Anyong! Any Seoulites?

[HeatherKae]

I live in Seoul and just found out I'm pg. Looking around for anyone with experience in giving birth here.

Anyone else here live in Korea?

[sparkeze]

I haven't, but a Korean friend of mine just did a couple weeks ago and I can tell you about her experience...she had ultrasounds every doctor's visit and after about 20 weeks they do the 3D ones. Even with insurance you have to pay some amount for each ultrasound and more for the 3D ones...along with a co-pay per doctor's visit. Then when your due date comes around they ask you if you want to schedule a c-section if you haven't had your baby yet. Then my friend went about 4 days overdue and had a induction scheduled, but her water broke and she went into labor. She was admitted to the hospital at 3 cms, she got an epidural after a little while, but when she got to 8 cms they turned off the epidural saying that she can't push with it. Her labor was pretty long and slow so once they turned off the epidural they said it would be soon, but a few hours went by and she started begging for a c-section. So she had a c-section (under general) and the baby was born around 5am. No one saw the baby until 12:30pm because they keep the baby in a nursery with the blinds closed except for a scheduled time period, maybe twice a day, when they bring the baby to the glass and show you. So my friend didn't see her baby for almost 2 days because they won't bring the baby to her room and she couldn't get out of bed to go to the nursery. She had been planning to breastfeed but the baby was automatically given formula for the first 3 days and then she started trying to breastfeed but she tells me that she doesn't have enough milk and the baby is always hungry so she breastfeeds a handful of times a day and also is fed formula by the nursery staff. Both mom and dad have yet to change a diaper because the baby is sent to the nursery for that.

:eek

So my post is getting long, but the point of all this is that the above scenario is not unusual in Korea. You can have it differently, but you have to look for it. I have heard of others to room in with the baby, etc but you need to shop around. And hospitals here are really more like clinics, and they're pretty much all privately owned businesses so you literally are shopping around as a customer. Since it wasn't me, I don't know if my friend and her husband made all these choices or, since they're first time parents who aren't really interested in all the baby stuff, they just went along with what was recommended. My friend seemed to be more interested in how she was going to lose all the weight after having the baby than how she was going to raise her baby, if that says anything. Her husband is actually DH's friend so she's my friend by proxy, but not to the point where I could say a lot about her choices...I had been educating her about breastfeeding since I found out she was pregnant but who knows what she'll do. Anyways, this has turned more into a rant but I just wanted to make sure you insist on getting what you want out of your birth experience. If the first place you go won't go along with what you want, go elsewhere!

[HeatherKae]

This is exactly, to the very detail, what I have heard, too. I lived in Korea from 98-01 and heard about it from several of my students (I taught English) who had had babies.

Now, I am back and pg and was hoping that things had changed. In looking around for a birthing center, I found that Koreans have introduced post partum centers where someone else takes care of your baby for 40 days while you lounge around and relax. The old wives tales that are believed by the medical establishment here is what boggles my mind.

Anyway, I was kind of hoping that maybe someone here has had a homebirth or a birth in a birthing center. Or something... anything positive.

Deep breath for me. I have 8 months to figure it out.

[sparkeze]

My friend above is at one of those post partum centers. She's been there for over a week (after staying in the hospital for 5 days) and is coming home on Sunday and has yet to change a diaper. They tried to sleep in the same room with their baby once but "the baby kept waking up every 2 hours and we couldn't get any sleep."

Check out http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/ I've heard of people at least rooming in with the baby on there. If you know anyone who is fluent in Korean you could probably find out some more info on the internet.

I'm not fluent enough to do research, but if you need help PM me. I know some people I could ask. Good luck!

[HeatherKae]

Thanks. We haven't revealed that I'm pg yet, but when we do, I'll get my Korean girlfriends on the case. I asked my husband to do some research, too, but he's at a conference in DC and hasn't had much computer time. I guess it'll have to wait. I'm just impatient.

Thanks again.

[hakeber]

I used to live in Korea as an English teacher...2000-2003, The good thing about Korea is that while the western medicine world is full on you also have the eastern medicine side of it, too.

My friends just had a baby girl there last year and both husband and wife said they had a lovely birth in Seoul...I'm not sure which hosiptal they used, but I know Michael got to see his baby girl right away and Seung Deok got to hold her baby and co-sleep with her from the get go. I will e-mail him and see what they have to report!