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When few months ago before I had the baby MKB organized a Virtual Baby Shower for all the pregnant MKB bloggers, I felt it would be nice to take it further a notch. But wasn’t sure what could be the next step.
Recently I’ve been posting about birth and postpartum topics on my blog, and a fellow blogger suggested to make a roundup on birth around the world. And… so here it is!
We haven’t covered all continents in this post – just a few countries. But here are some highlights from fellow MKB bloggers by country:
China:
Varya of Creative World of Varya
“In public hospitals you are not offered much support by medical stuff, just monitored from time to time, checked for dilation. Chinese women tolerate contractions very quietly, practically without any sound. Many women here opt for cesarean as in their opinion it saves time and they can avoid the pain of the natural birth. Birth is given in hospitals and assisted by doctors and nurses. Obstetric care is done only in hospitals by obstetricians. In public health midwifery is not an option, nor is home birth (but it can happen from time to time due to how rapid it can progress). Postpartum care is given by family members or yuesao – a trained pediatric and obstetric nurse who cares for a mom and newborn from birth to at least 1 month postpartum. You can read more about Chinese hospitals in my China 101 series“.
France:
Alison of Mon Acouchement Serein – Alison blogs in French about birth and pregnancy. She a lot of useful information on giving birth in general and giving birth in France.
Carrieanne of French Mama – she shares her own birth story in France and how natural the whole experience was for her and her baby.
Maria has 2 blogs – Busy as a Bee in Paris and Trilingual Mama – where she described her birthing experience in France (don’t forget to scroll down and click through the related links – there is a lot of useful information!) and obtaining American citizenship to an American baby born abroad.
Germany:
Annabelle of The Piri-piri Lexicon – Annabelle wrote an excellent article comparing birth in UK and birth in Germany.
Ilze of Let the Journey Begin – Ilze has wonderful series on (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 ) where she describes the type of prenatal care you can get there and how you get to prepare for birth there and where you can learn what Mutterpass is and how the baby can be “ordered”!
Netherlands:
Amanda of Expat Life with a Double Buggy – shares her personal experience of giving birth in Netherlands with a doula by her side and on kramweek after birth.
Olga of The European Mama – Olga writes a lot about pregnancy and birth and her posts are all very well-thought. She advocates for women to have better prenatal care and birthing choices. You will enjoy reading her posts on pregnancy and birth.
United Kingdom:
North Wales:
Jonathan of Dad’s the Way I Like It
Jonathan is from Scotland and raises a bilingual family in North Wales posted few articles from a point of view of a father and on paternity leave in the UK. You can find lots of thought and experience sharing on fatherhood on his blog.
United Kingdom of Great Britain;
Scotland:
MaryAnne of Mama Smiles – MaryAnna shares her birth experience in Scotland where she gave birth to her first child. Ever tried running for the bus while being on a verge of giving birth? Well, she did it!
United States of America:
Elisabeth of Spanish Mama – Elisabeth had her baby via water birth in a birthing center and it was a beautiful experience!
Leanna of All Done Monkey – Leanna shares her experience of birthing at birth centers and on how a mom’s intuition is often more correct than professional expertise when it comes to birthing process.
Veena of Tiaras to Babies – Veena shares how she delivered her baby via c-section and her first reaction when seeing her baby and realizing that they had started a family.
This list is short but we hope to add more stories and useful tips based on your personal experiences. Please comment under this post with your birth story and country of residence/country where you have given birth. We would love to hear from you!
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Varya blogs at Creative World of Varya. She is a mom to 2 children, early development specialist, baby massage and perinatal fitness instructor, breastfeeding consultant. Varya has been living in China for the past 13 years working and raising her multicultural family.
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Varya
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It’s funny how different environments produce different birth experiences. Definitely good to be prepared if you are planning to give birth in a foreign country, too.
I’ve been blessed to deliver five children in five different cities and two different states, within the United States. My prenatal care has been pretty standard for all five occasions. But my birthing and postpartum care has been widely different in all five cities. All of the babies were delivered in hospitals, but some hospitals were more mother and baby centered than others. My last experience was almost life threateningly bad because of how the medical staff “cared” for me. There are a lot of options for birthing in the US, and expectant mothers would do well to find out all the options and cost, and figure out how they want to experience birth.