Choosing BB in Stockholm
But before we knock on the door at the home of intensive care nurse Caroline and her husband Khaldon, we thought we'd clarify how the BB choice works and which clinics you can choose from.
What does choice of care mean?
In the Stockholm Region, there is a choice of care in maternity care. This means that pregnant couples at the 25th week of pregnancy can choose a birthing unit that has space in the week that the birth is expected. When labor starts, you must contact the unit you have chosen. If it should be full that particular day, it is that unit that arranges a place on another unit and informs where to go instead.
Which clinics can you choose from?
- Södersjukhuset
- Södertälje Hospital
- Karolinska University Hospital in Solna
- Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge
- Danderyd Hospital
- BB Stockholm
In short, you have the right to choose what you want but it is not guaranteed that you will get what you choose (which we think should be every woman's right to give birth where she wants). But we ignore getting into politics and instead knock on the expert's door.
Hi Caroline & Khaldon, thank you for inviting us and pump you for BB tips! Shall we title you professional BB selectors?
Khaldon: Haha we would probably say that we are far from experts considering that this is the first child.
But a bit of an expert, can you still say you're Caroline? After all, you have worked in emergency healthcare for a long time and were also a teacher on the specialist nursing program - specializing in ambulance healthcare. So for us you are more of an expert than the people in the tips threads on Familjeliv. So the expert 😉 which BB should you weigh?
Caroline: When we started looking around, it became natural that we talked to friends and colleagues about their experiences, but then we started checking more facts (we love facts). What we compared was the number of care places, what resources look like if something goes wrong, convenience and aftercare. We also investigated how many births take place at each clinic and also talked to some friends who work as midwives in Stockholm.
Okay, smart! We told you that you are experts 😉 How did it look? With the number of births at each clinic, then?
Khaldon: Oh, I don't have that in my head (Khaldon takes out the mobile phone). Okay here are the numbers for 2020:
Södersjukhuset: 7,585
Södertälje Hospital: 2,405
Karolinska University Hospital in Solna: 3,269
Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge: 4,571
Danderyd Hospital: 6,350
BB Stockholm: 4,182
Can we go back to the "resources if something goes wrong" thing?
Caroline: I'm probably injured at work (always have disaster preparedness) and really have no evidence that one clinic is better than the other, but I want to be in a hospital that I know carries out major operations and where there is a neonatal ward. Then the choice fell on Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge. There are more tiles that have it as well, but it was the distance between the home and the hospital that had to guide the choice.
Then we had to give up convenience because we chose Huddinge. The rooms may not be super cozy and the food so-so, but I wanted to feel safe in terms of care.
Was there anything else that influenced your choice?
Caroline: Maybe not a vital detail, but something that was a big plus was that I was told that you would be able to bathe in all rooms during labor at Huddinge. I have pain as soon as I move and bathing has been the only thing that has helped with the joint pain during pregnancy.
"I want to be in a hospital that I know performs major operations"
You who work in healthcare Caroline, is there really that much difference between tiles?
Caroline: In some cases, there can certainly be differences in routines and care choices between different clinics, but the big difference is probably mostly about which staff is working when you are about to give birth. As in all workplaces, staff may have different skills and routines. The load can also vary during the day and affect how patients are prioritized. And then there can be big differences in the experience.
So it's about the staff?
Caroline: Both yes and no, it's complicated and there isn't a single factor that controls everything. But for my own part, it has been important for me to convey what I need. I have written a detailed maternity letter, how I want to communicate, what makes me feel safe, etc. But then you probably have to be quite open there on the spot if you feel that you are not clicking. The midwives are usually very good at rotating staff in cases where patient and staff do not communicate very well with each other.
Khaldon: I think one reason why the experiences differ so much has to do with the workload of the staff. If there were infinite resources, every woman would get better care, you can't get away from that.
"If there were infinite resources, every woman would get better care, you can't get away from that."
Now we have talked a lot about the clinics, but you Caroline mentioned something interesting about the importance of having the same midwife during pregnancy. Tell me more!
Caroline: I saw a study study from 2015 where 17,600 women from 15 different research projects were included, where they saw many positive effects of having the same midwife throughout the pregnancy. The study shows fewer caesarean sections, fewer spinal anesthetics and suction bells were not used to the same extent as in other births. There were also more spontaneous births that did not need to be initiated. There were also fewer premature births and fewer women needed to be circumcised.
We vote for every woman to have her own midwife throughout her pregnancy! Then we wish you the best of luck with the birth, we cheer you on and hope we can come back and follow up on how it went?
Of course you can come back, we promise to offer the whole birth story and a review of the birth clinic.
