Maternity care – Intake sessions

If you have requested maternity care with us, we will contact you somewhere between the 21^st and 25^th week of your pregnancy to schedule an intake session. You can specify which day and time are most convenient for you and your partner. During this session, you will have the chance to discuss your maternity care preferences.

If it’s your first child, this session will take place at home. If it’s not your first, it will be a telephone appointment. You can also have a home visit if it’s not your first child: on medical grounds or at your or your midwife’s request. However, this will be at your own expense. Together, we want to guarantee the best start for mother and child and ensure that your new baby integrates into the family well. That starts with an intake session. During the session, we will discuss lots of practical matters about pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period. In particular, we want you and your partner to tell us what you expect from maternity care and what matters to you, so we can provide you and your family with tailored maternity care.

Topics covered during the intake
An at-home intake will take about 45 minutes. A telephone intake will take about 20 minutes.

The person leading the intake session will discuss at least the following things with you and your partner:

• Maternity care hours and insurance (what is covered)
• Fewer or more hours of maternity care in specific situations, such as maternity care after a caesarean section
• The role and responsibilities of a maternity nurse
• Collaboration between the maternity nurse, midwife and Youth Health Care (JGZ) and their individual roles
• Occupational health and safety guidelines for maternity nurses, including a raised maternity bed (80cm), working height (at least 80cm for baby bath, commode and maternity bed) and a smoke-free working environment
• Home births and outpatient births, and the role of the maternity nurse during labour
• When to call maternity care once you’ve given birth
• What to pack in your hospital bag
• If this is not your first child, how your previous pregnancies, deliveries and postnatal periods went and which aspects of maternity care you were really happy with
• Any extra information about your home (findability, location, etc.) or family situation (divorce, different culture, diets, allergies, etc.)
• The maternity package and its contents
• The Baby Checklist
• Whether you plan to breastfeed or bottle feed
• Your partner’s role and wishes

Prior to the intake, we recommend that you write down any questions you have for the person leading the session. There will be plenty of time during the intake for you and your partner to ask questions.

After the intake
Within a week after the intake session, you will receive an email confirmation specifying the agreements that have been made. Approximately four weeks before your due date, our Customer Service department will send you an email containing all of the occupational health and safety requirements, so you can check these yourself.