Maternity Period
What to expect?
The first week after the birth is a very special but also intensive time. It is important to prepare yourself for this. During this first week you are recovering from the birth, and because a newborn needs feeding every 3 hours, you probably haven’t had much sleep.
Don’t have too many visitors at once; give yourself the opportunity to recover both physically and emotionally. Due to the lack of sleep, the intense emotions after giving birth and the physical complaints, many women experience an ‘off’ day around day 4. You can be more emotional then, we call this "maternity tears". This is normal. Do not hesitate to call off your visits if you don't feel up to them. It's your week and the importance of your family comes first!
Fortunately, you should feel much like yourself again after 1 or 2 weeks and will be able to take care of the baby. The maternity period plus physical recovery will take much longer, see the section on post natal body.
It can be useful to freeze a few meals during the last weeks of pregnancy or ask friends or family to bring you some. This way you have one less thing to worry about during the day but still have a nutritious meal
Postnatal complaints
Haemorrhoids, blood loss and perspiring. Just a few issues that can occur during your maternity period. For a handy and complete overview please go to website deverloskundige.nl
Maternity Nurse
The maternity nurse will teach you and your partner how to care for your baby and help with breastfeeding (if required). A maternity nurse will visit you for approx. 8 days following the birth. Over this period hours are reduced gradually depending on your individual needs.
What does a maternity nurse do?
- Teach you and your partner how to care for your baby and the baby’s behaviour patterns
- Check on your recovery daily
- Check the baby daily for colour, temperature, fluid intake, urinating and bowel movements
- If the maternity nurse believes the baby is unwell for any reason, she will tell the midwife.
- She will perform basic household tasks, laundry for you and the baby, changing bed sheets, keeping the baby’s room clean and tidy plus keeping toilet and washing facilities clean. She will look after any others children you have also.
- She will assist with breastfeeding
If you are unhappy with your maternity care for any reason, please let your maternity care agency know as soon as possible. Maybe you just don’t ‘click’ with your nurse or you disagree on certain matters. If the two of you cannot agree, the maternity agency can send you another nurse. It is important that you can look back on you maternity week with happiness and feel that you have been cared for very well. If there are any issues, please do not wait until the last moment, it will be difficult to find a solution at that point.
The midwife during the maternity week
Next to care from the maternity nurse, we are responsible for the post natal checks, and will visit you a few times during the first week to discuss the birth with you, resolve any breastfeeding issues and answer any other questions you may have.
Initially the maternity nurse will try to answer your questions and check if everything is going as expected. She will notify us of any concerns so that we can take action. If there are any problems or questions outside of these visits in the first week, please contact us.
If you have given birth at the hospital, the hospital will let us know when you go home. We will visit you the next day.
Child Health Clinic, heel prick and hearing test
At the end of the maternity week we will transfer your medical care over to your family doctor/Health Centre. The midwife will also arrange the transfer with the Child Health Clinic. Any questions regarding the development of your baby will be dealt with here.
You do not need to do anything, once the child is born and you have registered the birth with the council, the Child Health Clinic will contact you.
During the first week here the district nurse will visit you to carry out the baby’s heel prick and hearing test.
The heel prick test means that the nurse will collect a small amount of blood from the heel of your baby. In a lab this blood will be examined for markers of several rare health conditions. Early detection and treatment of these conditions can reduce or prevent severe damage to your child’s physical and mental development. Most of these conditions are incurable but can be treated with e.g. medication or a special diet.
The baby’s hearing will also be tested. For more information, please see leaflet links below.
Approximately two weeks after the birth, the district nurse will contact you to arrange an intake appointment to take place at your home. She will weigh the baby and explain how the child health clinic will provide further care. If you would like the district nurse to provide this information while you are still pregnant, please let us know.