Further Information

Björkin ljósmæður (Björkin Midwives) is a company founded in 2009. It is owned and operated by two midwives, ArneyÞórarinsdóttir and Hrafnhildur Halldórsdóttir. The midwives main work is attending homebirths in Reykjavík and surrounding area. They also provide maternity care, postpartum care, counseling, birth preparation classes and acupuncture, amongst other things. In the last five years, the midwives have attended over 200 homebirths, and are now going to expand their services by opening a birth clinic so more families can experience birth out of hospital and in a homelike environment with a midwife they know and trust. The clinic is located at Síðumúli 10 in Reykjavík, where Björkin is now located. The birth clinic will be available for healthy women who are experiencing low risk pregnancy, focusing specifically on providing continuity care for women who live outside the capital area, and offering them a place to give birth, as many of these women have to travel to Reykjavík and don’t have access to birthing services in their hometown. Women living in Reykjavík interested in giving birth with a midwife they know in a homelike environment will also be welcome in the birth clinic. The women will be receiving maternity care in the last few weeks of pregnancy (approximately from week 32), and care during birth and the first week after birth. The care will be paid for by Sjúkratryggingar Íslands (the national health insurancecompany).

Architectural changes to Björkin have already been drawn, approved by the appropriate authorities and financed, including a brand new birthing room. Walls are being built, plumbing is in the works, with a plan of having everything ready for furnishings in April 2016. Which is why we need your help. For the clinic to be ready for women to give birth in, we need certain things. We need, for example, a nice and comfortable bed for delivery, a birthing pool, birthing equipment necessary for every birth, washing machine, dryer, linen, pillows, covers, sheets, furniture - basically everything you need to make a beautiful room. If we exceed our goal, we will use the extra finances to make a beautiful sitting room for families.

Today, we have a lot fewer birthplaces in Iceland than we had only a decade ago. Women have had to travel increasingly longer distances to give birth to their babies. Birthing services in Reykjavík are also becoming more limited, with only one big delivery ward in Landspítali, the country’s biggest hospital. There were previously other options that allowed women to give birth in a more natural environment, but are no longer open. Women living in places where there is no hospital/birthplace, and no midwife to offer continuous care, are not offered the same opportunities as their fellow women who choose to give birth at home in Reykjavík. With this new birth clinic, they will also have the opportunity of receiving continuous of care, with the same midwife providing care in late pregnancy, during childbirth and postpartum. Recent studies indicate that it’s very important for women to (be able to) choose the place of birth, because it is linked to better outcomes during birth. The British NICE guidelines for pregnancy and birth, advice low risk women to give birth at home or in a midwifery lead unit, because it has shown better outcomes for both mother and baby.

It is time for a midwifery-led birth clinic in Iceland, where healthy, low risk women can give birth with a midwife they know and trust. Women must be able to choose a birth place best suited to their needs. Women have been waiting for a new birth clinic in Reykjavík for many years and it is finally becoming a reality. We believe that with the opening of the Björkin birth clinic, there will be even better services for pregnant women and their families in Iceland.