The Red Cross Clinic in Munich already has six delivery rooms. Now there will be a new delivery room in which midwives carry out births on their own. It will open in autumn and you can register as early as mid-July. Then a team of 20 midwives takes care of expectant mothers who want a natural birth. Without medical intervention and almost without medication.
In an “interprofessional” delivery room, a doctor is always present who works closely with the midwife; in a delivery room run by midwives, the woman is cared for without doctors. The fact that this new delivery room is now coming – “a great wish has come true for me,” says Ina Rühl. Rühl has been head of obstetrics at the Red Cross Clinic since April, but she has been carrying the idea for a delivery room run by midwives with her for a long time. Convinced that it is important to enable women to give birth naturally. Also because that is what most women would want.
Give the pregnant woman time
Of course, this means: giving the mother-to-be the time that the birth needs and looking after her 1:1. Without drugs that accelerate labor. One midwife attends to the woman giving birth all the time, and a second comes in when the second and third stages of labor begin. “We want,” says Rühl, “that the birth is as beautiful as possible for the women and does not turn into a bad experience.”
It has been proven, says the 48-year-old doctor, that care by a midwife lowers the rate of caesarean sections and that women are more relaxed. They should also be in good and human hands “in their pain”. Soon after registering for the birth in the new delivery room, the women get to know their midwives and meet them regularly. And again and again it is clarified in all examinations whether it amounts to a risk-free birth. Because only births without risk, says Rühl, would be carried out in the new delivery room. No twin births, for example, or when the babies are in the breech position, i.e. bottom first.
Any supply is possible
A former four-bed room is currently being converted into a large room in the clinic – with beautiful light, a water pool, a bit of color and comfortable chairs for the dads-to-be. Two women can give birth at the same time. But, according to the 48-year-old chief physician, there is also a “beautiful” room with a view of the countryside. Here the women can rest before they really get going. The special thing about the new delivery room: It is only a few meters away from the “interprofessional” delivery room. If unforeseen situations did arise, according to Rühl, “everything is nearby” and every supply is possible.
In many technical discussions in 2020, midwives and doctors had already expressed great interest in a midwifery delivery room. But then Corona came. Talks only continued in December 2022 – also with the health department and the Red Cross Clinic, which had expressed great interest in a midwifery delivery room from the start. Therefore, the joy at the most recent meeting of the health committee is at least as great as that of Ina Rühl. The third mayor, Verena Dietl (SPD), sees “a new and contemporary offer” in the new midwifery delivery room. The fact that this delivery room has become possible is a “good sign for the midwives,” says Kathrin Abele (SPD). And Angelika Pilz-Strasser (Greens) makes it even clearer: “It’s a good day for women.”