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Original poster

I've just had a baby in Thailand, AMA

23 replies

Eledamorena · 07/05/2020 01:02

I read an interesting thread a while ago about a woman who gave birth in Japan and people seemed keen to find out more, so thought I would offer the same. I live and work in Bangkok and just delivered Baby Number 3 last week. My husband and I are both British and my first 2 were NHS babies.

Ask away, if you're interested!

OP posts:

IdblowJonSnow · 07/05/2020 01:06

Congratulations!
So how did it compare to NHS experiences?

Thepigeonsarecoming · 07/05/2020 01:13

What are your thoughts on Einstein’s theory of special relativity?

managedmis · 07/05/2020 01:15

Congratulations!

Was it a section or natural? Did you the good drugs?

MrsTerryPratchett · 07/05/2020 01:20

Was it the Bumrungrad? I love that place.

Wheresthebiffer2 · 07/05/2020 01:27

did they put a little knitted woollen hat on the baby ?
did you have English speaking midwife/doctor?

Original poster

Eledamorena · 07/05/2020 01:35

Planned section, which is really common here. You have to work hard to find a doctor who will support natural delivery and actually honour that preference if even the slightest thing pops up that could derail the plan (e.g. carrying over by 2 days!)

But I was happy with a planned section as I had one vaginal and one emergency section in the UK and felt fine about the section. Due to covid a lot of vaginal births are being cancelled here anyway. And I've heard horror stories of women in labour trying to get to hospital in Bangkok traffic on motorbikes so wanted to avoid that!!

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Original poster

Eledamorena · 07/05/2020 01:37

@Thepigeonsarecoming no thoughts at all!! I'll put it down the new baby brain fog but actually it's just a subject that's somewhat beyond me!!

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Original poster

Eledamorena · 07/05/2020 01:39

@MrsTerryPratchett no, at Samitivej. Slightly cheaper! My insurance doesn't include maternity so every penny counted! But I've also heard great things about Bumrungrad and if I'd wanted to go for a natural delivery that would have been top of my list.

@Wheresthebiffer2 no knitted hat but a little cotton hat, socks, and a sort of t-shirt all branded with the hospital name! I want to steal the socks as a souvenir!!

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Original poster

Eledamorena · 07/05/2020 01:45

@Wheresthebiffer2 doc speaks English, you choose your doctor here and they are 'yours' through pregnancy and delivery (unless you choose to change). Mine speaks good English but not fluent. Most docs speak at least half decent English at the big private hospitals. Same with my anaesthetist. Paediatrician speaks great English so she has been the easiest to deal with. Nurses' language levels vary but we muddle through. You learn to tailor what you say e.g. they give you an enema here before a section (I wasn't expecting that!!) but if I used the word enema most nurses didn't understand, I had to say 'medicine to go poo poo' and then they knew what I was referring to!!

We have also called a friend a few times and she has translated on loudspeaker for us. We have done this in all manner of situations since living in Thailand so it doesn't seem strange to do it in a medical situation!

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TraderJoe · 07/05/2020 01:48

How's the breastfeeding support?

MrsTerryPratchett · 07/05/2020 01:48

I've also heard great things about Bumrungrad and if I'd wanted to go for a natural delivery that would have been top of my list.

I've joked about getting on a plane from the UK to go there if I got sick.

Did you get a little kit? I got a lovely little hamper from the Bumrungrad and my friend got a little bag from a hospital in Northern Thailand. Flannel, soap, other things.

Original poster

Eledamorena · 07/05/2020 01:52

@managedmis as it was a section I has a spinal but they have a different approach to drugs here for sure...

I was sedated to put the spinal in, and sedated again as soon as the baby was out and I had seen her. I had not agreed to this in advance and had discussed this being against my preferences with my doctor. She had agreed I did not have to be sedated although that is the norm here. They take the baby away as soon as it's born and in many hospitals you don't see it again for many hours (I was quoted 6-8 hours by several hospitals).

But the morning of the section I met the anaesthetist and he went over the plan and I was really resistant but eventually agreed. This was partly down to me knowing that I would really struggle to be awake in a recovery room alone for at least 2 hours after delivery without my husband or baby there, and there was not going to be any flex on that part of the process. But it was also because the anaesthetist promised I would wake up 'awake', not feeling groggy or drugged. That was sadly not the case. The first thing I said to my husband when I saw him in theatre after just a few mins sedation was 'I feel absolutely fucked' and in pics I look horrendous, pale, eyes practically rolling back in my head! So not a great experience!

Also if you have a vaginal birth you can absolutely have an epidural, you are a paying customer (in the private system used by most foreigners) so it's never a problem. BUT... from what I've gathered gas and air just isn't a thing here. So you either go pretty much entirely drug-free or you have an epidural. Under normal (non-covid) circumstances, I think it's quite popular for expats to use a doula for a natural delivery as you do need a bit more advocating maybe than you might in the UK, and someone who understands what to say and how to manage the cultural barriers.

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Original poster

Eledamorena · 07/05/2020 01:58

@TraderJoe I'm not sure as I haven't needed any breastfeeding support but my hospital (and most of the top ones) do promote breastfeeding and I think the nurses help you. There are groups run by doulas and other mums once you're home as well, within the expat community.

But I do think it's weird that they say the promote breastfeeding but if you have a section then in many hospitals you don't meet your baby properly for many hours. And the standard practice here is for the baby to be kept in a nursery and just brought to the mother every 3 hours for feeding. I shopped around hospitals to find one that would definitely agree to the baby sleeping in my room 24/7. They do take her away for a bath or to weigh her but that's it. In some hospitals they just thought I was insane for asking about rooming in! They told me I would be tired

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Original poster

Eledamorena · 07/05/2020 02:04

@IdblowJonSnow totally different from NHS but that's partly down to this being a planned section so a different experience anyway.

Biggest differences are that bedside manner is EXTREMELY hit and miss and Thailand, partly down to language barrier but also just a cultural thing. Not just in maternal medicine but in general. Informed consent not really a thing. I've been touched and had procedures without being told what will happen next and I've not really experienced that in the UK. You have to ask a LOT of questions here and in the right way if you want to feel informed!

Facilities are amazing - private en suite room with fridge, microwave, TV etc... And that is the most budget room!

Biggest difference is that they expect to keep babies in the nursery. Oh and also that following a section they don't let you out of bed for a good 24 hours whereas in the UK I was up, showered, looking after my own baby and helping mothers in a worse state than me within about 8 hours of delivery! When you describe an NHS postnatal ward experience to a doc/nurse here they think you are describing something from a horror film

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Original poster

Eledamorena · 07/05/2020 02:05

@MrsTerryPratchett I'm still in the hospital so haven't seen my gift basket yet but I'm pretty sure there's one coming

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MiniChoc · 07/05/2020 14:05

Congrats OP! This is an interesting thread.

Dollywood · 07/05/2020 23:56

Congrats! How long so you think you will be in hospital?
Is there equivalent of a health visitor system once you go home?

HelloItsmeAgain1 · 08/05/2020 08:38

Why do they insist taking the babies to the nursery? As a new mum that sounds terrifying! Again, why a sedative?

What was the surgery room like compared to nhs? How many people?

Do you have health visitors?

HelloItsmeAgain1 · 08/05/2020 08:48

Also how do you think your birth experience compares to the average thai person?

Original poster

Eledamorena · 09/05/2020 04:50

@Dollywood and @HelloItsmeAgain1 there isn't a health visitor system but I can call the nursery 24/7 if I have a question. Also if I had to actually see a doc, for myself or the baby, I wouldn't have to make an appointment and maybe wait a few days, I could just go and they would definitely see me pretty promptly.

I was in hospital for 3 nights, this is a 'standard' c-section package.

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Original poster

Eledamorena · 09/05/2020 04:55

The sedation thing is pretty horrifying to someone from outside this system but totally normal here. I really struggle to get my head around a lot of the medical decisions/practices here, but I remind myself I'm the foreigner. And I'm lucky to be able to access private care.

I think a lot of it is to make the patients as biddable as possible... the doctors expect to make decisions rather than discuss things with you. My doc agreed to various things and I thought I had found a great doctor who understood foreign preferences, but in hindsight I think she just nodded along to shut me up and then they kind of did what they wanted anyway. I know some people have much better experiences but mine is not unusual.

I had a good chat with a nurse on the last day and she said she thinks the foreign patients are much better at self-care and caring for their own babies, whereas the rich Thais who use the same hospitals generally lack the skills to look after themselves or the babies. It was quite a sad conversation.

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Original poster

Eledamorena · 09/05/2020 05:02

@HelloItsmeAgain1 great question re how this compares to the average Thai...

Rich Thai women would use private hospitals like the one I did and the same sort of package. They would be more likely to have a section than a vaginal delivery, regardless of medical need. It is generally just the preferred method. Some people even select the date and time of birth based on auspiciousness! (Not sure that's a word, but you get my drift!)

For the average Thai woman, there is a public system so all women should be able to have prenatal care and a hospital birth. In reality I think this varies hugely and the services you could access in a big city would be very different from those in rural regions. I'm not sure if this is still the case but certainly in the past it was normal in rural areas to have not just shared pre/post natal wards, but shared DELIVERY ROOMS... I know someone who delivered her children in a room alongside other women. This was in the past 15 years.

I think in public hospitals vaginal deliveries are much more the norm unless there is a medical reason for a section.

There is also an in-between system that is partially funded by the state and partially paid by the customer. I don't know so much about this system but I've heard it's good.

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Original poster

Eledamorena · 09/05/2020 05:06

I don't have a lot of memory of theatre as they sedated me and I was only really awake for the actual delivery and then lights out again... but I think it was pretty comparable. Although I think in the UK there was someone whose job was basically to be the mother's 'person'- hand hold, keep calm, explain what's happening. That doesn't happen here, during my section and 2 other surgeries I've had here I relied on the anaesthetist answering my questions.

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