Tag: hospital

  • Where was your daughter born?

    So while initially, after giving birth to my daughter, I was asked very often ‘where did you give birth?’ that question has definitely waned in the last 15 months. It just becomes the sort of question doctors ask you at initial check ups, I guess. And so, oddly, despite everything, I kinda forgot where my…

  • New Israeli homebirth restrictions drafted (where’s midwife trust?)

    From Haaretz: Israel ministry drafts new rules to restrict home births A woman planning to give birth at home will have to obtain a letter from her family doctor testifying that she is both physically and mentally sound, under new regulations being drafted by the Health Ministry that many believe are aimed at curtailing home…

  • Registering your newborn after home birth.

    In Israel, when you give birth in the hospital, the hospital takes care of the bureaucratic paperwork fun-time, otherwise known as getting a teudat zehut number for your newborn. They submit the papers which go to Misrad Hapnim to get processed for a birth certificate and ID number. But when you do a leidat bayit – home…

  • Birthing at Shaarei Tzedek.

    Shaarei Tzedek has quite a different reputation to Hadassah Ein Kerem; offhand I can say that it is more of a hospital’s hospital, procedural, stiff. It’s very religiously-oriented in staff and patients. Less concerned with natural birth, more concerned with working with Hashem to get the baby out and move on (as summed up by…

  • Birthing at Hadassah Ein Kerem.

    I have heard the horror stories: laboring in a janitor’s closet, giving birth in the elevator, no epidural available, recovering in the hallway. I have heard the beautiful stories:  sweet, caring midwives, a tendancy towards leniency, rooming in available,  wonderful aftercare. While I cannot say for sure what it’s like to birth at Hadassah Ein…

  • Homebirth in Israel.

    UPDATE (April 2011): After this post was written, down the road, for my second child, we did a home birth in our apartment in Tzur Hadassah. I’ve got more info on the subject now from firsthand experience and am happy to share: My home birth story: Israel, Tzur Hadassah, apartment, bedroom. Registering your newborn after…

  • Birthing in Jerusalem hospitals.

    As my third trimester quickly approaches, I’ve been getting serious about touring and registering at hospitals, considering alternative birthing options and doing the doula dance. Yep, this is the ‘bureaucratic’ and technical aspect of being pregnant. In the last month we’ve done hospital tours in two popular Jerusalem hospitals: Hadassah Ein Karem and Shaarei Tzedek.…