Tuesday, April 7, 2009

more details about having a baby in Mexico

The last blog was more just an announcement about our new baby girl. Before I moved here and even more so after I got pregnant I got extremely curious as to what it would be like to have a baby here. First I asked some of my husbands family but they didn't have a lot of input for me, they had all been through the public health system to have their babies and saw noting wrong with laboring in a room with 5 other women and no support person at your side. I knew that the private sector would be different but I wasn't sure how different from Mexicos public, or from the states. Iv written before about my doctor appointments but let me just say again we ended up with a great Doctor and I have no way of recommending how to find one. We drove around town looking for an office that looked decent and had good parking, seriously that's what we did. We made our first appointment and had decided if we didn't like him we would keep looking. He ended up impressing us so we stuck with him. In our town there is no phone book or list of doctors at the hospitals. The drive around method is used for everything, or you can ask but his family just kept telling us to go to the public facility and we didn't know anyone else at the time.
A few things are different even if using the private system, and I need to say this is in the area of Mexico I live in I cant speak for anywhere else. I think I mentioned this before but I'm so amazed by it Ill mention it again. Our doctor and/or a nurse was by my side the enitre time until after I was back in my room after the baby was born. Im sure this has to do with the fact that I didn't have a million monitors on me that would have alarmed for the staff to know if something was wrong. But it was nice and I felt well taken care of. Now for months before the baby I kept asking my doctor if I would receive pain meds after the baby. With my first they gave me percocet and I still remember how much the cramps hurt when I first nursed her and how bad the stitches felt. He kept reassuring me yes he would give me pain meds. He wrote for me to have what they call Tylex. Its Tylenol 750mg. Yikes that's not pain meds, but I bit the bullet and took it, I actually think this has a lot to do with how quickly I healed. My hospital room had an extra bed in it for Issac to sleep in which ended up being more comfy than my hospital bed. :) The hospital beds where the old electric brown ones that first came out after the crank beds. I almost bet they were donated from a hospital in the states when they up graded. Again Ill say there where no IV pumps so the nurses kept having to calculate the drip rate of my IV. Oh I got fancy slippers that Im still wearing around the house not those crapy socks the hospitals give out in the states. I think I mentioned before but Im not sure that my 1 week appointment with my OB was free. This is also amazing to me. A big difference was the 1 week appointment I don't remember seeing my OB that soon after the baby but I do remember going to the pediatrician like every week for a bit. Here they don't want to see the baby until 1months. I do think that now for regular doctor visits we are going to seek the public health system, as long as there are no hospitalizations involved. Being a nurse I feel I can disregard or listen to what I know is best from an office visit and I dont plan to go to the doctor for a common infection because you can get just about any medication over the counter hear. Oh something else I found out lately is that the shot records for children are pretty similar except for a few months, and the only big difference is that they all get their tetanus shot at 2yrs old. I think this is because they are expected to start Kindergarden at 3yrs. This is another reason we need to get the girls into the public health system.

5 comments:

  1. I'm so happy I found your blog. I am a us citizen moving to mexico next week to be with my husband who was recently deported. I'm 33 weeks pregnant and planning to have our baby at angeles hospital near tijuana. I was wondering how thr bills work out in the end. Do they expect complete payment upfront? Or can you get financed and pay the hospital back monthly? I was told the whole procedure in total is $4500 which I can afford just not all at once. Thanks for the info :)

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  2. Anon- Im glad you found it to. Wow moving next week and 33 weeks prego!!! Buen Suerte amiga! I hate to tell you this but hospitals down here expect you to pay in full before you leave. That seems like a lot to pay but maybe things are more expensive in or near tijuana. here mine was around 2,000 and Im assuming your talking in us dollars. I have been a horrible blogger but plan to make amends this coming week or so. I have had two babies down here and one only a month after a move from a different town in Mexico so I can relate to what your getting ready to go through somewhat so please read up and post any questions you may have.

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  3. Great blog. My husband is Mexican but was born in California, so we are both US citizens. We are thinking about living our lives behind here in San Diego where we have lived for the past 33 years and 40 years and move to Mexico, either Oaxaca or Chiapas. We may have a child down there, but I wanted to know what the process is to make them a US citizen. Would we have to come back to the states or go to the U.S consulate in Mexico. Thanks for any input.

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  4. Hi Amanda,

    I was so happy to find your blog! I have been finding a lot interesting stories and invaluable information as I've been reading (and continue to do so).

    I am 27 year old Brit living in northern Mexico and I am currently expecting my first child. I have had a lot of inner conflict about how to go about things: whether to go back to the UK to give birth, who to have with me, worry about the fact that my Spanish isn't what it could be...

    Anyway - if you agreed - I would love to ask you some questions that I have. Maybe you can answer them, maybe not, but not many people are in this situation (or, at least, they don't publish the fact) so it would be an absolute gift to me.

    As for me, now I am going to continue reading... I relate so much to the things you have written, from the food to the immigration issues etc etc.

    Best wishes and keep writing,
    Bridget

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  5. Anon- wow sorry I have been an awefull blogger lately. Making babies US citizen isnt hard if the mother is a citizen. Just a lot of paperwork to gather and some time spent waiting at the consulate. My baby is 2 years old now but this blog post has links that can answer your questions. http://bordersaside.blogspot.mx/2011/04/friends-at-embassy.html

    Bridget- I would love to help you out and answer any questions. Sorry if its been a bit since you wrote I have been bad about getting on here lately. If you want to chat just leave another comment with you email address. I will not post the comment and will just copy the address to my email. Hope all is going well.

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