Who's in Denmark?

[LessTraveledBy]

Looks like we will be moving to Denmark in about 8 months and I would lovev to "meet" other mamas who are in Denmark. We are already in the Nordic countries, so it won't be a huge change, but big enought to have me planning already.

I know of two mamas who post here and live in Denmark but is that it?

I am especially interested about birthing options in Denmark. (Is it really difficult to find a good midwife for a home birth?)

[BoobsOfSteel]

Originally Posted by Anumaria

Looks like we will be moving to Denmark in about 8 months and I would lovev to "meet" other mamas who are in Denmark. We are already in the Nordic countries, so it won't be a huge change, but big enought to have me planning already.

I know of two mamas who post here and live in Denmark but is that it?

I am especially interested about birthing options in Denmark. (Is it really difficult to find a good midwife for a home birth?)

Hi! I'm in Copenhagen. There are many many midwives here, but I'm not sure about homebirthing since I did the standard hospital birth. It was a positive experience overall, but I can see why you'd want to do a home birth. I would consider that too for the next child. I don't know of anyone who's done it here so I can't say how easy it is to arrange.


I just did a quick search on "jordemoder" and found a few links like this one: http://www.hjemmejordemoder.dk/ if you can't read danish then try this trick: http://translate.google.com/ i find it does a pretty good job.

I don't know anything about that particular midwife, but she seems to be private midwife available for homebirthing, and I'm sure there are others. The best thing of course would be to get a recommendation from someone who has actually done a homebirth, if possible! good luck!

btw, hospital care here is completely free, thanks to the socialist system (and very high taxes) whereas a private midwife could be very expensive.

if you want to know more about the hospital experience, I'd be happy to fill you in!
HTH

[waldorfknitmama]

oooohhhhhh me me me!! We *might* make the move to Uda (?) actually I just made up that name, but I swear it's a city that sounds like that? Anyhow, theres an Ikea there and my hubby might transfer depending on how good the contract is. I really wanna meet some nice moms that speak some english (I will try to be learning Danish too) I have 2 little boys ages 3 and 5mo. What's it like there???

[LessTraveledBy]

Hi! Nice to meet you both!

It looks like we will be living about a half hour from Århus, moving in January.

I suppose Denmark is a social democracy, not socialist, right?

[BoobsOfSteel]

Originally Posted by naturalmamaof1

I really wanna meet some nice moms that speak some english (I will try to be learning Danish too) I have 2 little boys ages 3 and 5mo. What's it like there???

Lucky for you, most Danes speak good English, so it won't be hard to get around. We met other English-speaking couples through a prenatal class offered through the familieskolen.dk in Copenhagen. The same place offers postnatal yoga (for mother and baby) classes in English which has been great. I'm not sure which town you'll be in, but you should be able to find mother and baby fitness or yoga classes there. Even if the classes are in Danish, you'll find plenty of English speaking mommas. Also through your dh's workplace may be a good way to connect with other English speaking mommas - surely there are other foreigners working for IKEA there. Finally, you'll want to get into the health care system as soon as you move here, and the nurse who does the home visits (all babies get home visits during their first year of life) should be able to refer you to a mother's group in your area. HTH

[AstridS]

Originally Posted by Anumaria

Hi! Nice to meet you both!

It looks like we will be living about a half hour from Århus, moving in January.

I suppose Denmark is a social democracy, not socialist, right?

Right! Absolutely not socialist. At the moment we have a right wing government.

[jenniferlynne]

I'm glad to see this thread exists! We're not moving to Denmark but will be tagging along with DH to Arhus for about three weeks. I have two kids -- a 2.5 yo and a 5 yo -- and we'll be on our own a lot, it seems, while DH works. I need to read up on this city, since I know nothing about it, but I have tons of questions already.

* We don't speak a word of Danish. Should I start cramming now or will most people speak English? I hate being in a foreign country and not at least making an effort to use their language but I literally know not a single word of Danish!

* What do we do about car seats? I don't think we'll be renting a car while there but it is a possibility. We may take some short trips around Denmark (again, no idea where to go but will look into that) or even longer ones to London or Amsterdam. I don't know, though, if we'd be renting a car or not for those trips.

* Should I bring a stroller for my younger child? Are things spread out or close together? How walkable a city is it?

* What will I do with the kids all day? Are there lots of activities for them -- parks, playgrounds, museums? Are we going to feel completely isolated?

Partly I feel really excited about this opportunity but I'm also wondering if it's going to be worth all the disruption to the kids' lives. I think I'm feeling this way because I've tagged along with DH on extended work trips in the past, and he's ended up working so much that I barely saw him. Of course, before kids and in a big city (London), it was no big deal. I could entertain myself just fine. In a smaller town where I don't speak the language and I have two jet-lagged kids to entertain, it may be different.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as would any good resources for learning about what to do while we're there. Thank you!

[sasja]

jenniferlynne, as already mentioned earlier, most Danes speak and understand English pretty well. Car seats will be available from the rental firm, but it may be an idea to book in advance. A stroller could be useful, things a very close together. I'm sure you'll find plenty to do with your kids! Ask local moms for help, they're usually very helpful (Aarhus is known in Denmark as the City of Smile).

Abot midwives, Denmark is really the place to go for midwives! They have a very strong position here, are very well educated and usually are the only medical personel to oversee pregnancy and birth. Home births are not the norm here but not that unusual either. Good luck

[LessTraveledBy]

I started this thread months ago, and then thought we would be moving to the UK, instead. Well, here I am again, most likely moving to Denmark in the beginning of February.

We will be living in a small city about a half hour from Århus.

We have a dd who will turn 5 in March and are always hoping and praying for more. In case anyone lives anywhere near, please feel free to drop me a message.

[Human_Being]

I live an hour from Copenhagen in Sweden. If you go over the bridge to Sweden to Malmo, I am half an hour further inland in a village called Veberod. I host frequent play dates at my house. If you get lonely you can make the trek to see me!

I have seen that in the "meet ups" website there is a english speaking moms in Copenhagen group.

I am a homebirth midwife from Florida, have no license in EU yet. I went to a midiwfery today confrence in Copenhagen last year and there is active home birth going on for sure. More so than Sweden. Though I did have a home VBAC in Sweden last year. The cost was about 1500 dollars, a lot for paying out pocket for care in Scandanavia, but it is 1/4 what it would cost in Florida so that was okay by me!

Best lucks to everyone on your moves. I love living in Sweden, moved there 1 1/2 ago. Still speak no Swedish, and I hav eno trouble getting around everyone speaks English! But DH is a swede and handles the mail, etc so that helps.

[AislinCarys]

Human being!

Someone else in Skåne on Mothering!

We live in Höllviken, about 1/2 hour south of the bridge. I am actually Swedish, DH is a New Zealander. We met in NZ, and lived there for many years.

[kmamma]

Hejsan.

I'm Swedish too, back living in Sweden! Good to meet you both. I'm further up north, in Vastergotland (Falkoping).

I saw this thread and I was curious cause we consider moving to another neighboring country due to the harsh homeschooling climate in Sweden. How's Denmark compared to Sweden?
We're going to give Waldorf schools a shot first, but depending on what my son thinks of it all (we're very avid unschoolers), we may be looking for another home soon again. We just moved here a couple of months ago.

[LessTraveledBy]

We are in Denmark now... actually enjoying it quite a bit. We are in Jylland, 2,5 hrs from Copenhagen, so not close to any of you. Just writing this here, just in case there actually is someone out there, close enough... It is a bit tiring for dd to not know any kids who speak English.

[marrydavidson101]

i love this country when i visited this place last year i had great fun there

[AislinCarys]

We've left Sweden.

Edited by AislinCarys - 3/6/11 at 7:44pm

[Voodoo Lady]

Hi there!

I was just writing to say that we live in Jutland as well.  My husband, baby, and I just moved to Horsens, about 40 min. outside of Aarhus, from Oregon.  My baby is just 7 months, so not really that exciting for other kids to play with yet, but if you ever want to meet for coffee or chat or something, might be fun!

Voodoo Lady

 

Originally Posted by LessTraveledBy 

We are in Denmark now... actually enjoying it quite a bit. We are in Jylland, 2,5 hrs from Copenhagen, so not close to any of you. Just writing this here, just in case there actually is someone out there, close enough... It is a bit tiring for dd to not know any kids who speak English.

[LessTraveledBy]

We left Denmark last summer but will be there again in fall 2012. Lovely country! I just wish I were more motivated to learn the language. (I am not, at all, although I can read it because I know Swedish.) We are very much looking forward to coming back.

[KrisInDenmark]

I'm in Aarhus, moved here last year. My hubby is Danish and I'm Bermudian. We're expecting our first mid-july. I never bothered looking to see if anyone here was in Denmark, when I didn't see Denmark in the list of countries. Are any of you Aarhus/Horsens folk getting together? I'm going to be in Horsens next week while my husband has some surgery. Any chance of meeting up?