Hi there,
I thought i would take up Amelie's thread as I gave birth in Acuario by c section 5 months ago. I have to say that the actual care I had for the birth was amazing, the midwives were brilliant, the two of them stayed with me right through the whole thing until the next morning -one spoke english and one didn't but both were really lovely.

Before I go any further about the birth, I have to mention that i was disappointed regarding the ante natal care, I only went to two ante natal classes as they kept cancelling as there wasn;t anyone available who spoke english, I also found that the midwife I saw- who has now left - would not give me a strait answer about pain relief- which was one of the reasons I chose to go there - choice. When she left I was assigned to Dr Van Harmlen, a new dutch doctor who I have to say was totally brilliant! I was scanned regularly and in the end he did my c section!

Things didn't go to plan for me, my little girl was 11lb 3 oz and therefore I lost a lot of blood while they tried to get her out. I was in 9 days in total, I had a blood transfusion and you name everything else! they were spot on - they handled everything efficently.

My only problem was........ if you didn't want to breastfeed, you had no choice at all, I went in with an open mind and it went well but being so ill after and my boobs became engorged I needed some help, which they wouldn't give- unless it was natural - no to formula and no expressing to relieve the pain so by the end of the 9 days I was pretty miserable and desperate to get home. Just be aware of this.

Also, if you are not insured please insist on price list - we were told by the midwife that it would be 3000 euro for everything for a standard birth and 5000 euro for a c section (which of course wouldn't happen to us - doh!)- there is so much not included in that though- our bill came to 7500 euros!! gulp!! Just be careful.

On the whole, would I have another baby there ? yes in a shot.

good luck to everyone who has an impending birth!!
Mica x