What's Finnish for 'epidural'!?

[scoobymcdoo]

Hi

We are moving to Espoo in November from the UK and I will be 25 weeks pregnant then (the baby is due in February).

I am slightly worried at the prospect of giving birth in a foreign country surrounded by people who I wont be able to understand. This will be our first baby so I'm worried about the whole process generally.
I will get a 20 week scan here in the UK and then we will move, what is Finland like for scanning and pregnancy care? Any recommendations on hospitals etc. I hear Finland is the one of the coldest months, what should we bear in mind?

Any tips would be very welcome,
Many thanks,
Hannah

[hemuli]

Espoo is

[Rosamunda]

I sent you a PM... with my e-mail. Just in case the storm takes the lines down overnight

Penny

[bubble]

Hi,
Nothing to be too worried about, I arrived here 32 weeks pregnant just 3 weeks before my twins were born. It was a little late so at 25 weeks there is plenty of time for you to get sorted into the health care system.
You will be treated as a tourist with your passport or E111 until you get your residency and KELA card, that does take a while, so get the ball rolling as soon as you have an address.

I found the medical care I recieved very good and had an english speaking midwife asigned to me in the maternity hospital, during the labour they spoke finnish to each other but when I needed to know something they spoke English and I never felt like I was uninformed at any point.

You might want to read up a bit about the labour as you will not be able to attend birthing classes here due to the language thing. Unless you can find an english speaking midwife to give you a one to one session before hand.

You will have to be prepared to pay for your stay in hospital though, in Helsinki last year it was 26 euros per day, and scan visits cost I think around 22 euros. Although your local healthcentre post natal visits and afterwards with the baby (neuvola) are free.

Febuary is pretty chilly, but you will have been here a few months by then and aclimatized. My girls were real small during the winter and if anything I dressed them up so much they were toasty warm, they have all the right gear here for winter babies so no worries. Prams that work well in snow etc.


Sorry for the long ramble! I hope penelope hasn't already told you all of this.

If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to PM me.

Kind Regards

liz (aka bubble)

[Nathan Lillie]

Hi

We are moving to Espoo in November from the UK and I will be 25 weeks pregnant then (the baby is due in February).

I am slightly worried at the prospect of giving birth in a foreign country surrounded by people who I wont be able to understand. This will be our first baby so I'm worried about the whole process generally.
I will get a 20 week scan here in the UK and then we will move, what is Finland like for scanning and pregnancy care? Any recommendations on hospitals etc. I hear Finland is the one of the coldest months, what should we bear in mind?

Any tips would be very welcome,
Many thanks,
Hannah

I've just done all this stuff. Rather, my wife did, and I watched while she suffered, but it was still hard. The birthing process generally, I mean, not the being in Finlad.

Epidural is "epidurali" or something like that. I was able to understand the word without looking it up, so it must have been a close cognate. But I can't remember for sure what it was.

Finland is really good with pre-natal care. My wife was constantly going in for one thing or another, and we never received any bills. They send you a "starter kit" of baby stuff, in a box, too.

We went to the Kätilöopisto Maternity Hospital, which is at:

Sofianlehdonkatu 5 A
P.O. Box 610, FIN-00029 HUS
Tel. (09) 471 65505
Int. tel. +358 9 471 65505

That's near Pasila in Helsinki.

They are fixed up for anything related to maternity. I was pretty impressed with the whole experience. There were some difficulties with the birth, which I thought the staff there handled very well, and in the end managed to successfully resolve. Most of the heavy lifting is done by midwives, but they have doctors around to consult, and whenever a problem comes up lots of doctors show up.

As far as language goes, I mostly spoke Finnish, but some of the staff could speak English, and were able to explain things in English if I didn't understand some Finnish words. So I think they could probably give you a midwife who speaks English by shifting the staff around as needed. But I don't know for sure - they don't really select midwives for English skills I think so it's just luck of the draw.

We got a "family room" which costs about 50 euros a night, including all meals. That means that wife, husband and baby can all stay and sleep in their own hospital room. You can get a cheaper version, but then you have to share, and there will be no husband staying all night. They like to keep you in for 3 nights, if there are no complications.

[bubble]

They send you a "starter kit" of baby stuff, in a box, too.

We went to the Kätilöopisto Maternity Hospital, which is at:

Sofianlehdonkatu 5 A
P.O. Box 610, FIN-00029 HUS
Tel. (09) 471 65505
Int. tel. +358 9 471 65505

That's near Pasila in Helsinki.

You only qualify for the starter kit (worth 500euros) if you register with a health centre before the end of your 4th month of pregnancy. So it might be worth you coming here before your 20 week scan to get all the finnish maternity benefits, otherwise it is a real run around.

This link tells you what you are entitled to from KELA (finlands social security office)...

http://193.209.217.5/in/internet/englis ... enDocument

If you are moving to Espoo they have their own maternity hospitals there, this one is north east of the city cenre in Helsinki.

[squeak]

Answer to the original question is "ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ!!

By the way- I had my first child in Kätilöopisto hospital(a training hospital) and it was a complete nightmare for me and my family. Yes the family room was good but the birth and post natal care was extremely bad leading to 7 months of hell and my baby hospitalised when problems should have been dealt with in the birthing hospital. (That's just the tip of the iceberg!). Next two births were in Naisten klinikka in Helsinki(near the centre) and I was much more satisfied with their attitude and the all round care. I don't think the problems were language problems- just an unfortunate string of events.

[alloydog]

I think you mean:
"Vitut luomusynnytykselle, haluan kaikki mahdolliset lääkityset !

[kwallette]

Squeak,

Thanks for that post!!! My husband and I will have our first baby in November and we are delivering at Naistenklinikka. I have been a wee bit nervous (okay, a lot nervous) because people that I have talked to have or are delivering at Kätilöopisto. I don't really know what kinds of experiences people have had at Naistenklinikka. Any further information you could provide about your experience at Naistenklinikka would be fantastic!!! Thanks a million.

Kari

[Hank W.]

Atleast in 1970 the lights were bright and they slapped me on the butt...

just remembered I did find my hospital certificate how big I was etc., but theres too much paper and it "went" somewhere...

[alloydog]

Apparently, when I was a grumpy teenager, my mum asked her doctor if it wasn't too late for a termination...

[scoobymcdoo]

Alloydog,

What did you write in Finnish? I'm only chapter 4 of my 'Learn Finnish' book!

Kiitos!

Hannah

[alloydog]

Alloydog,

What did you write in Finnish? I'm only chapter 4 of my 'Learn Finnish' book!

Kiitos!

Hannah

Basically "F µCK natural childbirth, GIVE ME ALL THE DRUGS YOU'VE GOT "
I've had an epidural - Nooooo, I've never been pregnant (I just look it ) It's quite a weird feeling as your lower half slowly warms up with a mild 'pins and needles' sensation - your muscles come alive first, then the joints are last, but even when everthing feels back to normal, you're still wobbley legged for a while - though I get with you, you won't exactly be be leaping around for a few days at least

[squeak]

For the first twenty something weeks of my first pregnancy I was in the UK and had scans and routine check ups there and when I came to Finland they took over in my nearest "neuvola" .They deal with all the usual things (blood pressure, baby's heart beat, weight gain, etc..) and have their own scheduled doctors check ups for you. After the birth they will look after you until your final post natal check up and of course your baby is their customer until school age! I think that it's possible to find someone who speaks English in practically any "neuvola" in the Helsinki area. You just have to ask.
About Naistenkliniika, I think it's a good choice of hospital as it is so central to Helsinki and is just a stones throw from the childrens hospital if there is a need for extra treatment. They are quite used to foreigners giving birth in the hospital and I felt that they didn't make an issue at all of the fact that I was foreign. (At a time when you are giving birth to your first child you don't want to feel self conscious about not being Finnish. It's nice to just focus on the birth and then the baby!). I had to spend some time in the wards before the birth of my third child. It wasn't such a great place to be but they dealt with the problems in a professional manner.
There seem to be some choices of birthing rooms. There may be a pool in one of the rooms. Our room for our second child had a water bed in it! Didn't feel the urge to get on it at that stage! The midwives were very calm and seemed to want to get the epidural in as soon as possible!! Just need to say it as soon as it looks like you're going to the birthing room. There were no students watching and all in all the birthing room was quite a calm place to be. I spent the entire night (and slept too!) in one trying to deliver my third! Just the odd cry of a new baby every now and then!
The rooms have their own bathrooms with shower and a tv. Also a telephone next to your bed .They automatically open an account for you during your stay so you can call the outside world (even England) and people can also call you direct. You get the bill with the hospital bill in the post! A few more midwives are on hand for the big moment and then it's just calm again. Oh by the way- my husband was present. It's pretty normal here. He cut the cord , bathed the baby etc..Then they bring some food and drink and ask what kind of room you'd llike to stay in. When they're really busy I think there can be 5 or 6 even in a room but the norm is 2. I on the other hand managed to wangle a single room out of them and what's more I got the same room both times!! I actually think I got their sympathy from my Kätilöopisto experiences and I also said that as I was foreign I felt that it might be more relaxing to not have to share with someone I couldn't converse with. Anyway, lucky me. I had the best treatment and therefore was quite satisfied. There are also family rooms in the same ward as my room (short stay ward on the 6th floor(sounds like a car park) that used to be called"lysy" ). Anyway, the type of room depends on what type of treatment you need and if you had a cesarian etc.. After the birth there are some physio sessions but I can't remember if they had one in English. They did have hand outs though in English and also in the hospital room there was all the information you might need in English.
My third childs birth was not perfect but I still feel that I was in the best place. My child lived and that is the most important thing! You must always ask if you're not sure about something and if you cannot for some reason communicate with the midwife then ask if it would be possible to change. It's for the best.
Generally speaking the health care in this country is over stretched and the Finns moan about it all the time but anyway I think it's of a very high standard and some of the things I hace described would be seen as sheer luxury in the UK.
About the climate, it becomes quite natural dressing the baby for the Finnish cold weather. Takes a bit of getting used to but anyway the snow suits and sleeping bags are so snug that your baby can even have it's naps in the pram outside or when you're walking around unless it's colder than say -8 or very windy. All these things will come naturally! Don't worry!
Please if there's anything else you would like to know about moving here and having the baby I'd love to help. I may have some answers to some questions! By the way- don't try translating what Alloydog wrote! Not pretty but too right- epidurals/drugs are fantastic. Don't let anyone (especially someone who hasn't given birth) say otherwise! You can actually control the amount you have so you don't lose all feeling. I had 4 epidurals for my third child. I would not have managed without. .It doesn't numb everything and I felt the whole birth. I had no problem walking around after the delivery and had no adverse effects in the following hours or days. My baby was also unaffected by the drug. People have such strange views about epidurals. Would these people like to have a tooth out with no pain killer I ask?

[strawberry]

I've had an epidural - Nooooo, I've never been pregnant (I just look it ) It's quite a weird feeling as your lower half slowly warms up with a mild 'pins and needles' sensation - your muscles come alive first, then the joints are last, but even when everthing feels back to normal, you're still wobbley legged for a while - though I get with you, you won't exactly be be leaping around for a few days at least

No, mate, uz women are given the lowest-possible-dose-epidural (with top-ups as needed) at child birth and it is the bee's knees!!! When they first started being used in the UK they were called "mobile epidurals" as opposed to the "can't feel a flippin' thing" one, because with these ones you can (in theory, mind ) even walk around if you so wish. You feel the contractions, or at least when it's time to push, and you can walk to the bathroom as soon as you've been stiched up ( ), no pins and needles in legs whatsoever! Grrrreat! Had it three times...