Babies!

No not for us right now (not because we don't want another one, but... ah, that's another post for another time). However, we've had three friends give birth in the past few days, so it's been an interesting experience going to the hospital to visit. Two of the families are Arab, and one is American. In this part of the world, you are supposed to have sweets (chocolates), wrapped in either pink or blue tissue paper, to give out to guests when they come to visit. Also, it's not like the States, where the visiting hours are pretty much come-and-go as you please. There are strict visiting hours in the maternity ward, and they WILL kick you out if you overstay! Anyway, I got to visit a friend of mine today for a little while. She seemed to be recovering pretty well after her c-section, and her little guy was so precious. A couple of things I noticed here:

1) Women are SUPPOSED to be noisy when giving birth - that is, they are expected to cry out and yell, "Oh, I can't, I don't want to, this is TOO HARD!!!!" rather than learning breathing and focus techniques to help you through each contraction.

2) Lack of lactation consultants - the last time I gave birth, the lactation consultant was always available, and I'm guessing there was more than one on duty at any given shift. Here, while they are trying to raise breast-feeding awareness, there is only one woman in the maternity ward who I would consider a certified lactation consultant, and she can't work around the clock! There's still a strong cultural push to bottle feed, which is a sign of wealth and status in this part of the world. That, and I think that women can't be bothered with breast-feeding, which can be inconvenient and a hassle for some women.

3) Giving birth doesn't cost $10000 - which was how much it cost to deliver our son in the US (my daughter was even more)! Now, our insurance covered almost all of it in the USA, but here, because our insurance is based in the USA, we have to pay out of pocket and be reimbursed by them later. I sure don't have $10000 lying around the house, so it's good to know that we can afford to have babies here!

That's all I have for today. Be aware that if you ever give birth overseas, it'll definitely be an incredibly different experience than being in the USA! Even a top-notch facility in a foreign country will have a completely different style of doing things just because the culture is so different.