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Having a baby in China

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Shanghai Expat Forum Index » Hot Topics Forums » Family Life and Kids

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puhlease

Barker

Joined: July 23, 2008
Posts: 125

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Posted: July 25, 2008 - 02:44 PM

Too many horror stories. Have your child in HK if you think there is any chance of complications during child birth.

freedelia

LoopKicker

Joined: Nov 27, 2006
Posts: 873

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Posted: July 25, 2008 - 03:44 PM

Yeah cause delivering in a city where you have no friends, staying away from your husband (who will probably be unable to take over one month vacation) for the last month before you deliver, maybe even deliver too early without your husband even there -- that is a much much better option.

I did not hear "horror" stories, just a lot of spoiled and ridiculous mothers complaining about silly stuff. And, of course, some annoying things (like people pushing pain medication on you or not giving it to you in time when you ask for it, or trying to get you to have a C-section, etc) that actually happens everywhere in the world.

There are thousands of babies delivered in Shanghai every day -- i think if not comfortable, at least it is pretty safe to have a baby here.

MrPuxi

Raver

Joined: Jan 30, 2008
Posts: 466

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Posted: July 25, 2008 - 04:01 PM

just had our baby daughter in shanghai united 7 weeks ago. best place in shanghai, good care and really good medical facilities. plus of course they have MK....

if worst comes to worst, they will properly take care and bring you to the RIGHT place/hospital in SHA if there is something, they cannot do themselves.

my wife is actually OB GYN doc, she knows the stuff. she compared different available options in SHA, everything from "foreigner hospitals" (SHA united, worldlink et al) to "local solution" (huashan or zhongshan hospital - both ran by fudan university) and SHA united is simply the best facility in town.

also we never heard any horror stories and i have plenty of friends who had their baby here. so, i don't see the need to go to HK / s'pore / BKK or wherever...

i know, it is about the then-millionth post here, hope it helps though...

HappyMG

Lurker

Joined: Apr 06, 2008
Posts: 21
Location: Shanghai
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Posted: July 30, 2008 - 01:21 AM

Hi all! I just had my baby in Shanghai 5 weeks ago so can share some experiences. I had my delivery at the "Special Needs department" of Ruijing hospital and it was excellent! The doctors, the nurses, the service, the private room, everything was great! All in all it came to about 22000 yuan (with pre-natal visits and tests, C-section delivery and 4 days in a private room). My doctors and most of the nurses spoke OK English and were very professional, patient and helpful. The room had two beds and a sofa, so my husband and older child could stay with me and the baby.
The surgery was done very well, I honestly didn't think I would recover so quickly (I am comparing to my first delivery, which also was a c-section, done in one of the "developed" countries, and they managed to miss an infection, so it wasn't at all fun and took forever to heal)
It's possible that Sh United is the best option for expats, but if you're on a smaller budget or your insurance doesn't cover the maternity, then trying a local hospital is actually a pretty good option.

Silver Path

Squeeker

Joined: July 31, 2008
Posts: 10

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Posted: Aug 10, 2008 - 04:14 PM

My son was born in The Red Brick Hospital on Dalin Road, Puxi. This is a baby hospital and I found myself to be completely satisfied with them. I should mention that my wife is Chinese so if you are not able to speak Chinese it could be an issue. However, my Chinese is very poor so some nurses and doctors spoke in english which was great.
But most importantly my son is 16 months now and in full health as is my wife and the reason we chose this hospital was because my sister-in-law had also shared her pregnancy and birth there and everything was great.

albertaguy

Newbie

Joined: Aug 08, 2006
Posts: 3

Status: Offline

Posted: Sep 09, 2008 - 05:41 PM

I know it can seem like a daunting experience to have a babe in China, but actually the Chinese are pretty experienced at it. My wife had ours end of 2005 at the Peace Hospital located at Xujiahui, which is affiliated with John Hopkins in the US. They have a VIP section on 13 and 14th floors. I believe the cost was about 14,000 RMB for delivery and 3 day stay in the smaller private room with private bath and I slept on a cot (which had sofa, TV, cot etc). Like the other "foreigner oriented" hospitals, the doctors were the same as used in the regular part of the hospital (just about 10 x the price for going through their VIP section). It is worth it though, if have the money, as service was very good and floors very quiet and clean, fresh cut flowers English dailies.

Re, the birth certificate, our boy just has one name, so not an issue of putting multiple names. I do recall it was very easy to do - I took some forms to another floor of the hospital and got through it with my not quite fluent Chinese in about 15 min.

I was in the delivery room during the delivery.

I forget our docs name, was female, may have been fang - spoke fairly good broken english.

Even though med staff are not supposed to disclose sex of child before birth, the ultrasound techie, let us know there was something "sticking out " on our little guy - probably do that with most ex pat or mixed couples I imagine.

Unless, you have med insurance to cover, I would recommend against United Family or other similar hospitals at 20000 USD a pop - not worth the money, in my opinion.

perlyn88
Seeker
Seeker

Joined: Dec 14, 2007
Posts: 57

Posted: Sep 10, 2008 - 12:06 AM

American-Sino OB/GYN Services tel. 8621-62102299, add. 3f block 6,clove apartment building, 800 Huashan Road. I have my first baby their and i think its pretty good services. All staff speak very well english! they used MEIJI and ENFAMIL milk for the new born babies. Private room and its quite big,your husband is allowed inside . we paid 25000 rnb for natural birth 3days and 2 nights. And if you want to have full dosage of epidura additional 5000.Call them for further information.

LifeMage
Post Roaster

Joined: Sep 30, 2005
Posts: 4435
Location: In the world...... but not of it.

Posted: Sep 10, 2008 - 12:39 AM

albertaguy wrote:

I know it can seem like a daunting experience to have a babe in China, but actually the Chinese are pretty experienced at it.

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magnus1977

Squeeker

Joined: Oct 12, 2008
Posts: 14
Location: Shanghai
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Posted: Oct 12, 2008 - 01:33 PM

great questions... some interesting answers. I hate the answer, "ummm...8 million babies born in China every second...." but that is what many people say. I can totally understand the trepidation. Since the post was one year ago...I'm assuming either you've had the baby already or you've gone back home.

My Shanghai wife and I, I'm an American, had our boy back in December at the hospital near HuaiHai road...what's the name... it's supposedly the most famous... in SHanghai. Anyway... you have to check out my blog for the full BLOW BY BLOW story. You can find it at the link below and find pregnancy... I wrote it all basically so that maybe I can write a book in the future. You guys who have had previous experiences like us can tell us your stories so that I can make them into comics for my site. That would be awesome!

Anyway... both foreigners? I wouldn't. If one of you is a Chinese and the other is ready for an adventure...go for it.

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dalc87

Reacher

Joined: June 04, 2004
Posts: 237
Location: Shanghai
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Posted: Jan 15, 2009 - 07:44 PM

Hello everyone,

My wife is in her 11th week of pregnancy and we are doing some research into hospitals here in Shanghai. Her first choice is the Changning Maternity & Infant hospital on 773 Wu Yi Lu, Tel:62288686 and she called them up and talk to some nurse, but the nurse said their VIP section is completely full and told us we could try queing up. (we prefer not to)

Several ppl (Michael, lifemage and freedelia, I believe) here have been to this hospital and I was wondering if you could give us some tips. Did you actually queue up, or just walked in the VIP or made an appointment etc.. My wife is shanghainese but I am taiwanese and was wondering if I call and talked to them, would I be able to make a VIP Appointment? Would I posing as a foreigner (taiwan is somewhat considered foreign status) have any better luck?

I will give them a call, but was hoping to first arm myself with as much info. before doing so!

Thanks for all the help.

carel

Newbie

Joined: Mar 09, 2009
Posts: 2

Status: Offline

Posted: Oct 12, 2009 - 09:42 PM

Hi! I heard about the great service that Shanghai United offered. Do you know how much does it cost??? Would love to know more as I am expecting now. Tx

IAmNotYao wrote:

We delivered at Shanghai United, and know a dozen more famillies who delivered there...we had the Dr. Gee / MK (midwife) combo and found the overall experience excellent...given it was our first we didn't have any benchmark but we were pleased with the doctors, nurses, and the facility...

Scouse

Reacher

Joined: May 30, 2007
Posts: 346
Location: Just visiting this planet
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Posted: Oct 12, 2009 - 09:57 PM

dalc87 wrote:

We had our baby in Changning in 2008, we are both foreigners, and thru advice from our local friends here, we chose Changning, you will need to find someone (as we did) to go into their daily queue for numbers about 3am, at 7am, they will pass out the numbers (quota) for the day, once you have that, then you in, my wife went to all the check ups there, she spoke zero chinese and they always made sure they found an english speaking nurse to help her during her visits to the doctors, we did ask for a private room at birth, but it wasnt available at the time my wife got admitted, they only had semi private - 2 beds in a room, each bed had an accompanying sofa bed for one relative, i was allowed to go into the delivery as per our request to the doctors in the beginning.

Overall it was a wonderfull experience having our baby there, even though it is a chinese speaking hospital, some of the nurses could speak a fair amount of english and would always drop by to make it more comfortable for my wife.

All the the grand price of about 4000rmb for a 3 day stay with normal birth in the semi private room.

Marvelous...

Just realized this post was added in Jan this year! guess my advise is a wee bit late... oops

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fredrik_p75

Talker

Joined: July 09, 2008
Posts: 85

Status: Offline

Posted: Oct 12, 2009 - 10:22 PM

United Family's birthing package is around 65,000 RMB for vaginal birth and around 100,000 RMB for cesarean.

JyBravo70

Seeker

Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 61
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline

Posted: Oct 18, 2009 - 03:07 PM

Wow that is A LOT!!! Our fist child was born in Guangzhou, where my wife is from, for 15k Yuan at the military hospital down town. We got her a permit to have our second child here in Shanghai and the C-section is going to cost around 40k Yuan at Peace International with the VIP room and all the visits they require, we are 33 weeks now and delivery is early Dec. My wife's first was a c-section due to complications and this baby is larger so the doctor doesn't feel comfortable going with natural delivery. The prices here do vary quite a bit, but I guess the hospitals fall into the expat package belief that every foreigner here is sent by a fortune 500 that will pay for all expenses like there is no spending limit...