Out-of-hospital birth (english version)

How and where we are born matters.

Legislation in Germany provides families a free choice of where to give birth. At the Birth Centre Bad Oldesloe, we attend home births and births in one of our two birthing rooms.

We accompany home births, for example in Bad Oldesloe, Bad Segeberg, Bargteheide, Ahrensburg, the outskirts of Hamburg, Mölln, Reinfeld, etc.
If you want to get in touch with us for a planned home birth, please let us know where you live, so that we can take that into account when responding.

We are organised in two teams of three midwives each. You will get to know your midwives in consultation and prenatal care appointments during your pregnancy. Midwifery-led care includes all the check-ups called for by the German maternity guidelines (“Mutterschaftsrichtlinien”), such as blood tests, urine tests, the assessment of a baby’s heartbeat, growth and positioning. We refer you to gynaecologists for the three standard ultrasound exams or if any of our observations lead to conspicuous results that should be checked by a doctor.

Most of your birth will be attended by one midwife in a 1:1 care setting. A second midwife will offer additional support during the last phase of birth.

Our goal is to offer birthing people a safe and secure atmosphere for a self-determined birth. Of course, the safety of mother and child are always our utmost priority.

Evidence shows that many tests and interventions often recommended to pregnant or birthing women do not lead to healthier pregnancies or births. However, they can lead to more tests and interventions. For this reason, we largely do without electronic foetal monitoring (EFM, also known as cardiotocography, CTG). Instead, we listen to the foetal heartbeat in regular intervals. This approach is recommended by the current guidelines for healthy vaginal birth in all settings when 1:1 care is ensured.

The levels of labour pain experienced during birth are often reduced by being in a setting where you feel secure and safe. The presence of people and care providers you know, the minimization of external disturbances and your absolute freedom of movement are additional factors that support the natural, biochemical processes in the body and thus reduce pain.

Evidence shows that more mothers and children can be discharged together from out-of-hospital births than in-hospital births.

We guarantee an on-call service of two midwives for the duration of five weeks as of the 38th week of pregnancy. Health insurance companies only cover these costs in part, or not at all. They do cover the costs of the birth itself and the running costs for the birth centre.

We are obligated to provide quality management and are regularly reviewed by an external expert.

QUAG e.V. (“Gesellschaft für Qualität in der außerklinischen Geburtshilfe“, tranlates to “Society for Quality in Out-of-Hospital Birth Care”) has been documenting the outcomes of all home and birth centre births in Germany since 1997. This is just one of the resources that show that home and birth centre births are safe.

We regularly attend skill enhancement and refresher trainings so that we are able to respond to rare emergency situations in the best possible way.

As we can only provide care for a limited number of families, we recommend that you register as soon as you know you are pregnant. However, there is sometimes still a chance to receive care if you get in touch at a later date.

German-language resources to read up on:

Information evening / Q and A meeting

You’re going to be parents and want to be informed about possible places to give birth?
You've heard of birth centres before, but don't really know what they do?
You didn’t know you could give birth in Bad Oldesloe?
You’re curious about midwifery-led care?

Then you are warmly invited to our open information evening and Q and A meeting at the Birth Centre Bad Oldesloe! Here, we outline our work and have time to answer all your questions. Please note, that the information evening is in German.
If you prefer to get in touch with us directly because of a language barrier, just write an email to . We can then arrange a first appointment in English in a 1:1 setting.

The information evening takes place every third Wednesday of the month from 6.30-8pm. You do not have to register in order to attend.

The next evenings will be on:

February 19th / March 19th / April 16th / May 21st / June 18th

Geburtshaus Bad Oldesloe, Salinenstraße 31c, 23843 Bad Oldesloe
Please park in the surrounding streets.

We look forward to seeing you there! Your midwifery team Bad Oldesloe

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