Here in Norway it was a pretty nice process. We have neighbourhood ‘health clinics’ where there are midwives and baby nurses and paediatricians that a pregnant woman and women with infants and small children visit regularly. We get a little book when the baby is born and it’s growth and inoculations are written down. It’s also a ‘drop in’ facility, but you are assigned this clinic by your GP when you are pregnant, but I can’t imagine they would turn anyone way looking for just basic advice. Money does not change hands during this process. No bill when you leave the hospital. No charge for the baby’s check ups or shots. Even children’s dentist visits are free. Grown ups pay and arm and a leg for dentistry though.
When I had my little one, the maternity ward was undergoing renovation… so we were in kind of an icky part of the hospital. Had my birth been straight forward, I could have gotten to say in one of the maternity apartments, which looks like a small hotel room where your husband can stay over, but my son was a ‘star gazer’ and had jaundice, so I had to be where the medical staff was, which was a large shared room with 4 other women and ended up there for a week.
In The Netherlands, the doctors don’t want to see a pregnant woman. Unless there are special circumstances, or she’s ill, she delivers at home with a midwife. It’s not considered a ‘medical condition’. My sister-in.law had all three of her babies at home and the third one came so fast, the midwife didn’t make it in time and my brother-in.law had to catch the baby. I make fun of this when I sit on their couch, telling them I feel funny sitting where she’s given birth. hahaha.
@JLeslie Here in Norway, people are paid less for the same job if they don’t have a related or approved degree. I don’t think it’s right either. I worked in New Zealand where you were paid for the job, not your degree. There are no fees for University other than living expenses and your books, so if you want to get a job that requires a degree, there isn’t that much in your way. Government study loans are easy to get.