Dagmar Looij-Kurtze

Please let me introduce myself: My name is Dagmar Looij-Kurtze and I was born in 1982 in the Slotervaart Hospital with the help of a midwife in training. When my mother was pregnant with my sister, I was six years old and became curious about the amazing world of pregnant women. I didn't think of becoming a midwife until secondary school, when I became friends with Angela.

After my GCSEs, I wanted to start midwifery training, but due to the lottery system, it took another two years before I could start there. In the meantime, I did my nursing degree and an internship on a geriatric nursing ward and on a surgical ward. But the desire to become a midwife never faded!

In 2001 I was finally admitted to the midwifery course and was able to start my dream. After strenuous training with many highs and occasionally some lows, I took the Medical Oath in 2005.

Immediately after the swearing-in ceremony, I started working as a midwife in Huizen and then in Weesp. The desire to start my own practice in Almere, the city where I grew up, remained. The perfect person to start a joint midwifery practice with was Angela. We have been friends since our first day at secondary school and our paths never separated since. In February 2006, Midwifery Practice ‘De Eerste Stap’ became a reality. After years of hard work, we have truly settled in and have expanded to a three-woman practice.

I am a calm midwife who likes women to make their own choices as much as possible. At a birth, I stay in the background a little to let the prospective parents bring their child into the world together. Naturally, I will intervene where necessary and I provide guidance where necessary. Even during pregnancy, it is important for the parents to feel in control and that is why I provide a lot of information. During postnatal visits, in addition to the checks of mother and baby, I like to talk about the parents' experience and how they look back on the pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood.

On 9 October 2010 I became the mother of our son Xavian and on 3 September 2014 we became proud parents of our second son Quintijn.

It was very special to experience pregnancy and childbirth myself this time. Everything went well and I learned that all the clichés are true! It's all so worth it and and time does fly. We enjoy being with our beautiful boys.

I will calmly and lovingly support you during pregnancy and childbirth.