Who's in Denmark?

Quote:
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

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?

Quote:
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

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

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!

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

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.