Home or hospital birth?

The starting point: low-risk pregnancy = your choice

If your pregnancy is going well and you have no medical complications, the choice between giving birth at home, in a hospital outpatient setting, or in a birth centre is largely yours. In the Netherlands all three are well-supported options for low-risk pregnancies.

Your midwife guides you through your delivery in each of these options — what changes is the location and access to medical interventions.

Home birth

Giving birth at home is a long-standing Dutch tradition. About 13% of births in the Netherlands happen at home — one of the highest rates in the world.

Advantages

• Your own familiar environment — less stress, more sense of control
• No transfer with contractions in active labour
• Your partner and family are easily present
• Calmer transition into the postnatal period

Considerations

• You need a suitable home setting (a heated room, hot water, a bed where the midwife can attend)
• If you want full pain relief (epidural), you transfer to hospital
• If complications arise, transfer can take 10–30 minutes depending on location

Outpatient hospital birth

A hospital outpatient birth (Dutch: poliklinisch) is supported by your own midwife in a hospital labour room. You go home a few hours after birth if everything is well.

Advantages

• Direct access to medical facilities if needed
• Pain relief options like epidural are available
• Some women feel safer in a hospital setting

Considerations

• You travel during labour
• The setting is less familiar
• There’s a small fee (eigen bijdrage) if there’s no medical indication for hospital birth

From Femme’s practice, we support outpatient births at HMC Westeinde and HagaZiekenhuis.

Birth centre

A birth centre is a homely setting near or in a hospital. There’s no birth centre in Den Haag itself but they exist in nearby cities.

What if your pregnancy is not low-risk?

If you have a medical indication (high blood pressure, previous Caesarean, complications), you’ll give birth in a hospital under specialist care. Your midwife will still be involved in your care during pregnancy and after birth.

You can change your mind

You don’t have to decide before week 36. Some women plan a home birth and transfer during labour if they want pain relief or it turns out it’s more comfortable. There’s no “wrong” choice — the goal is a safe, well-supported birth.

Birth plan

Around 30 weeks we sit down with you to write a birth plan. What feels important, what would you like to avoid, what are your wishes if things change. The plan is there to support you — not to lock you in.