My husband and I would like to have a second child. I would like to find out about the hospitals in town. Does anyone have any suggestions? I would love to hear about your experience on having a baby in Kunming....
Hi cocobee,
My wife (Chinese) and I (British) are about to have a baby in Kunming next month. Happy to discuss our experiences. My email is greginchina@gmail.com.
My wife gave birth in Yun Da Hospital (昆明医学院第一附属医院) and had a very good experience there. With a little preparation she was able to get a single room for the few days leading up to the expected delivery date, and had very consistent and helpful attention from the staff. The birth went fine, and my wife and our baby were very well cared for.
Of course, it still is a Chinese hospital and there is less privacy than we'd have liked, and hospital regulations forced me to sit outside the delivery room with my in-laws, but overall we're satisfied with our experience there.
Greginchina will you be able to be in the delivery room. I just don't understand why the dads are kept out if your able to get a private room. Also how does it work paying for it. I assume you are expected to pay for it up front. We have insurance from States that will cover it 100% over here, but I'm wondering if they will accept it. Also how do you go an appointment for prenatal care. Thanks and sorry for butting into your thread.
Hi seahorse, yes I'll be allowed in the delivery room. That was one of the first things we asked as most hospitals in Kunming forbid it. I don't really understand why dads are kept out either but in reality the West was very similar half a century ago so its not completely unexpected. I think its because here its very much a medicalized procedure. Parents choice and birthing plans don't hold much weight here - doctors are ALWAYS right, patients are always WRONG. And an expectant mother is treated like a patient - did you not know that pregnancy is a sickness!
We're using the Richland Hospital. We've found it to be as much like an experience you'd hope for that you're likely to find outside of Bangkok, Singapore or Hong Kong. You'll find some positive and negative comments about them on this forum if you search and they are probably all justified. All I can say is we've been extremely happy with their OBGYN department. And they treat both mother and father with respect and kindness.
As for price birth is only a couple of thousand kuai more than a state-owned hospital with communal wards and communal bathrooms. We had to buy their silver member card which is 10,000 RMB. All our visits, ultrasounds etc have come off that and it should cover the birth too - we may need to top up the card a little bit. We'll get a nice private room (with TV, wifi etc) before and after the birth. They also have a malaysian chef who'll cook for the new mother!
I have no idea if your insurance will cover it upfront. However, even if your insurance doesn't cover it upfront it would presumably reimburse you after - you'd need to check with the insurance company.
Thanks so much for all the info. We've been at a loss of what to do since we can't really take off to Thailand for a couple of months. I think we'll give it a go here. One more question. Do I just call the hospital to get an appointment or is there a direct number to the OBGYN department.
Good luck on your birth. Hope to hear a little about on here.
Our doctor's name is Shi. If you go to the front desk and ask for her they should be able to help you. I'm not actually sure about the hospital's or the doctors' level of English as we've only spoken Chinese to them.
If you need any help you could always try www.chinaonecall.com - apologies for the shameless plug for my business!
A blog you might want to look at is:
thelocaldialect.wordpress.com/2007/11/20/welcome-to-the-world/
The author now lives in Beijing (and about to give birth to #2), but she offers some description of the birthing process that might be useful to you (even if it is 2 years old).
Wow! Seahorse and Greginchina both of you have given me so much to think about and with a lot of hope.... I did go to the Richland hospital (no appt) and ask if I could see the OBGYN department and the rooms used for after birth. They were very helpful and very nice. The rooms are really nice and I would not have any doubts about the hospital or the rooms for after birth. It was nice! Richland is right next to were we live so I do feel most comfortable to use them. I just want to ask both of you to please let me know how the delivery or C-section goes for your wife's? Best of luck and again please let me know how everything works out.....
colleenmcbee@msn.com
Had my baby here at Richland in July. No complications -my husband was with me the whole time. I did NOT have a c-section though and have no idea how that would be. I had Dr. Shi -and requested her to be there at delivery and she came in the middle of the night --and did things the way I wanted them done. If you want to contact me directly our e-mail is sttester@hotmail.com
Good Luck!
