Having a baby in Bangkok

Where to give birth in Asia?

Having a baby in Bangkok was better than I expected.

I never thought that I would travel so much while being pregnant and I never thought that I would have a baby in Bangkok, Thailand of all places. I was four months pregnant when I packed our few backpacks and left for Asia with the husband, the toddler and the teen.

Our initial plan was to go to Luang Prabang in Laos and stay there for a few months, maybe even have the baby there. After some research we decided that having a baby in Luang Prabang was probably not a good idea, especially since I had to have a C-section and the hospitals are very basic. At baby number three, wishing for a natural birth after two C-sections seemed like a wild dream. We spent three months in Laos getting our bearings about being in Asia and I had some prenatal checkups there too. When I reached the 8 month mark, the travel limit for pregnant women, we made our way back to Thailand.

Search for hospitals before you arrive

We decided that the best place to have the baby would be Bangkok, our point of arrival in Asia and a pretty comfortable place to be. I started searching for hospitals while we were still in Peru. To tell you the truth, I didn’t search much. I chose the first hospital that answered my queries in an impressive manner, and I booked prenatal appointments and a C-section with them pretty quickly.

The international attention in Vejhtani Hospital impressed me and I felt pretty good about the decision. I visited the hospital on our first visit to Bangkok to meet the Ob-Gyn and let her know I would be In Luang Prabang until the very last possible moment. She seemed a little apprehensive but thankfully I kept in good shape and she sent me off with my prenatal pills and medical history.

Pre-natal care with cats!

Needless to say the Ob-Gyn in Luang Prabang was very basic and her pet cats had free run of the clinic, which obviously took up one room of her house. She came across as nice and friendly even though her vintage ultrasound machine had no 3D capabilities. I hadn’t really expected much so the experience took a quaint note more than a “this is so backwards” one. I really liked that doctor, even if she told me I had some dehydration issues due to the heat.

Once in Bangkok I realized that the hospital I had picked, was not the usual expat choice. Rather it seemed to be the number one choice for middle-eastern families. A couple of times I felt uncomfortable in my shorts and singlet among so many burkas, but there were plenty of Thai people too. Needless to say I appeared to be one of the few white patients. But that is nothing new to me so I didn’t see it as a setback at all.

Beware of traffic in Bangkok

Vejhtani Hospital did have a setback though; the location was on Lad Prao Road instead of Sukhumvit, actually quite far from Sukhumvit. Thankfully my C-Section got scheduled early in the morning and we beat the traffic. The far away location of Vejhtani Hospital is really its only negative aspect; everything else was perfect. The Ob-Gyn I was assigned was wonderful and gentle and the facilities were top notch. I felt comfortable every step of the way.

If you are planning on having a baby in Bangkok, don’t worry about it too much. It is really easy to get good pregnancy and delivery care. The other two hospitals that you can look into and that plenty of expats use are Samitivej Hospital and Bumrungrad.

By Orana Velarde

Orana was born in Peru but lived in the US as a teenager and in Argentina in her twenties. After seven years in Lima, she and her husband decided it was time for a change and moved to South East Asia. First stop Laos, then Bangkok, Phuket and now settled in Bali. You can find her blog here www.crazylittlefamilyadventure.blogspot.com and elsewhere on the internet: Facebook: Instagram – oranavelarde: Twitter – CLFAdventure: Pinterest – oranavelarde