Baby Bellies on Bikes: Documenting my Pregnancy for The Parent Voice

In December we got to announce our exciting news and last week we found out that we are having another girl. We are so happy and feel so blessed and Aya is super excited about her little baby sister. Even though I have written quite a few articles on pregnancy on my own blog and will continue to do so, I have decided to document certain aspects of my pregnancy on The Parent Voice. The Parent Voice is an amazing multicultural platform for parents from all over the world. I have written several articles for The Parent Voice, my most recent about being an Island girl raising my daughter in Dutchieland. And in the coming months I will write a series called “Baby Bellies on Bikes“. I will share my experience and thoughts on being pregnant in the Netherlands.

My first post is about the medicalization of pregnancy and birth in the Netherlands and my thoughts and choices when it comes to this.


As I’m writing this, my 2.5-year-old daughter is asleep next to me. I look at her rosy cheeks and blond hair and can’t help but wonder if there is another rosy cheeked baby girl growing in my belly right now, or if it’s a boy this time. We will find out soon and I cannot wait. Either way, I will be over the moon – I just want this baby to be healthy.

We are doing an extra ultrasound, to determine the sex of the baby. In Holland you get two ultrasounds, through your insurance. One at 12 weeks and one at 20 weeks. If you are a healthy mama and baby, you will then either need to curb your curiosity until birth or – as we are doing – book extra ultrasounds.

Booking private ultrasounds is part of a change in how women think and feel about pregnancy and birth, in the Netherlands. It is less and less perceived as a natural part of life, but becoming something “medical” instead. In a world where we leave nothing to chance or in the hands of a God many of us have lost a long time ago, exercising control through the medicalization of pregnancy and birth is quickly becoming the norm. Read more.


What else can you expect?

I will also write about raising girls in the Netherlands, giving birth here, how things like maternity leave are arranged, about breastfeeding and many other pregnancy and birth related subjects!  All of these posts will be exclusive to The Parent Voice, so be sure to follow them on Facebook.

Thank you for reading!

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