Sixteen weeks Pregnant when re locating to Hong Kong

[Teresa A]

Hello, I will be re-locating to Honkg Kong from Australia when I will be 16 weeks pregnant. I have a very weak back as I had a Spinal fusion some time ago, this is my second pregnancy. With my first child I had a scheduled caesarean as my Ob said that a natural birth could cause further damage to my Spine I did have an Epidural so that I could be awake for the birth.

My question is when I arrive in Hong Kong I will be four months pregnant and I am concerned that it is going to be too late to choose an Ob that works from a Private Hospital as well as secure a Hospital bed - I was thinking Matilda. The other thing is if the pregnancy goes well then I will be ok but if it causes problems for my back I may require hospitalisation before the birth.

My other concern is I arrive in Hong Kong don't know absolutely anyone how do I even find an Ob. I am a little concerned because something that is so important may be selected without recommendation and with little time for consideration, I don't even know if health insurance taken out in Hong Kong has a waiting period for pregnancy.

I am considering returning to Australia to have the baby simply because of my health concerns with my back but I would really like to have the option of having the baby in Hong Kong as I am sure that I will receive equally good care.

I appreciate any advice or help and I apologise for such a long thread, but I just have to know lol.

 

[AmyH]

TeresaA,

I have no clue about the insurance situation but what I would suggest you do is maybe contact some OBs or the hospitals directly before you arrive her to see if you could maybe fax over confirmation of your pregnancy and they could pre-register you at one of the private hospitals. I am not even sure if this is possible but it might be worth giving it a try.

On the top of this website there is a directory and under health and fitness they have a lost of OBs with phone numbers so it may be worth giving them a call to see.

Good luck!

 

[lesliefu]

For the insurance situation - what normally happens in HK is that the 1st year you can not claim maternity benefits, you can only claim starting 2nd year you take up insurance. sorry! my sis missed it by 3 days because her soon was born 2 weeks early!

as for the hospital situation, i would try to locate someone you like over the web as AmyH says and perhaps develop a "relationship" over e-mail so that they can book the hospital for you. Worse thing is you can change when you come to HK and discover you don't feel comfortable with that particular doctor.

Good luck!

 

[laial]

TeresaA

I just went through the insurance thing myself, and all insurance companies have a waiting period for obstetrics (ranging from 8-12 months), which sucks for you and myself.

I too was pregnant before I moved to Hong Kong, and found my obstetrician via a combination of google and geobaby (thanks for everyone's posts on different obstetricians). I ended up going with Sally Ferguson, I think she did her medical training in Newcastle (Australia) and her obstetrics in the UK, and she is great - to the point and gets things done, which suits me.

As for the hospital situation, sorry I'm still new to that myself, but my guess is to get in touch with them asap. I also considered going back to Australia to have bub, but with hubby working here (I would hate it if he missed the birth) it was just easier to deliver here. Also I couldn't imagine flying back and forth whilst pregnant, I'm not a big fan of flying even when I'm not pregnant!

I hope you are able to work something out, good luck!

 

[laial]

actually now that i think about it, Sally might have trained in Newcastle (UK) ... does anyone know? oops!

 

[yonge]

Would you be open to going public? You won't see a single, regular obgyn, but the care is second to none. As a matter of fact, if you have serious complications, the private hospitals will send you to the public ones anyway as the private ones are equipped to handle them. As a public patient, you don't have to worry about booking a place early enough, as they're obligated to take everyone who resides in their catchment area. Moreover, the prices can't be beat! It's HK$100 admission, HK$100 per night and HK$50 for public administration, so my normal delivery was HK$250. You're charged per night, so the costs structure remains the same no matter what type of delivery you have. I had a c-section for my first, so I was asked whether I would elect to have another c-section or try for a vaginal birth after a c-section (VBAC), so you do have some options. Good luck!