Today we finished the second day of föräldrautbildning (parental education). In a room with six other couples, we spent several hours talking about anything and everything related to labor, pain management, hospitals and childcare. The midwife who ran the session began by separating us into male and female groups and told us to write down any questions we had. Thus began our discussion. In Sweden, this education is an opportunity that all soon-to-be parents can take advantage of and I feel really grateful for that. It was hugely informative and I was able to express what I was unsure about and get answers. I also learned about things I didn't even know to think about, like TENS (electrical nerve stimulation). We watched a birthing video, but it wasn't really what you would imagine. It was mostly partners being very attentive to their laboring women, women trying out different positions on railings or pilates balls and the use of laughing gas. We also watched a birth where the woman knelt. We also watched a movie about breastfeeding where we learned about baby signals the proper techniques. The fun part was a section about dads' roles... zoom into dads vacuuming, grocery shopping, changing diapers and snuggling with their babies. My general impression is that pregnancy and labor, along with parenting, is really stressed as a partnership here. As it should be!
The other fun thing about this course was that we met two other couples who will be in our new neighborhood, including one couple that live just a few feet down the street from us. Most likely we will all meet again once we are organized into parent groups.
In Sweden, unlike the US, the vast majority of women are attended to by a midwife. When I called the midwife center in May, I was assigned a midwife. Her name is Pirkko and she's awesome. Luckily, since I didn't have any other options! She has seen me every five weeks up until recently, and it's now every two weeks. When I go to the hospital, she won't be there. It's not her job. There will be entirely new crew of midwives that I've never met.
Last week I went on a tour of the labor floor at Södersjukhuset (the hospital where we will likely go.) There are 10 quite enormous rooms and each room looks like it belongs in a hotel. There is a bathtub in 9 out of the 10 rooms, a huge kingsize bed, a TV and sound system where you can plug in music and some contraptions for holding onto when you have a contraction. Each woman gets a room to herself and is assigned a midwife. There is a doctor on duty at all times. For every night that I spend there I will be charged roughly $14.
All things related to prenatal care are free in Sweden, including the visits to your midwife, two ultrasounds and classes to prepare you for being a parent. I had the choice of yoga or lamaze classes. Micke attended a blivande pappor (becoming a dad) course where he could chat with other dudes about how crazy their pregnant partners are and how to handle them, how to raise a baby, questions about labor or whatever else they wanted to talk about. I imagine it was an awesome place to commiserate and/or celebrate becoming a father.
The idea of getting health care in another country has never been an especially appealing thought to me, rather it's something that makes me pretty uncomfortable. It feels unfamiliar and unknown. When I realized that I would most likely be giving birth in Sweden I wasn't sure how the experience would be, I just assumed it wouldn't be as good as the care I would have gotten in the US. Especially once I understood that it's practically rare to see an ObGyn. As it turns out, ironically, having a midwife approach is one of the things that I most appreciate here! They use the philosophy that intervention is a last minute resort and if all is going well, keep pregnancy and labor as simple and natural as possible. Apart from the mean lady at SÖS who told me I was wrong when I said I felt displeased and worried with the way our second ultrasound was conducted, overall it's been great.
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