Shanghai Mama

Margaux was born at HuaShan Hospital on December 30th 2006.
This Breaking News is the very end of her birth story that started 9 month prior to it in Shanghai, China!

When I checked with friends which hospitals had good reputations, the answer came clear and sharp…
1st position: United Family, followed closely by World Link, and finally came Huashan Hospital in Urumuqi Lu.

So, naturally, I went for UF. There I was showed a “Labour Suite” with Jacuzzi and Flat screen! Tempting I must say! Then came the price for that luxury : roughly 80’000 RMB for the package. Still, my husband and I where ready to pay the full price for my first delivery… if that option remained the best.

Then, I went to WL. As, I asked my way to the Labour Suite (I expected nothing less from Shanghai top 2 maternity), I discovered an old and tiny clinic on the second floor of an obscure Chinese hospital…. Moreover, as it is situated behind Xintiandi, I was stuck in the traffic jam and it took me an hour to get there by cab… I live in the French concession….
I immediately started having nightmares about being stuck in the same traffic jam having contractions….
As for the price : roughly same thing as the first one, but no package, so all the eventual supplements on the patient’s bill. To commercial for me! Definitely not an option!

Then HuaShan. Two of my friends had delivered their babies there and told me the best about the hospital. They recommended Dr Kristine Xu. I met her and the contact with her was decisive.
She is young and charming, professional and experienced. She speaks a perfect English, she is always available. I don’t know how she does that…
The Huashan has a package prenatal + delivery for about 40’000 RMB, all included. Just what my French insurance covers for a delivery!

The follow up of the pregnancy is not in the hospital, but in an outpatient centre, 5 minutes walking distance from the hospital. It is a brand new place, super clean, nice contemporary design, waiting lounge with plenty of foreign magazines about pregnancy, Internet corner with 5 computers. Large and bright offices for the doctors and 3 rooms with high tech ultrasounds and 3D machines. They are generous about ultrasound and I can’t count how many I had + 3D…

One time, at about 6 months of pregnancy, I got worried because I felt like I couldn’t feel the baby move. I called the outpatient centre. They scheduled me with Kristine immediately, and they monitored me for 45 minute, to show me that everything was 100% normal with the baby… and they even re-scheduled us 3 days later with another specialised doctor for a double check… free of charge.

They provide a few prenatal classes, but I heard they are a waste of time, so I recommend indeed Mairy Higgins’s classes at UF. Really helpful, as well as her postnatal visit at home.

Then comes D-day!
Margaux was due 1 week later, but I started having contractions at 5:00 pm on December 29th. At 1am on December 30th, my contractions were regular: every 5mn. At 2:00, we decided to go to the hospital.

Kristine had required a few weeks prior to the due date that I prepare a birthplan.
I had mentioned that I did not want a C section unless the baby was in serious danger, that I was not sure if I wanted or not an epidural, and no episiotomy.

On my arrival, I re-briefed the nurses and the doctor for the 10th time about my wishes and they were very patient and comprehensive. They also let me light my candles, play my music eat my cereal bars, walk all around the place, etc, etc. Now my husband and I laugh about it! They were really patient!!!

At 8:00, I was only dilated to 3cm. At that time, I felt totally depressed, because my contractions were so painfully that I had hoped I was already at 7 or 8…
My husband was great! Not for the breathing because we hadn’t practice anything at home, (I recommend to practice a little, don’t do like me!) but he was a big moral support though!

We had to wait until 11h00 when they told me that I wasn’t dilated enough for an epidural, so I would take a risk of stopping the dilatation … Actually I didn’t care at all, and the perspective of a C section wasn’t a problem to me any more, as long as I could have them stop the pain.

The epidural was the best thing ever, only it lasted just 2 hours… I don’t know why… I think I moved during my sleep, and the anaesthetist hadn’t put enough tape on my back, so that I did not get any aesthetic after a while. I begged them for another one, though my anaesthetist wasn’t sure he wanted to do it all over again.

I have to say that I had my own anaesthetist staying with me all the time, as well as a lovely and dedicated nurse called Linda, to whom I apologize because I smashed her tiny hand during the breathing exercises she helped me doing for hours with an infinite patience.

Then I slept for another hour.

I woke up and the pain was back, but the dilatation was up to 8! Then came the good part of it! Suddenly, I really felt “the urge to push”. The nurse told me to start pushing and rushed to get Kristine. She was with me in no time, and in half an hour of breathing and pushing, at 4:00 sharp, Margaux, Apolline was there : 3,5 kilos, 49 cm

Beautiful baby! The paediatrician took her for 3 minutes : quick cleaning of the lungs and check up while I could see my baby all the time because everybody remained within the delivery room.

Then she handed me my daughter.
And my husband joined us for the first of a long serie of hugs and kisses.