Pregnancy

When you’ve made your first appointment, we will send you an email with information about our practice. Attached to this email you will also find a number of flyers which are good to read prior to coming to your first appointment. Would you please bring a valid ID and your insurance papers to your first check-up?

If you already have questions prior to your first check-up then please give us a call.

During your first appointment, an ultrasound will be made. This ultrasound is meant to see if the baby’s heart beats, if it is a singleton pregnancy and if the pregnancy is in the right part of the uterus. An ultrasound made before 10 weeks will always be done through the vagina. You don’t need to have a full bladder for this ultrasound.

The first check-up takes about one hour and takes place around the 8th week of pregnancy. During this check-up we shall ask you (and your partner) questions about your health, lifestyle, medical history, previous pregnancies en possible hereditary illnesses in your family. It would be useful if you bring with you any information you have about certain medical conditions you might have, any medication you use or information about prior pregnancies that weren’t conducted by us. 

If desired, we will talk to you about prenatal screening test to detect congenital diseases and malformations of your child. This test are optional; you decide whether you want to do these kind of tests. For more information about these tests you can read the brochures Information about the screening for Down syndrom, Edwards’ syndrom and Patau’s syndrom and Information on the 13 week and 20 week anomaly scan.  

Finally we will discuss what kind of  blood tests will be performed during the pregnancy. We will schedule a second ultrasound to determine the due date (based on the growth of the baby). This ultrasound will be made between the 10th and 11th week of pregnancy.

After your first check-up, with your permission, we will discuss your pregnancy in the Multidisciplinary Meeting (Multi Disciplinair Overleg – MDO).
In the Multi Disciplinary Meeting pregnant women are discussed together with different kinds of obstetric caregivers: midwives, gynaecologists, pediatricians and, if necessary, somebody from the consultationbureau or for example a psychiatrist. Together they discuss what is the best care for that particular pregnancy.
If important things arise in the meeting, of course we will discuss this with you.

Subsequent check-ups take about 15-30 minutes. At the start of your pregnancy you will come to see us every 4 weeks. Check-ups will increase in frequency afterwards and in the last month you will see us every week.
For the entire pregnancy: if you have questions, if you worry about something or if you just want to listen to the child’s heartbeat, you can always call us.

At subsequent check-ups we look at how you’re doing and if you have any questions or complaints. At every check-up we check the growth of your child and listen to its heart beat. Your blood pressure will be measured and you will be weighed. During the pregnancy you will receive information in different ways about the pregnancy, delivery and the recovery after the delivery.

Beside regular prenatal check-ups, you can also choose to have your prenatal care by Centering Pregnancy. Centering Pregnancy means more time, more information and building a community of women to share your questions, concerns and support.

You can always contact us with your questions. It is important for guiding your pregnancy that we are well informed about how things are with you. In this way a relationship of trust comes into existence between the two of us and we will be better able to guide your delivery.  

If you enjoy knowing how big your child is now, click on this pregnancycalender (In Dutch).

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

Centering Pregnancy is an exciting way for women and their families to get prenatal care. Women spend more time with their health care provider and with other pregnant women, which gives them a chance to learn a lot more about pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. Check-ups, support, and education all take place in a group setting.
 
In every appointment with your midwife you will have 2 hours to ask all your questions and discuss your concerns. You will do this together with a group of women whose due dates are close to yours. You will learn from your midwife and from each other. You will have an opportunity to share stories, topics that are important to you and discuss all the things you are going through physically and emotionally. In the meantime you are building a community of women which will make the support continue long after your baby is born.

Personal benefits of Centering pregnancy:

• You will receive 17 hours more time in prenatal care than with the individual appointments.
• You get more personal care; there is more time to answer your questions. 
• It contributes to confidence in yourself, the pregnancy, the delivery and your role as a parent.
• The appointments are all presceduled so easier for you to plan. 

Besides the personal benefits described above, there are also proven medical benefits when prenatal care is given in the form of Centering Pregnancy:

• Less medical painrelief during labour necessary
• Less need to induce labour
• More women start with breastfeeding
• Fewer medical transfer to the gynaecologist during labour
• More home deliveries

For more information you can visit the website from Centering Healthcare.
You can also watch this movie, recorded at our practice, and the movie from the international organization GroupCare1000.

If you are interested in this form of prenatal care, then please ask us for more information.

See the page Ultrasound

At Kinderrijk Meerhoven we mainly make medical ultrasounds. However, we know that pregnant women, their partners and loved ones would like to see their unborn child more often. In particular, discovering whether their child is going to be a boy or a girl is something that is eagerly awaited. That is why, in addition to medical ultrasounds, you can also go to Kinderrijk Meerhoven for a pre-ultrasound sex determination. A fun ultrasound is an ultrasound without a medical indication and at your own expense; just for fun! Pre-ultrasound sex determination Are you curious about the gender of your baby? And can’t you wait for the 20-week ultrasound to find out if it’s a boy or a girl? Then visit our practice in Eindhoven for a gender ultrasound. This is possible from 15 weeks. If the gender of your child is not clearly visible during this first fun ultrasound, you can come back for a new attempt free of charge.

During your pregnancy blood will be taken from you twice. Your bloodtype and rhesusfactor will be determined. We will examine if you have any anti-bodies present in your blood that can hurt your baby. Your blood will also be tested for a several infections: Lues (Syphilis), Hepatitis B and HIV. These infections are treatable during pregnancy which reduces the chance of infecting the child. Lastly, the amount of iron in your blood is determined. If there is an indication we will look at your sugar-level.
If necessary, we will check your blood more often.

A more elaborate explanation about the different kinds of blood-tests you can find in the brochure ‘Pregnant’

We’d be happy to provide you with further explanation and, in case you have objections to one of the tests, you can let us know and we will discuss it with you.

View the call-instruction page

View the Pregnancy Complaints page

During pregnancy it is important to eat a healthy and varied diet. Eating for two is not necessary, but dieting during pregnancy is not wise. For advice on a healthy diet, please visit www.voedingscentrum.nl. There are a number of things that you should pay extra attention to during pregnancy. For more information, see the Nutrition & Infections Pregnancy

View the page Tips during pregnancy

View the page What to take care off during pregnancy

Not every pregnant woman only experiences happiness in the pregnancy. It already starts with the fact whether you really wanted to get pregnant or that the pregnancy was a bit of a surprise. But also if the pregnancy was planned and the baby is more than welcome, people can have negative feelings during pregnancy. 
Future parents often ask themselves questions: ‘Is this really what I want? How am I going to manage everything? How will I get through the delivery? Will I be a good mother (father)?’
But also without a clear cause pregnant women can feel emotionally out of balance.

As an international or expat there is an extra factor involved; the fact that your are not in your own country, with your family and friends and your own customs.
It is important to know that a lot of women experience these feelings, even though not a lot of people talk about it. Discuss your feelings with us so that we can see together wether you need some extra support.