Part of information gathering week also involved visits to the hospital where we plan to give birth and to the offices of my health insurance company. The great news is that there are a lot of options available to choose from, depending your willingness to drive and the type of birth you want to have. Basically, Chile has public hospitals and private clinics, the latter being MUCH nicer and MUCH more expensive. You can also choose private rooms or multi-person rooms, pay to have a particular doctor there, or just take the luck of the draw. But even across the range of birthing options, having a baby in Chile costs about HALF of what it would cost us in the US! In the states, the average cost of having a baby, including prenatal care, what the OB charges, plus hospital fees is $10,000 to $12,000. If there are complications or you need a C section, the cost will quadruple. The chart below is in pesos, but at the even at the most expensive clinic, having a baby will only cost $5000-6000.
I have a pretty decent insurance plan (which I contracted and pay for myself, not through the university) which will cover me *some* where ever I go, but gives me full coverage at my preferred clinic. Unfortunately, my plan doesn't cover a private room. I'll be sharing with two other ladies and Joan will only be able to visit me between 11am-7pm (but he can be there the whole time during labor and delivery). I get 3 days rest after the baby is born, Camilo gets to "room in" with me, my own doctor will attend the birth, and this will cost me out-of-pocket about $250. Fantastic, right?!
Also I LOVE my clinic, which happens to be the University Clinic where we work (in Santiago). It's a teaching hospital, which some people can't stand, but I don't mind at all having medical students and residents in training present at any given time. I find I usually learn MORE about what ever treatment or procedure is going on because the doctor explains things to both myself and the student/resident! Also most of the doctors and surgeons are also actively involved in research, which means they are all generally up to date with all the current medical advances and not so set in their rigid, clinical ways.
The hospital also offers a six week program of workshops for first time parents. We've only completed our first class so far, but MAN did we learn a lot! Last weekend the focus was on prenatal care and what to expect in labor and delivery, both from your body and from the hospital. They have rotating speakers that come through and each presents on their specialty: the anesthesiologist, nurse-midwife, obstetrician, etc. Joan and I both really liked the friendly, but no-nonsense atmosphere of the whole thing. Their message is honest, "It's going to hurt. It's going to get ugly. But HERE is what we can do to help you!" We didn't leave feeling scared or anything, but with greater sense of "preparedness." That is the point after all, isn't it?
I have to confess though, the more and more we learn about birth and all of the potential complications, the more and more I want to have a "natural birth." That is, I don't want an epidural. At all. Seriously. Now this isn't because I buy into the natural child birth thing in a hippy-sense, although I'm all for it if that's your bag, but in my case, I'm absolutely TERRIFIED about being stuck in bed for hours and hours! How do you pee? What if you want to walk around, squat down, or change positions? None of the answers to these questions I received made me feel any better. My nightmare is a long labor, stuck in a bed with needles sticking out of me, and a catheter in me just WAITING. I think I'd much rather battle the pain and feel like I'm WORKING towards making that baby shoot out of me! We'll see though, I'll hold out as long as I can and if I'm really suffering through the pain, I'm not too proud to beg for that spinal tap druggie-goodness!
And as a final note (geez, these posts are starting to get long, aren't they?), Camilo's cleft will have absolutely no bearing on his birth or whatever plan we come up with. Cleft babies are considered "normal births" so any complications that might arise will be incidental. Our hospital is experienced in delivering cleft babies, our doctor is totally "unphased" by it, and they will be prepared to help me feed Chaka in anyway we figure out (they have breast pumps, special bottles, etc.). Like I said, I love my hospital!
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