Has anyone worked with Jooske at La Fuente?

[guinness mama]

Hello mama!

I am 36 year-old Japanese, lived in MA, US and Nova Scotia, Canada for 10 years, married to Canadian and a mama to 3 and 1/2 year old child.

I moved to Wageningen last August with my husband and child and am currently at 4 months pregnant. I was happy to find out that homebirth is accepted as normal in NL since we were considering the second child. I gave birth to my first child in water at home in MA, US. My experience was so great that I wanted another home/water birth if I were to have another chance.

I quickly found a group of midwifes in town. That part was fine. I have seen two midwives so far. They are not bad at all, but I am developing two interrelated concerns. So, I was reading the old threads on birth/midwifery in NL here last night.

I found those midwives I met to be more like hospital nurses (well, I don't know well enough to say this, but I am guessing), they are not so personal . I was reading the old threads on birth/midwifery in NL and agree with some mamas who shared a similar perspective. Since homebirth/midwives are considered normal, I too am finding that midwives are not very personal and not so much politically committed but more technically oriented. Well, my view is so limited, but after I met the second midwife yesterday, I strongly feel that way now.

Also, I cannot work with a specific midwife here. I need to get familiar with 5 or so different midwives since nobody knows who is going to be available when I go into labor.

I want to have a solid relationship with my midwife since I find labor to be such an intimate experience. Last time, I worked with one midwife and two of her assistants. I was able to make good relationships with all three since I was meeting with my midwife and at least one assistant at every meeting. Having good relationships with all three who were at my child's birth helped me a lot before, during and after the birth. But, this seeing multiple midwives and them not being personal make me difficult to develop such a good relationship.

Two mamas recommended Laura van Deth. I wrote a pm to one mama who has worked with her and got to know that she lives not so nearby. So, I did some google searches and found out, via http://www.oerbron.nl site that there is another midwife who specializes water birth, who seems to be very personal and practices in Arnhem which is very close to where I live.
I am very interested in working with this midwife, Jooske van Rijssel.

But, I don't know anything about her beyond the infomation available through her website: http://onderwaterbevallen.nl/

So, here are my questions.
Has any mama here worked with her or known her? If so, could you share your experience working with her?

Thanks in advance for your time!

Chizu

[rzberrymom]

Originally Posted by guinness mama

I found those midwives I met to be more like hospital nurses (well, I don't know well enough to say this, but I am guessing), they are not so personal . I was reading the old threads on birth/midwifery in NL and agree with some mamas who shared a similar perspective. Since homebirth/midwives are considered normal, I too am finding that midwives are not very personal and not so much politically committed but more technically oriented. Well, my view is so limited, but after I met the second midwife yesterday, I strongly feel that way now.

Also, I cannot work with a specific midwife here. I need to get familiar with 5 or so different midwives since nobody knows who is going to be available when I go into labor.

This was my exact experience with my birth in the Netherlands, and I wasn't happy with it at all. It ended up very impersonal and medicalized in the end, and was a pretty terrible experience for me. A friend in the same city (Utrecht) had a fabulous homebirth with a wonderful midwife. If I were you, I would keep looking, find one that you really mesh with, and avoid the large practices where you don't know who you're going to get on the day of your birth.

My second baby was born in the U.S., I got to know my midwife extremely well before the birth, and it was a totally different experience--very personal experience, very loving and comfortable.

[guinness mama]

Originally Posted by rzberrymom

A friend in the same city (Utrecht) had a fabulous homebirth with a wonderful midwife. If I were you, I would keep looking, find one that you really mesh with, and avoid the large practices where you don't know who you're going to get on the day of your birth.

Thank you for encouraging me to explore. I did drop Jooske at La Fuente an email. Since she is an expert in waterbirth and practices nearby, I am strongly hoping that she is available and a type of person that I can easily relate to.

[guinness mama]

Update:

She called me a couple days ago and we chatted over phone.
She is currently pregnant and expecting in June. So, she is taking a leave between May and August.
But, she seems to be very personal and easy to relate to. So, I went on to ask her if she can still work with me.

She has one more client who hasn't delivered in my town, so we decided that she will visit me after she will do a postnatal check-up, which should be sometime pretty soon.
She has a colleague near Utrecht who looks after all her clients until the end of August. So, after the initial visit, if I were to work with her, I will see this colleague.
I don't know how this is going to work, but I thought I will at least meet her once and see how it goes.

[mamadaan]

A doula?

Hi,

Yes, I think that the idea of a home birth in the Netherlands is quite different from that in the USA. Some women do build up relationships with their midwives, but most do not. Three different midwives came to my house over a period of 24 hours before I went to hospital during my first labour. My second labour was entirely in hospital. I feel that if you are looking to get to know someone before the labour and them to stay with you all the time during labour, you should consider a doula. You can find a list here: http://www.doula.nl/vinden.htm

Has anyone told you about the kraamverzorgster yet? She may come from a pool of 100 or more women and have little good training on BF and so on! This is a very different idea to the postpartum doulas that work in some countries.

Good luck with sorting things out!