Anyone living in South Africa or had babies in SA

[fiona76]

My DH is south african and I'm from New Zealand we live in London and have for last 7 years. We just had our first baby, DD is 7 weeks old. We are thinking of moving to SA and i was wondering if anyone has experience of the maternity care there.

I have been a lurker on this site for a while now but decided to join so that I could answer you. My dh and I are both south african but spent 6 years in the uk where we had our 2 dd's we have been back in za for the last year and are loving it. I have no experience of maternity care here but will soon be in the middle of it all again.

The biggest difference of course is that you need private care here, so nothing is for free and as your cover will probably only cover in hospital treatments, you end up forking out for most things (goin to the gp etc) once you get over this, the quality and speed of car here is superb. really so much better than nhs care (overall care - obviously an emergency would be treated well in an nhs hospital) when you include the speed of aptment for scans and xrays and physio you can not compare.

With out rambling on too much my dd2 had issues that I never felt were treated very well by the nhs drs - on a holiday to za she was diagnosed as very low tone and in need of physio (after a gp in the uk had bounced her on her lap and proclaimed her as perfectly fine) aftetr a 3 month wait we had some sessions every 8 weeks I think? we then emigrated to za where we have been under the care of a great peadiatrician (ZAR200 - ZAR250 a time) and had phisio once a week (ZAR 200). We also ended up in hospital with her after convulsions, she had a cat scan the same day and with in 2 weeks a eeg which diagnosed epilepsy. the hospital was nice, nicer than the ones i ended up in after my births in the uk.

we are loving living in za, really happy. it took about 10 months for us to settle but i wouldnt trade back for anything. we have a huge house, garden pool, kids have a play room,and its a bit like a dream after our tiny cramped one living roomed house in herts.

The big issue seems to be getting work, particularly if you are white as this is more scarce. also be prepared to take a salary knock, this seems to be most peoples experience.

Hope this has helped, sorry for the ramble.

where are you based? it sounds lovely i have loads of questions for you i'm feeding dd at the moment so i'll get back to you

I'm so glad you joined for me. We have been planning to move this year in July but I am nervous about it so might stay until we have one more baby. I aren't overly impressed by NHS but I know the system now and my paerent aren't that happy about us going there so it is a bit of a compromise that we will stay here a bit longer. Also maternity leave for me is good and we get benefits etc.

I can't wait for the bigger house, garden thing. I want to move so I can be a stay at home mum but as DH doesn't have qualifications and with employment opptunities for white males are limited its scary. We want to start our own business just not sure what that will be. Hopefully we will come with some money after we sell our house here (as long as prices don't drop too much)

Its just scary!! What do you pay for medical insurance and education? (if you don't mind me asking) What part of sa are you in. Jaco's mum live near George and his dad lives in Pretoria. He also has a sister in PE. We have friends spread around. I would love to live somewhere rural but we will probably start in George. I'm a teacher but probably won't be able to get a job and definately not until I get residency. What jobs do you guys do??

Are you pregnant at the moment? Congrats when are you due?

Sorry for the battery of questions.

Hi there
I have a subject in the chat corner. Moaning about living in the UK and wanting to go back to SA.
My DH and I are from SA. Last night we talked about going back. Missing the people, family and way of living in SA. It is so different.
Medical will cost you about R2000 a month. Education is about R1000 a month per child. Depending on which school and which area you are living in.
I'm from PE. Miss the place alot. My husband is from Pietermaritzburg but lived in Cape Town from 1997.

London isn't a place to rise a child. I don't want my child to become one of these children over here with no manners. Not that every child over here is like this I KNOW!!! but if you've seen the 2 worlds, you'll know what I'm talking about.

I do enjoy living here but with dd here now I don't want to be bringing her up here. I'm a teacher and I now that most kids here are lovely and have manners but I want my kids to have a upbringing like mine- outdoors, camping, sports, parents being around and not too stressed with work and traffic jams etc etc

I hear what your saying, I feel the same way. I'm also a teacher. Looking for a teaching job now in SA but finding it difficult over the internet. Not having much luck

We are in cape town. I grew up in East London which is closish to PE. We pay about ZAR1900 for our med cover which doesnt include a savings plan so we pay for everything else out of pocket - it does add up if you have lots of med needs.

my dh is in IT management and I am a sahm
we did both teach abit too though. education here can be very expensive! unless you go to a gov school, a private school down the road costs ZAR 4000 month for kids from 4 yrs! which seems excessive but peope do obviously pay. we are going to home school, always was going to wherever we lived, have wanted to since before we had kids, so that is not an issue for us. in general though we have been quite surprised at how pricey things are here. our house costs us the same as we were paying in the uk, but now we have an extra 2 rooms 2 living rooms and loads of garden. and we do live in cape town which is expensive.

I know people who have just come back to za without kids as working proffesionals and they reckon they need to earn at least ZAR30000a month to pay for a small flat and live in cape town but really you would need a very decend chunk of money to buy a house then cos lending rates here are crazy! - I should think it would be a lot cheaper to live in more rural areas.

what work does your DH do now? there does seem to be a need for people with experience from over seas in some feilds.

Micht- DH is a rigger which means he goes to gigs and sets up lights, sound equipment etc he also puts up marquets and builds stages and stuff. We have also done a bit of propety development over here. It sounds every expensive to live there. How old are your DDs?

Tasja- Where are you thinking of going back to? PE?

I want to go back to PE yes, my parents and all my friends are there. Bit cheaper there than in Cape town. But my husband will earn more in CT. He does CAD (computer aded drawings) He does the shows like The Brit Awards, all the motorshows, everything that happens in Earls Court in London. So he does all the drawings that the riggers must do then. Don't you know of a job for him in SA fiona76?

sorry, just read you are still in London

Yes I am pg due in sept so its all very new.

My girls are 4.5 and 2.5 years.

the film industry seems to be booming here (in cape town particularly) i know some people who work in it. i dont know if they use riggers for that?

people also seem to be making money property developing, if you are confidant and used to it thats probably your best bet. Just remember that lending rates here are much higher than in the uk.

That sounds good. We just need to take the leap and go. Jaco would leave tomorrow if he could, I'm a little more scared and my parents are against the idea so that makes it difficult.

Wow a new baby in sept you must be excited. I want to get pregnant again in a few months- I'm loving being a mummy but didn't enjoy pregnancy that much as I had morning sickness quite bad for first 5 months.

Tasja- when do you think you will go back?? How old are your DC?

Hi, I stumbled on this thread, and am so excited! Both DH and I are South Africans. We have a little boy who is 8 months old and was born in the UK. We are returning to Cape Town in a few months time. So we don't live there yet and I haven't given birth there.

Since having our son, we realised how much we missed our families and how much we really want our kid/s to grow up knowing their grandparents and uncles and aunts etc. DH's folk live in CT and mine live in Knysna, near George. We were just there for Christmas and New Year, and it was fabulous. I just love how South Africa has made Local Lekker (trans: Great)!!

DH is in IT and will continue working for the same company, remotely, and I am currently a SAHM, although, when we get back I will have to look for a job or start my own business . I used to do admin for a big corporate in SA, but those kind of jobs are heavily affected by affirmative action. Though there is no harm in trying.

Fiona76, I don't know what your stance is on how you want to give birth in future, but every girlfriend that I know(about 10 women), who has given birth in SA, has had an elective c-section, compared to 1 out of 9 women in my Ante Natal group here in the UK .
The rate of c-sections are alarmingly high there.
My feeling is that some women prefer to "save themselves down there" (and let's face it,weren't we all a bit worried before we gave birth?) and are persuaded to elect for surgery by the gynae/obs who doesn't want to get called to hospital at 2am for a delivery. Of course, this is my feeling only, and every woman's pregnancy is individual, so who knows what the truth is?

Michenstein, have you found this?

I think, just be prepared to do research if you are keen to get a midwife, have a waterbirth or homebirth etc and find out how much your private medical insurance will cover. On the other hand, you may want to have a c-section, just don't get bullied into it by the gynae cos he/she wants play golf.

I also think in SA one has to pay for all the niceties one becomes accustomed to here in the UK - such as antenatal classes, breastfeeding advice - although with the way the NHS is being stretched, Brits will probably have to start paying for them too soon. In our area, the NHS run antenatal groups have been cancelled due to lack of funds. Ours was the last one.

Anyway, that's my tuppence worth - Fiona76, I think you will love SA, it has a vibrancy that you can't get anywhere else, the people are friendly and have such a great and unique sense of humour, but hey, I am biased.

Hi MWW!!!
I have heard that lots of women have ECS in SA. I had normal birth this time so want to continue this with next chidren if possible. Everything seems to be ok down there and to be honest I'm a bit scared of surgery so want to avoid if possible. I think we will have next baby in the uk hopefully next year and then make the move. I want 3 children so that will mean one pregnancy in SA but hopefully I'll be an expert by then .

As I grew up in NZ I am used to paying for some health care although maternity is free and I know that the service is better when you are paying for it. NHS is fine and really amazing that its all free but can be a bit hit and miss and my GP is rubbish. I found BF advice really bad in hospital when I had DD and the visits at home afterwards but luckily my mum who is a midwife arrived on the day I had Anabel and was able to help me. I guess everything has its good and bad points.

Yes, it is true you get what you pay for. We had to make a couple of trips to the GP in SA while we were there, and the care is worlds apart. I'm lucky if I get 10 mins with my UK GP - there, the GP was so much more attentive and offered more personal advice. It cost us ZAR220 for the consult though.

One thing to add, we discovered in our investigations on medical insurance in SA. You have to get on one before you are 35. Over that you get charged a penalty. Also bear in mind you need to pay in to the insurance for 3 months before you can start claiming from it, so you should get pregnant only after 3 months of getting on to the insurance.

Good Luck!!

Thanks that is good to know. I'm 31 now so will deffo be there by the time I'm 35. It costs about NZ$50 to go to GP in NZ which is about the same as ZAR220.

Did you get furniture shipped back to SA?? How much did it cost?

I think it cost about £2000 (or 3 will check with dh) for a whole container which fitted alot tof stuff! And it was going to be over half to just do our clothes and kids toys and onw or 2 peices of furniture so we decided to take it all. And I am very pleased that we did.

I think the high no of c sections here is because most people are under the care of gynaes rather than midwifes and thy do tend to favour the knife! It is a choice though and I have many freinds who have had natural and home births. The medical aids are also realising that they can save money if people have natural births so i think there may be a change coming.

I had 2 water births and will definately like another one if possible. i have not found out at all what my options are yet. One of my freinds is a midwife so i am sure we will be having lots of chats about it soon.

Thanks for that info. Can you remember what company you used? Thats way cheaper than what I thought it costs we love all our stuff and will deffo be sending it all. We mainly bought it all second hand but its all lovely pine/ wooden solid pieces and our bed is the most comfy king size so will definately want that in SA.

You will have to keep me informed about the birthing options you find out. I went in the water too but didn't give birth in there. It was great for pain relief and relaxation.

Hi, I was brought up here (UK) and in SA. I then lived in Cape Town for 10 years and came back to the UK permanently in 1999.

One of my sisters, who is pregnant with her 4th, had children in SA (Cape Town). She actually hired a midwife (her GP and hospital recommended her) because she didn't want to end up having a section if she didn't need one and had so many friends who'd ended up with one! The midwife happened to be a UK woman I think.

She has just moved back over here, down to the south coast.

My parents (in Cape Town) have been burgled 3 times in the last 12 months and their neighbours have been done over several times, the last time the burglars used gas to gas the entire house before going in and clearing the whole place out. My sister was also permanently hassled by beggars every time they went out and I think just had enough!

It's such a tough decision. I think London is a fabulous place to bring up children but I completely understand tasja's concerns and to be honest, SA school was the making of me whereas over here I absolutely hated it!

I also look at our teeny, tiny house and can't help but compare it to the house I had in SA although I know property prices have gone up there a lot too. I just couldn't live with the crime and the way everything worked there.

Crime is obviously one of the big issues. To me it seems loads better, I know of 2 peope who have had cars stolen and thats it in the year that we have been here, which seems very different to what it was like when we ived here before. I suppose its probably also related to what area you are in, some places are just worse targets than others. I feel safer than i used to. Having a dog helps.

And after all crime happens everywhere.

Oh i just remembered - i went to the shops the other day in the car, and got back home to find the frond door and security gate open no intruders - i had forgotten to close them what with getting both girls in the car etc etc everything was fine, thankfully.

yup, def depends on where you live. If you live in Joburg the crime is SO BAD! that's why we will never live there.

In PE where my parent are the crime isn't as bad as other places. Like someone said, crime is everywhere!