feeling like a hotel/birthing center was a turn off for me personally.
However, the maternity ward felt like a hospital (like I wanted it to), it just had nicer paint and lighting! The pictures below are not good, but hopefully you get the idea. We toured at a busy time. All the after-delivery rooms were occupied, so we couldn't see those and the only delivery room that wasn't occupied was recently vacated (as you can see by the mess). They didn't even want to turn on the lights for us to see in from the doorway because it wasn't cleaned up yet.
The only major con to this hospital is its size. It can only accommodate 4 women in labor at a time. I'm told that they don't have to turn people away often, but it can happen. We will more than likely register both here and at the next hospital. This way if we choose Paulinen, we can call from the car on our way and make sure they can take us, and if not we'll head to the back up hospital.
As with all our hospital choices, our insurance pays for a shared room. That's what most people use here in Germany it seems because all the hospitals come standard with 2-person shared rooms. If we want a private room and for Jason to have the ability to spend the night its about 110 euro per night at Paulinen. Cheaper than HSK (150 euro), but still pricey. Since this is such a small facility, you're not guaranteed a private room even if you request one. Jason and I are undecided on this just because of the cost. My initial thought is that he should only plan on staying the first night and we'll just go from there.
The back up hospital, Hospital Choice #3, we have not toured yet (not until mid-March), but we've been to this hospital for other visits so we're somewhat familiar with it.
One new bit of information we found out recently that I find a little scary is that if my water breaks I have to call an ambulance vs. driving. There's a fear of the baby's umbilical cord getting pinched if that happens and so having EMT's around and being in a reclined position is better. So fingers crossed that doesn't happen!
The comments I had heard from other Americans prior to our tour was that "It feels like a hotel", "Its more comfortable", and "Its kind of like a birthing center". The idea of it feeling like a hotel/birthing center was a turn off for me personally.
However, the maternity ward felt like a hospital (like I wanted it to), it just had nicer paint and lighting! The pictures below are not good, but hopefully you get the idea. We toured at a busy time. All the after-delivery rooms were occupied, so we couldn't see those and the only delivery room that wasn't occupied was recently vacated (as you can see by the mess). They didn't even want to turn on the lights for us to see in from the doorway because it wasn't cleaned up yet.
The only major con to this hospital is its size. It can only accommodate 4 women in labor at a time. I'm told that they don't have to turn people away often, but it can happen. We will more than likely register both here and at the next hospital. This way if we choose Paulinen, we can call from the car on our way and make sure they can take us, and if not we'll head to the back up hospital.
As with all our hospital choices, our insurance pays for a shared room. That's what most people use here in Germany it seems because all the hospitals come standard with 2-person shared rooms. If we want a private room and for Jason to have the ability to spend the night its about 110 euro per night at Paulinen. Cheaper than HSK (150 euro), but still pricey. Since this is such a small facility, you're not guaranteed a private room even if you request one. Jason and I are undecided on this just because of the cost. My initial thought is that he should only plan on staying the first night and we'll just go from there.
The back up hospital, Hospital Choice #3, we have not toured yet (not until mid-March), but we've been to this hospital for other visits so we're somewhat familiar with it.
One new bit of information we found out recently that I find a little scary is that if my water breaks I have to call an ambulance vs. driving. There's a fear of the baby's umbilical cord getting pinched if that happens and so having EMT's around and being in a reclined position is better. So fingers crossed that doesn't happen!
Front entrance
So this is the room that you stay in until you're ready for delivery. They monitor your contractions here. This was the weirdest or most hotel-ish portion of this hospital because its like an actual bed. But not overly weird, in my opinion.
Just the hall of the maternity ward, its about equal length behind me and that's the whole thing. Its not very big.
A just-used delivery room
Dining/Buffet area within the maternity ward
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