Giving birth - tips on having a baby in Munich

Hi,

My wife is expecting to deliver a baby end next month (March) and she has consulted a doctor near Arabella park, and now we have moved to Westkreuz (not far from Pasing), Does anybody now whether can we change to any doctor near our living place now? It would be helpful if I could receive any advise from matters that need to be done prior and after the delivery. Thanks...

regards,
Kong Weng

You can definately change doctors, just make sure you have your files from your previous doctor and your woman's Insurance card. Here is a number and address from a doctor close to you, plus another link from a doctor with patient comments. Good Luck on your upcoming baby!

Frauenklinik Pasing

Klinikum Pasing

wohlfahrt klinik in gräfelfing. pay the extra and get a single room for your wife, we had our second kid there and i can seriously recomend it to you, as its small very comfortable and has wonderful views over the garden from the balcony.

Thanks so much for the speedy response...
pity that I can't read German yet, can you tell me again that the link is for consulation only or for delivery? The clinic that we visited near Arabella don't actually do the delivery and we were told to go to a hospital near Max Weber. Will there be any problem to get the file from the doctor? We have an appointment with the doctor on 16th Feb... and my just worry that if we go to new doctor, she has to repeat all the testing again especially blood tests...

there shouldn't be any problem getting the records from one doctor to another, and i dont see any reason why your wife should suddenly have to do any tests again. a word of advice go to a clinic that does deliveries, otherwise stay in the hospital, its hectic enough without chopping and changing your location. if niether of you speak german then i would put an english speaking doctor and midwife high up on the priority list. and dont forget to take your sandwiches and something to read.

Another thing to note, it is not necessary to choose a specific doctor to deliver your child. You can choose a clinic and just have the doctor who is on call perform the duties. If you do decide to choose a doctor, you will go to the clinic with whom s/he is affiliated. You might find it better to find a clinic that you like than a doctor that you like (ideally you would have both), since you will have to deal with the clinic for days and the doctor for only a short time (with any luck.)

Do you have the free magazine called "Wo bekomme ich mein Baby?" You can ask for it at the gynecologist's. It is in German, but they have a handy chart/checklist of all the clinics in Munich where one can deliver and what facilities they offer. It shouldn't be too hard to look up the terms you don't know on Leo or in a dictionary.

There is also a list in the magazine of the midwives (Hebamme) who make housecalls after the birth to make sure you're getting on.

There is some basic information in English on this website that you might find useful about having a baby in Germany and getting him/her registered with the correct authorities afterwards: http://www.howtogermany.com/ (then click on Medical.)

Good luck!

About your concern of repeating tests, all pregnant women in Germany are given a "Mutterpass" with all the relevant information in it, including blood test results (often these are in the form of stickers that the lab has provided.) The Mutterpass should be carried at all times and is a portable medical record, in case she needs immediate medical attention of any kind and the hospital needs this information.

I bet your wife has one. If not, she needs to get it right away (the doctor should not keep it for her.)

Oh yeah, the Mutterpass is a small, light-blue colored booklet with dark blue writing on the cover.

Yep, the "Mutterpass" is the most important document your wife should have. If she has that (she must have, if she's been to doctors in Germany throughout her pregnancy), she won't have to repeat any tests.

Gideon, I'm interested to hear more about this clinic in Graefelfing... I delivered in September at Maistrasse and would never go back. I was in a 3 bed room and had no rest and no privacy... how much extra do you have to pay for a single room, and do they take all kinds of insurance?

Hi, I delivered in Maistrasse and had a single room. I had to pay 50EUR per night for this upgrade but t was definitely worth it. I really liked the hospital and would definitely go there again.
However I agree with Red: I would have hated a shared room.

Kati, did you have private insurance?

I have Barmer and I asked at the hospital about an upgrade and they made me think it was going to be something like 300 Euro per day!!!

if memory serves me right i think it was around 50 euros a night, but it was worth it as she was stuck in a room with a winging snorring oh feel sorry for me woman. i'll check with my wife and post the number of the clinic here. i also find out who her doctor was as westkreuz isn't far from us.

We only visited the doctor once and the next visit will be 16th feb, I will ask for the "Mutterpass" then, I have public insurance with SBK, not sure how much will it cost to upgrade, how long usually you need to stay at the hospital after the delivery?

regards,
Kong Weng

Probably the policies for single rooms at all the clinics are different. A friend of mine delivered at Harlaching last summer, and it was really crowded at that time, a baby-boomlet. She was in a room with two others, and apparently the nurses discovered one of them had private insurance and could go into a private room if she wanted to pay a bit more, so it was offered. That woman declined, and my friend asked about it. They came back and said there wasn't a room available, after all (!).

I wonder if any of the rest of you who shared rooms have noticed that all kinds of clinics in Munich tend to put the foreigners all together in one room if they can? I have heard this from more than one ex-pat friend.

How long you stay in the hospital after delivery also differs dramatically. Lots of clinics offer "Ambulantergeburt", which is essentially out-patient delivery; you go home the same day if you haven't had any surgery. With a caesarian section you stay 4-5 days; with a vaginal delivery, I imagine, three, but I don't know, as all my friends who have had babies here have ended up with c-sections!

It depends on the timing, too; I don't think clinics like to discharge patients on weekends as a general rule.

I am astounded that your wife has had at least one pre-natal visit here in Germany and she does not have a Mutterpass, by the way. Might not be a bad idea to change doctors, even if you hadn't relocated.

Hi, I have a private insurance for hospital stays (otherwise gesetzlich) which is about 35EUR per month and covers a 2 bed room. The upgrade then was from 2 bed to single. I stayed 3 nights and even as we were on student budget it was worth every cent. My hubby stayed with me all the time sleeping in an armchair at night (could have asked for a bed but he didn'T want to...stupid men ).

Maybe they do charge twice the price for upgrade from a regular room to a single bed one? That's a lot.

as cinza said, alot of things such as room availability and postnatal stay time are dependent on how busy the klinik is. at the end of the day even if you want to pay you could end up being with a moning minnie for a couple of days. i think my wife stayed three four days last time, its a good rest for the mothers before the real stress starts, and if its your first child the midwives are a massive support and teach you loads of little things like nappie changing.

Cinzia, funny you mention the thing about putting all the foreigners in one room- that was our theory too, because for the 6 days I was there in a 3-bed room, there were no Germans in my room. I ran into 2 people who were in my Geburtsvorbereitungskurs (both German) during that time, and one had a single, and another had a double room and were quite pleased.

For me, it was really stressful. I had lost a lot of blood and was in the room farthest away from either of the public bathrooms (none in the rooms!) so I needed to get a nurse to wheel me to the bathroom in a wheelchair every time I had to pee. On top of that, I had 2 snorers (must be the painkillers because I've never heard anything like it... got myself a set of earplugs to sleep) on either side of me. The other women in my room ranged from Iraqi to Polish to West African. None spoke German. The African woman and the Iraqi woman were not too into the Schweinebraten they were serving up so they had their families bring them food. Yum, fish stew! And not to mention the constant influx of visitors...

Believe it or not, I still have nightmares about having to go into the hospital here!!!

So, just to get this clear- is the private room only an option if you have private insurance?

no, you can pay for it if your aok etc... just costs you more money but as i guess you'd know it's worth it (according to my wife, that is)

Yes, you can get nightmare roommates, but sometimes visitors are just as much of a stress factor in the clinic. Regarding other patients' visitors, you can often get the clinic staff to intervene if it gets out of hand.

My American friend who delivered at Harlaching last summer was about ready to check out after one day (and a c-section) because one of her two roommates was a Saudi woman who had just delivered and had 5 other kids, ALL of whom were in the room all day even though their mother was obviously exhausted and needed a rest. Apparently the father didn't want to or couldn't look after them alone, so he brought them to the clinic. My friend returned from the bathroom once to find some of the kids on HER bed, which was the last straw! Her husband had a word with the nurse, who cleared all non-patients out of there, thus greatly improving matters for everyone.

ok mr kongweng...

finaly got the number from the wife. frauenartzt is...

Dr Platzer
telephone 7001878
he's in grosshadern which is a ten minute drive for you and he uses the wohlfahrt klinik to "entbinden". he's a nice guy, in fact so nice i let him look at my wifes genitalia
(couldnt resist its friday!!!)

Thanks Gideon...
We finally got the mutterpass today after the second visit...

cool, are you going to use him, imy wife thought he was good.

anyway have fun! and post if you've more questions (plus babie piccies yeah)

I am not sure yet but the first thing is I have to ask whether he accept my public insurance company SBK (Siemens-Betriebskrankenkasse).
By the way, I found another one from the internet that is very close to my place and they have lots of information in English which I think could be helpful to us since neither of us don't speak German...

http://www.frauenklinik-kruesmann.de/frame/intro_eng.htm

Anyone out there has any comment about this clinic?

In consulting "Wo Bekomme Ich Mein Baby," the Kruesmann clinic seems to be pretty much in line with most of the other clinics as far as services go, except in one major area, which many would feel to be somewhat important.

The clinic does not have a newborn intensive care unit. Only about half the Munich clinics do, but Kruesmann Clinic is 15 minutes away from the nearest newborn intensive care unit, the furthest distance in Munich for any of the birthing clinics.

You will want to discuss this with the people at the clinic and your doctor. If you are expecting to have a normal birth, this might be perfectly ok. It's also possible that the doctors at this clinic are specially trained in newborn emergency care because of the distance from the nearest ICU. If your baby has to be taken to one, though, your wife will be separated from the baby for the first few days during her recovery.

Also, an English-language website is no guarantee that the staff will be English speaking. Another thing to ask about on a clinic tour.

You are right Cinzia, they keep passing me to the person who can talk to me in English but at the end they can't find any :-(

Anywa, I have found one that who can speak English when I first call (Red Cross Hospital for Women in Rotten Kreuz), and visited their Hospital last week and was very satisfied with the mildwife as well as the hospital, so I think this is the right one for us. I have received some positive feedback from my colleague as well. their link is as below:
http://www.swmbrk.de/navigation/frame.cfm?ID=682
thanks for all the useful information given to me so far...

Get yourself a good midwife and have a home birth. That's what we did and it was perfect.

My princess has arrived this morning (almost 3 weeks earlier) and I am glad that I have selected Red Cross Hospital as the mindwife is very helpful and speak good english too... Yes, my wife is staying in a 2 beded room sharing with a local German :-)

After reading from http://www.howtogermany.com/ about the paper work, I have the following questions:
1) as mentioned, I need to have an official German translation of our marriage, can someone point me to how and where to do this?
2) Due to the fact that my consular is in Berlin which I think is too far for my wife and new born to travel now. just wonder what is the most important thing that need to be done without a passport?
3) How to get the tax card updated?
4) Do we need a passport to appy Kindergeld and Erziehungsgeld ?
5) I know that I need to get a birthcert first and what is the next most important thing?
Any input is very much appreciated...

regards,
Kong Weng

Wow, supercongratulations! Does she have a name yet? The baby, I mean, not your wife...

First off, congrats kongweng! I'm glad you liked the hospital.

1- I had to get a translation too- we had to get an official translator who was "vereidigt" in order for the Kreisverwaltung to accept it. I'd look in the phone book or ask your consulate.

2- I'd say in your case the most important thing is to make sure to pick up the birth certificate. You should get this from the hospital, or they should process it automatically and you pick it up a few weeks alter at the KVR. In my case, I had to fill out paperwork at the hospital and they forwarded it to the KVR, where we picked it up a couple weeks later. Once you get the birth certificate from the KVR, make sure to get duplicates of it, because you will have to submit it everywhere, like work, your insurance company, your consulate, etc. You can get the duplicates when you pick it up.

3- To get the tax card updated, ask your employer for it back, and take it to the Kreisverwaltungsreferat (Buergerbüro, I think... or ask the info ladies there). I'd bring my marriage certificate and the baby's birth certificate along too. I don't think you have to rush on this since you can claim taxes after the year is up.

4- I'm not sure about Kindergeld, but you do need to have your passport for Erziehungsgeld. Actually, in my case, I had to have the KVR fill out a form stating what kind of residency permit I have. Maybe they don't really need the passport to do that if they have you on record. You could try... But you have until the baby is 6 months old to apply for Erziehungsgeld, so no real rush there either.

It's all a real pain. Get ready to become very familiar with the KVR!

Congratulations, kongweng! Glad the birth and clinic worked out well for you!!

Best wishes to your wife and baby.

Thanks for all the replies and I appreciate very much for all the info given...

Alala: The Malaysia's consular here don't handle passport and I was told to go to Berlin :-(

Yes, I was given 4 forms this morning, and with the help of the nurse there, I have completed filling in and return it to the hospital with a copy of our marriage cert, and residence permit, and I was told to go to Standesamt München (Dienstgebaüde:Rupperstr. 11, 4. Stock (Neubau)) to collect something document after 17th of March, unfortunately the receiptionist that collect the forms is not so goods in translating what is that documents... will ask the midwife again later...

congratulations!!!

where's the piccie? and glad to here its all gone as it should do. as my wifes german she delt with the KVR, but its pretty routine and they are usualy very nice about baby things.

Oh, you can jump the queue in the KVR if you have a a baby with you. That's what they told us down there.

Congratulations Kongweng!

Am very glad to hear that your wife had a good experience at the Frauenklinik von Reuten Kreuz as that's where I am tentatively planning to have my baby (due in six weeks). I chose them based on size (they are the biggest clinic in Munich and have all the neonatal facilities etc.) and proximity to my apartment (only a couple of km) but have been wondering if I should be checking out any other hospitals. I've heard that Dritten Orden is good but they don#t have much capacity.

One drawback--I don't think they offer any single rooms...

Are you sure they don't have single room?
I remembered seeing a form from the hospital and it has 3 option, 1,2 or 3 bedzimmer, so I guess they should have one, and the max. is 3 person per room.

Thanks for the info Kongweng.

I thought I remembered from the Infoabend that they didn't have single-rooms, but maybe I am not remembering correctly. I have an appt. for a "Vorstellung zur Geburt" in a couple of weeks so I can ask then. I think that's a nice service, by the way, you can go in and ask questions and tell the dr. your preferences and they put everything in your file so its already on record when you come to deliver your baby...

Not sure I'd want to pay the extra 50Euros per day anyway as I have BKK insurance...

`
i was in the hospital recently (not for any births!) , and with my bkk insurance, i was in a 4-bed room, albeit only 3 beds were occupied and i was amazed that there were no curtains to at least give you some privacy. what annoyed me the most were the visitors. when 2 peeps had visitors there were at least 2 extra peeps in the room and of course i am sittng there in pain, vomiting regularly cause i had an (normal) adverse reaction to the anesthesia. the woman next to me loved her cell phone (although they ask you not to use them), etc., etc. if i had known you could pay for an upgrade, i would ahve done so without hesitations. for a birth, you betcha. i'd do it in a heartbeat.

Hi All,

Just a reminder, there is an Expectants Mums/mums-to-be posting on the Meet-ups board. This may well be another source of finding out further information and getting advice when choosing hospitals etc.

We are due in July and have looked at three hospitals thus far. Only one seems to meet all of our requirements - at a cost. The additional cost is almost 900 Euro all in. This includes additional bed for dad to sleep over, private room with all facilities, all meals for both parents, very friendly and efficient staff, language options, special care baby facilities if necessary etc based upon a four night stay following delivery. More like a hotel, very impressive indeed!

When looking at other hospitals they were not able to guarantee a private room although they do have them. This is because they are allocated purely on a "first come first served" basis. If you have specified a private room in a facility that only has four and you happen to be the fifth person, then it's too bad, you'll have to share a room. As someone mentioned earlier on in the posting, I too was shocked to see that there are no curtains in the shared rooms to give patients the much needed privacy. I have found here in Germany that the majority of people do not seem to have any realization that staring at people is considered rude to most other nationalities. I therefore can think of few things worst than having to share a room with people who, along with their visitors will sit and stare at you having just given birth, looking and feeling awful! This is something the hospitals really need to address.

Anna

So Anna, which hospital is the one that meets your requirements?

Oh, sorry Red, in all my rambling on I forgot to say. It's the Wolfarat Clinic in Grafelfing. Depending on where you live it's a great option.

Anna

my second one was born there...
i can seriously recommend it. private room, view over the garden, nice bed next to the delivery room where you can sleep/rest in (i slept 4 hours, birth is boring second time around ;-))
have fun there anna. if you need tips on where to buy things in the area, just shout as i live 3 mins awys..

I don't think you need worry so much about them stareing in a shared room. They do understand a modicum of privacy in such situations. I'm sure you'd find it was not the living hell you are imagining! It's also notable that the English speaking world is particularly hung up on privacy, and it may be we who are odd, and not the rest of the world. The Dutch don't even use curtains in their homes most of the time, feeling perfectly comfortable living on display.

depends my wife had a great bunch of roomies with child nr one.
second time round she spent one night with a snoring moaning bitch from hell. then out came charlie credit card and bingo private room. gee she deserved it too.

Hi Kat -

regarding the privacy thing - I have been to hospitals in Holland and there are curtains between beds (at least the two hospitals I saw there) when the room is not a private/single room. German friends who have lived abroad and have since returned to Germany also say that they prefer the "privacy approach" they receive abroad. I cannot imagine that just because someone is sitting a few feet away from you and you've just had a baby that they are suddenly going to stop staring at you. Initially thought I was paranoid until others (including Germans) mentioned it.

Gideon - Thanks for the advice. I am pleased to hear from someone who has actually first (or second hand ) experience of this clinic. I would appreciate any tips or suggestions you may have on it. I am just entering my 7th month and have to start sorting out such things as midwives etc. Did you have an English speaking midwife?

Anna

Gideon - I forgot to say, well done for getting out the plastic! I am currently in talks with my husband regarding suitable "delivery gifts" after all the hard work I will be putting in lol.

Anna

There were curtains between the beds in the German hospitals I was in as well. Which hospital doesn't have them?

It's good to know that they do have them in some hospitals. In the rooms we were shown during tours of Gross Hardern Clinic and Maistr they seemed to be absent. Not just the one room either. Neither were there any ceiling rails to which they could be attached.

anna, my wifes german so language wasn't a problem. and i would guess most nurses know enough english to deliver a birth. but check with them. there are alot of english speakers around gräfelfing/starnberg so i'm sure they've been confronted with this request before.

schiiiieeeeeeeebbbb! noch mal schiiieeeebbbb!!!

the klinik is excellent. i was seriously impressed, spacious rooms with a balcony facing onto the garden, food was ok and you get a newspaper delivered in the morning. so as for tips, i dont really have any specific to the clinic apart from relax and your in good hands. if you have any specific (non-medical questions) about gräfelfing let me know!! like where the best restaurants are (for hubby).

as to charlie credit card. what am i meant to do? say no? way to many scalpels and sharp objects in a hospital.