Krankenhaus Nord

The obstetric department in Krankenhaus Nord is a combination of the Semmelweis clinic team’s decades of experience and the most modern hospital in Europe. Here, tried and tested methods take new routes!
Although our main objective is to respond to the individual needs of the families we take care of and combine this with medical know-how and human intuition.

If you are experiencing regular contractions, or your waters have broken, you should head to the labour ward.
In the local admission room, there is a midwife waiting to monitor your baby’s heartbeat using a CTG and observe your labour as it progresses. Using this, the team will make a decision with you on whether you are admitted to hospital or should return home.
Arriving at the delivery suite, you will be supported through labour and delivery by your midwife together with your birthing partner in the best way possible. Depending on the circumstances and your needs, we can either remain in the background or actively support you, providing massages, essential oils and just the right encouragement. Our facilities also provide you with a range of options with four birthing pools, mats, birthing stools and cordless CTG machines so you are free to move around.
Once your baby is born, we attach great importance to skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby, and also during the time following the birth when the placenta is delivered, which promotes bonding and helps when you first attempt to breastfeed.
Approximately two to three hours after the birth, you will receive further support on our maternity ward, which is run according to a new midwife-led care model with rooming in and intuitive breastfeeding.

We are seldom confronted by those wishing to have a caesarian which are not for medical reasons.
From our own obstetric understanding, our primary goal is to support women seeking a natural, vaginal birth. Should exceptional circumstances be the reasoning behind an elected caesarian, these reasons may be clarified in an extensive psychological discussion. The medical head of the department will make the final decision.

The right birth partner plays an important role in the birthing process – whether it’s the father of the child, a sister, friend, or mother. We know that having someone you trust in the room can make the labour and delivery process much easier, and we’re happy to show you ways of supporting the mother-to-be.
We’re happy to welcome birth partners to our labour ward – but please, only bring one!. In the interests of the expectant mothers we ask you to respect this rule.
In the event of a caesarian section, so far as circumstances allow, your birth partner can be called into theatre after the initial preparations have been made, normally to remain with you and your baby until the end of the operation.

We always make an effort to accommodate the individual needs of the mother-to-be as much as possible. For us, this also means giving them the freedom to choose the birthing position, supported by the expertise of your midwife.

Contractions and pain in labour can vary significantly from one mother-to-be to another with regards to the type of pain and its intensity. Only the patient themselves can decide on the best form of pain management during labour, together with the responsible midwife and doctor.
The continual assistance of our experienced midwives, warm baths, movement and support, relaxation and massage are further methods to ease pain during labour. Should this not be enough, we have varying degrees of pain medication right up to an epidural administered by anaesthetists who are available around the clock.

Feeling comfortable during the birth can really help labour to progress well. Our delivery suites provide you with a safe space,plenty of room to move around and, amongst other things, the opportunity to use scented oils and play any music you might have brought with you. Each of our rooms also have their own shower and toilet so you don’t need to leave this safe space during labour.
As a teaching hospital of the Medical University of Vienna, and of the FH Campus Vienna, we also aim to give students practical obstetric experience. For this reason, individual students, always under supervision, may play an active role in your treatment, in line with our philosophy. Respectful and friendly interaction with the women, families and their privacy goes without saying, and also contributes to the pleasant environment where patients can feel safe and well.
On the maternity ward, we like to adhere to the visiting times as it is important for women and newborns to rest following the birth and the new family needs time to become acquainted.

We endeavour to avoid prescribing medicinal pain relief in favour of low-level intervention obstetrics.
We therefore advocate the use of complementary medicine to support the natural processes during pregnancy and birth, to encourage labour for example. In addition, we often work with aromatherapy, should medical circumstances allow, using warm pillows or relaxing baths to help the woman to personally manage her contractions.
In some cases, we enlist our specially trained hypnosis team.

In order to actively encourage the relationship between parents and their baby after the birth, we attach great importance to bonding. Immediately after the birth, the baby is placed straight onto their mother’s chest and remains there until it has latched on and had a feed. Should this not be possible for the mother, the father can also have skin-to-skin contact with their child.
In Krankenhaus Nord, providing that both mother and baby are well and staffing resources allow, it is also possible to bond after a planned or emergency caesarian section. Your midwife and birth partner will help you with this. After this, you will be cared for by midwives in your own room on the delivery ward and can continue to bond with your baby.

Our medical team in the gynaecology and obstetrics department is supported by psychologists and the FEM Elternambulanz (parent outpatient clinic for women, parents and girls).
Should there be any acute crisis situations, you can rely on the specialist expertise of the psychiatric department in KH Nord.

Close contact between mother and child is a top priority in our clinic. In our clinic, rooming in means that you have your baby in your room with you around the clock, and that they are only taken into the nursery on exceptional medical grounds.
This means that you can get to know your baby from the minute they are born and look after your newborn yourself with our support, if wanted or required. This gives you a chance to prepare for those first few days at home and has a positive impact on your breastfeeding relationship.
We also take rooming in to mean that the baby’s father and siblings are also involved in the baby’s care from the very start. This is why we offer full-day visiting times for fathers and siblings, as well as the opportunity for fathers to stay in one of our family rooms.

Breastfeeding stimulates the senses – all 5!
Breastfeeding babies smell, taste, hear, feel and see their mother, building a unique inner relationship with her. Encouraging this all-important first bond is our priority. For this reason we offer professional breastfeeding support.
After the birth, we put a great emphasis on giving you enough time for successful bonding (skin-to-skin contact with the mother until first latching onto the breast). In-patients on the postnatal ward receive professional advice and support from our midwives, nurses in the nursery and certified breastfeeding consultants (IBCLC).
Even if you are unable to breastfeed or you do not wish to, we will accompany you on your path and provide you with all of the necessary information.
Should your baby be cared for in the newborn intensive care unit, we will support you in collaboration with the staff in the neonatal unit to take the necessary measures for lactation and production until your baby is able to drink independently from your breast.

Taking care of individual families is one of our top priorities. This of course includes taking into consideration special, cultural or religious requirements wherever possible. However, please understand that certain requests (for example the provision of care by female doctors only) cannot be observed.

We do not have any professional interpreters in our departments but many of our information booklets on birth, maternity wards, breastfeeding or psychological topics are multilingual. Our multilingual staff are on hand to aid comprehension should any language-related problems arise.
Please bring someone with you to act as an interpreter at appointments at the antenatal outpatient clinic (if needed). Here you will find lots of important information and receive results of investigations.
It is also recommended that you have someone with you at the birth who can translate the important information. Please consider this when choosing a birth partner.

The first few days after the birth are often particularly demanding for new parents. This is why some mothers and fathers wish to spend this turbulent time at home in a familiar environment. Unless there are any medical reasons preventing it, just a few hours after the birth, possibly even after one night on the ward, you and your baby may go home within the framework of an outpatient birth and you can go back to the peace and quiet of your four walls. If you are planning to do this, please look into finding a midwife who will care for and support you at home, as well as a paediatrician.