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Having a baby abroad

Giving birth in Manila vs Giving birth in Bangkok (for expatriates)

16 June 2013 by Nathalie Abejero 4 Comments

CAM00022

As many of you know, most foreigners working in Cambodia and its neighboring countries fly to Bangkok for medical procedures. We chose to have our baby in Bangkok, Thailand, in January 2011, which I wrote about here on resources for foreigners. Due to airline policies we flew to Bangkok at 35 weeks gestation (they don’t want women having a baby while on board). This is a substantial amount of time away from work, so a speedy return back after the birth is ideal. Thanks to the extremely efficient medical tourism industry, we were able to leave Thailand with the baby an astonishing 10 days after birth. The official birth certificate, US passport, and exit clearance were all secured very quickly and painlessly. All engagement with government bureaucracy was expertly facilitated by a hospital representative. We spent two months, tops, in Bangkok.

This time around, for our second child’s birth, we decided to go to the Philippines. It took a week before the hospital sent Saoirse’s birth documents to the local registrar’s office. It took around four weeks before the National Statistics Office (NSO) released an official copy of her birth certificate (after we paid a fee to expedite the process). We secured an interview to report the birth abroad at the US Embassy two weeks later. After three weeks her passport was couriered to us. Finally, after some paperwork and lots of fees, the Bureau of Immigration gave us our daughter’s exit clearance. Compared to 10 days in Thailand, in the Philippines it took 74 days after birth before we were able to leave the country. We were in Manila nearly four months.

At least this was in a country where we had family, so the extremely long stay didn’t feel like an imprisonment. I wasn’t necessarily in a rush to get back to work, but it was stressful to wade through so much bureaucracy. The worst part is that it seemed as if few to no other Americans/foreigners have ever gone through it before! I assumed that with the medical caliber there, it would be one of the main medical destinations for foreign aid workers, diplomats and other expatriates working in the pacific island countries. Clearly not?!

I’ll be posting more about our experience being a medical tourist (having a baby as well as other medical procedures) in Manila and in Bangkok.

Anyway.. our little girl is “home” now. She was a trooper for her first flights (Manila to Singapore, then Singapore to Phnom Penh), sleeping through most of the travel while Tristan, now 27 months, was the one who kept us on our toes with his incessant need to run, touch everything, and tantrum every 15 minutes of the flight to Phnom Penh!

 

Other posts on this topic:

Maternity package rates at Bumrungrad (Bangkok) and St Luke’s hospital (Manila) Sept 28, 2013

Bumrungrad Hospital in pictures Sept 28, 2013

Having a baby in Manila vs. Having a baby in Bangkok (for expatriates) Aug 10, 2013

Living in Phnom Penh, Having a baby in Bangkok Feb 20, 2011

 

Filed Under: Life, Travels Tagged With: Bangkok, birth tourism, expatriate, expatriate having a baby in Manila, expatriate having a baby in the Philippines, expatriate life, Giving birth, Having a baby abroad, having a baby in Manila, having a baby in the Philippines, Manila, maternity package, medical tourism, Philippines, Thailand

Living in Phnom Penh, Having a baby in Bangkok

20 February 2011 by Nathalie Abejero 4 Comments

Photo by Keith A Kelly

CHOOSING THE HOSPITAL

We work and live in Phnom Penh, and wouldn’t feel comfortable with the specialists / facilities here in case of complications during delivery. The nearest city with internationally accredited care is Bangkok, so there we went at 35 weeks 6 days gestation, the latest we’re allowed to board a Thai Airways flight (with a fit-to-fly certificate from the doc).

Most of Bangkok’s well-known private facilities have high quality patient-oriented care and great customer service. They have translators, can take care of extending  visas, take the baby’s passport photo (this isn’t easy so do get this done at the hospital!), get the birth certificate officially translated and documented at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and liaise on documentations necessary to register the birth at your particular embassy etc. Many people go to Bumrungrad Hospital; read this post and follow the link to her birth story at Bumrungrad here. This hospital is located in the neighborhood of Sukhumvit where many Arab nationals live, so the third spoken language is Arabic.

The delivery packages she quoted for Bumrungrad are comparable to those at Samitivej:

  • Natural birth/Water birth (3 days admission) 55,000Baht / US$1800 on exchange rate 30Baht=US$1
  • Natural birth with Epidural (3days admission) 68,000 Baht / US$2267
  • C-section (4days admission) 78,000Baht / US$2600

So I’d heard there is a ~90% c-section rate in private hospitals in Bangkok..? At any rate it’s high, but that’s due to a lot of other factors (including the Asian quest for luck, leading parents to schedule c-sections on the most propitious time and date for birth). [Read more…] about Living in Phnom Penh, Having a baby in Bangkok

Filed Under: Life, Travels Tagged With: baby, Bangkok, birth tourism, childbirth, delivering a baby, delivery, expat, expatriate, expatriate having a baby in Bangkok, expatriate having a baby in Thailand, Having a baby abroad, having a baby in Bangkok, having a baby in Thailand, maternity, maternity package, nursing, parenthood, parenting, Phnom Penh, Samitivej

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Those little feet pitter-pattering about rule our lives lately. But on the occasional free moment I get to tap out scatterbrained bursts of consciousness about raising toddlers in Cambodia, traveling with them and working abroad. These posts are my personal updates to friends and family. But since you’re here, have a look around. Thanks for stopping by…

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