Having a baby in China: It’s a small world

On every visit to the hospital we always wonder if we will see any other expats. We’ve asked our translator and have been told there is only about four other western patients at this time. For a few appointments we did see another non-Chinese couple but were never brave enough to go up and say hello.

Of all places I met this other mummy-to-be at the monthly gathering of the Sauvignon Club. (Once a month we expat ladies gather for good food and wine at the St Regis Hotel.) The chairwoman had mentioned to me that she had another woman wanting to attend but not drink any wine (which is kind of the point of the club). I was so surprised to see the woman from the hospital appear and even more surprised when she said, “I know” after I introduced myself. It turns out that for about an hour into one of her appointments they thought she was me and kept calling her by my name!

It was really lovely to meet another pregnant woman and we have stayed in touch since. She has met up with our doula to go over a few things and we were able to have a birthing class together with her and her husband. I feel extra lucky to have met her as her due date is about 11 weeks before mine so she will be able to give us the low-down on labor and birth at AmCare.

-Mrs T

 

Having a baby in China: 20-week appointment

We had been looking forward to this appointment, as we knew it was the time when we could find out the baby’s gender and so we expected a good view on the ultrasound.

It was a very standard appointment: vital signs, blood draw, ultrasound, Dr. consultation and FH Doppler. We had a bit of a hold up with the ultrasound as baby was not in the correct position and they could not see all the organs and get all the measurements. They asked me to go out and walk and eat to see if we could get the baby to change position. During this time we took the opportunity to have another tour of the hospital as our doula had joined us for this visit. It was nice to have a second look, knowing this time that we would actually be having a baby here. She was very interested to see what the facilities were like and was impressed with what she saw.

The funniest moment of the afternoon was after asking their policy of eating during labor (its the mother’s choice) we were told that a tray of snacks would be available including cake, biscuits and red bull. We just could not believe our ears, when we asked about the red bull the translators reply is that mum’s get tired in labor and need the energy! Not sure if red bull (especially not Chinese red bull) would be top of my list whilst in labor.

Back to the ultrasound room and after a bit of prodding baby did a little flip, which we got to see on screen (pretty amazing) and all the needed information was retrieved. In the end we decided NOT to find out the baby’s gender. It was something we had been going back and forth on since the start and we finally decided that we would like to be surprised.

Since our doula was with us we took this time to go through a long list of questions about labor and birth and were pleasantly surprised with the responses. In general they seem very supportive of natural birth and patients making decisions for themselves (taking into account that mother and baby are safe). At our 34-week appointment we will go through a detailed birth plan and tick our choices.

Four weeks until the glucose test…

-Mrs T

Having a baby in China: Prenatal vitamins

So far each visit to the Dr had included a prescription and purchase of prenatal vitamins. I had enough to get me through to our next appointment and thought I would take a look whilst in the UK and see if I could get them at a good price. I hadn’t remembered to look at what I was paying at AmCare but was quite certain that they would be cheaper in England.

I was pleasantly surprised when I visited Boots pharmacy and found their brand of vitamins at a great price.

Boots Pregnancy Support 30 tablets

I was able to stock up with enough through to this summer (12 boxes of 30-day supply) for £27.92 ($42.98/269 rmb). This amount was even more appealing when I arrived back in Tianjin and looked back at my receipts and found we had been paying 135.5 rmb (£14/$21) for each 30-day supply. In total we saved 1357 rmb (£140/$216) by stocking up.

The moral of the story here, stock up on prenatal vitamins, and any other medications, from home if you have the opportunity to do so!

-Mrs T