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Anyone ever had a child at Spangdahlem AFB?

mckay1ammckay1am member
in Military Families

My husband and I are PCSing there in just five weeks, and I am about 7 weeks pregnant. I go to my first OB appointment on Friday, and I am planning to ask my OB to schedule my first ultrasound for before we PCS so that we have peace of mind before we get everything squared away with my doctors at Spangdahlem.

I'm part of a wives' group on FB for that base, and have heard different things. Some people told me that we choose one hospital from three (depending on where we live--and all the hospitals are off-base and for civilians) and there is always an MD working but for the most part I see a mid-wife, and a mid-wife delivers the baby (unless there is a complication). They said that appointments are always late, and basically they made it out to be like a huge pain in the butt.

 Someone else that I know personally AND Tri-West (we are currently in AZ and I asked them when I got my auth for my OB-GYN here) told me that I will have a military OB over there. The woman whom I know personally told me that she delivered both of her babies in Germany, and one was born in the base hospital and the other was born in the civilian hospital but only because there weren't any beds left at the base hospital.

Anybody know anything certain? I hate getting told like eight different things! lol 

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
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Re: Anyone ever had a child at Spangdahlem AFB?

  • bripratt2bripratt2
    Are you worried about the mid wives?
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  • mckay1ammckay1am member
    No, not really. I'm kind of anxious because I don't know how it's going to all work, since everyone is telling me something different. 
    Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
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  • jenguinbearjenguinbear member
    My sister had her second child while stationed at Spang. She didn't mention all the negative things you mentioned, but that doens't mean they didn't happen. She did say that the doctor who delivered her, walked in wearing jeans just in time to catch the baby pretty much. My sister was ready to push and the nurses kept telling her to wait until the doc showed up. He walked in and my niece slipped on out. This was at a German hospital.
    Gabriel 09-11-2012 No dairy, egg, peanuts, tree nuts
    DSC_0803
    DH deployed since July 22
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  • m i l l y m i l l y
    I didn't have a baby at Spangdahlem, but I was pregnant and living in Wiesbaden. I loved my prenatal care (German OB) and really missed it when I moved back to the US.  You have a lot more birthing options in the German hospitals.
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  • jb2rnjb2rn member
    I had my son in a German hospital (Stuttgart) - I would be happy to answer questions about civi hosptials if you would like.
    b/w=FSH 15.6, AMH 0.4 surprise natural BFP on 3/12/11
    DS born via unplanned C-section at 40w6d

    image

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  • IlumineIlumine member
    imagemckay1am:

    My husband and I are PCSing there in just five weeks, and I am about 7 weeks pregnant. I go to my first OB appointment on Friday, and I am planning to ask my OB to schedule my first ultrasound for before we PCS so that we have peace of mind before we get everything squared away with my doctors at Spangdahlem.

    I'm part of a wives' group on FB for that base, and have heard different things. Some people told me that we choose one hospital from three (depending on where we live--and all the hospitals are off-base and for civilians) and there is always an MD working but for the most part I see a mid-wife, and a mid-wife delivers the baby (unless there is a complication). They said that appointments are always late, and basically they made it out to be like a huge pain in the butt.

     Someone else that I know personally AND Tri-West (we are currently in AZ and I asked them when I got my auth for my OB-GYN here) told me that I will have a military OB over there. The woman whom I know personally told me that she delivered both of her babies in Germany, and one was born in the base hospital and the other was born in the civilian hospital but only because there weren't any beds left at the base hospital.

    Anybody know anything certain? I hate getting told like eight different things! lol 

    I was paged to check this post out. DH just retired out of Spangdahlem in August.

    The Spang clinic is just that, a clinic not a hospital.  They do not have beds, period.  So your friend either had her baby at Bitburg before it BRACed or was at another base with a full hospital (maybe Landstuhl?).   

    Once you get enrolled in TRICARE at Spang, you tell them where you are living and they will assign you a German provider at one of the three local hospitals, Bitburg, Wittlich or Trier.  You will see your German OB throughout the entire pregnancy into the birth.

    As for the mid-wife issue, I know three people who had babies there and none of them had mid-wives deliver for them, they were all done by their OB.  And their wait times for their appointments were no different than the wait times on base.

    I will say this though, my good friend is one of the German OB nurses in Bitburg hospital.  Whenever I mentioned her to my Spouse friends, they all gushed over her.

    I am very jealous that you are going there. We loved every minute we were there and desperately tried to stay longer, but when we couldn't (stupid chiefs group) we decided to retire instead.

    file:///Users/Ilumine/Desktop/Family%20Portrait%20for%20gift.jpg
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