I don't know much about giving birth.

But, I have heard that giving birth in water is a natural way to give birth that has many benefits:

YOu can read here about it:
http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/birth-in-water.html

And I bring it up because I believe I saw an advertisement at thebeijinger once for this procedure.

Just thought I'd mention it, but I really don't know enough about it to advise you.

all the best for a safe childbirth, whatever you decide.

you're sick, kiwuk.

oh samantha, i have heard a horror story of a woman screaming in pain during childbirth due to poorly administered anasthesia.

maybe i shouldn't be telling you not to scare you, but do be cautious.

sorry, i really don't know. but it sounds a bit scary.
how much more expensive is the water birth?

there are no western doctors who do childbirth in beijing?

how about giving birth in hong kong? maybe it's too late, right? and probably also very expensive.

OK...sorry for the shock tactics.
I do know a bit about this as a very close observer:
My 1st wife had to have a C section before full term in NZ because of her health. Bikini cut...scar below the pantie line.

My current wife had an elective C section in Beijing due to her age...no problems except the scar. I don't know...maybe a bigger scar equates with value for money? It wouldn't surprise me.

My kid sister has had 3 C sections, number one and two were emergency jobs because of complications and the midwife delayed too long...they get paid more for a natural birth in NZ. After the pain and drama of the first two she said f*** this, this time I choose ahead of time!

Yeah, the hospitals do hard sell the C section in China for the profit and therefore 50% of births are C sections.

If you are having no problems, have no previous history, etc, then go with the natural. For one thing the recovery time for the mother is much shorter than a Caesar and another less complications from the anesthesia...usually an epidural which f-ing hurts...especially if they miss the first few times as they did with my first.

Finally good luck with whatever you choose! Remember it is your choice! To hell with everybody else!

For god sake, you should go somewhere else to give birth if you don't feel comfortable, thinking if you can trust ur doctor won't help you, will just let you have more worries, not sure if Chinese hospital is sh*t for giving birth.

But I actually have a friend who has two kids, the first kid they didn't cut her, second kid they cut. I guess that depends on the kid and urself condition even in Chinese hospital( She had both kids in China)

I'm with Joe. If you were unable to spend enough time in the UK to have your baby there the next best thing would be to have it somewhere like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea or Japan. I don't trust Chinese doctors one bit and Chinese hospitals are disgusting.

Samanthawang; I will try to reassure you. Both of my sons were born in China; in Chengdu. One was by natural birth and the other by C-section; only because the little guy wouldn't move his head down. Guess he had found a sweet spot and wasn't budging!

Now; not knowing what hospital you are going to, I cannot advise on Beijing's facilities. But, this should have been scoped out by you, or a friend of yours, months ago. In some cases it is necessary to provide the proper "incentive" for your care. This does not have to be exorbitant.

The facilities we had were in a brand-new hospital with all of the modern facilities, including birthing pools. 24 hour doubled-up nursing care for 8 days, 2 nurses for mother and two for baby. These are designated nurses, that took care of only 8 babies on the ward during any given shift. Baby's were also treated to regular massages under heat lamps by another "massage nurse" assigned specifically for that task.

Father had his own bed right beside mother for the entire 8 days in a private room with TV/DVD/Fridge and private bathroom. Baby slept right there in the room in his monitored bassinette.

The nurses and doc tried to push for breast-feeding, but we opted for formula right from the get-go and our decision was accepted without much nagging.

Mother received an epidural for her natural birth at an extra charge of 900RMB. The C-section, she can't even remember, it happened so fast and she was pretty much out of it at the time. Baby was out, cleaned-up, wrapped up and into my waiting hands to be taken to the private ward room immediately after birth and while mother was taken care of.

Total costs for the natural birth were about 5,000RMB all-in; 7 years ago. And for the C-section birth 6,800RMB all-in; 2 years ago.

I think that the service was fantastic, as was the professionalism of the docs and nurses, who all spoke some English, by the way, and half of whom trained abroad. You should surely be able to find something similar in the big Capital city?

There is something very healthy that happens in the brain of the baby and woman’s body when the baby goes through the struggle of coming out and baby’s head goes through the pressure of the birth cannel.

I’ve noticed that too many Chinese babies are born with the C-Section here in China. C-Section should only be used in cases of emergencies and not the covenants of mother or doctors.

Hospitals here are nortorious for "diagnosing" problems that do not exist. I've been "diagnosed" three times with pneumonia. The doctor hears me cough (Beijing air and classroom chalk dust), sees laowai, and thinks money. I've also had "heart failure" (this five years ago after an EKG even I could see was normal.), and "possible cancer"---a bump on my middle finger from writing too much.

DEFINITELY get a second opinion. The C-Section thing in China seems an expensive fad.

samantha my cousin did it at home in america in a birthing tub with a midwife and no doctor for all three of her kids. all healthy and happy. lots of benefits to be had from a water birth if you listen to the experts, including less likelihood for C section.

BUT the risks... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_birth such as dirty water and tub causing infections (like fatal staph) and poor training of nurses/doctors/midwives in china would make me think twice about it.

if its bad enough in the hospital without all the newfangled methods, i can only imagine it would be worse in a local hospital where they are not accustomed to and don't agree with water birth.

In all fairness and bearing in mind your doubts and fears, shouldn't you be booking a ticket to Heathrow, getting someone to meet you and going straight to a hospital?

I'm not sure about the safety issues but you'll find some info here.

http://community.babycenter.com/post/a21475397/is_it_safe_to_fly

The site is fantastic and free to join. You enter your delivery date and it emails you weekly with info on what's happening to you and the little one.

10/10

Here's a blog. It's about Shanghai. But the woman said she avoided the hospital which has a 50% C-section rate.

http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/index.php?name=MDForum&file=printview&t=670...

You all might be interested in this Natural birth advocacy event, at Antai Waterbirthing hospital

http://www.thebeijinger.com/events/2010/Aug/Hypnobirth-and-Birth-Film-ev...

And it's not that expensive to have a waterbirth. Well, it is a Private Chinese hospital so higher than a public Chinese hospital. The costs range from 15K to 40,000 RMB depending on the room type. The "White House" room is a fully outfitted apartment, with a player piano. You get the picture, it's nice! By the way, BJU births are, last I heard, 69,000 RMB for vaginal delivery and something like 90K for cesarean.

So the cost at Antai is roughly comparable to Amcare, perhaps a bit higher, except that you have much greater chance of an undisturbed, calm and pleasant birth experience at Antai! Amcare, I've heard lots of stories, most the same, wanted a natural birth but they scared her into a section/induction/other bad interventions at the last minute.

See you then!

Liora
Mom of 3- two of which were calm home water births

"Suddenly, they noticed that my pelvis was "too small" ...but they were smiling and looking at each other the whole time which made me a little uncomfortable."

This description tells a lot. The best solution is to find another hospital to have a quick checkup. The risk is what the doctors will do if you refuse their prefered c-section, meaning they can't make more money from you.