NEW BLOG

Ok so I have finally plucked up the courage to start my new blog. Check out my journey - stuck in bed for possibly 20+ weeks!

http://aussieexpatexplorers.blogspot.com/

Birth Experience 2

I can't seem to get my head around this... there is soo much to write and I don't want to bore you with every detail. I guess this is the problem with back blogging - if I wrote it at the time it would have been much easier and broken into way smaller pieces.

So where to start...

Well a brief rundown of the pregnancy. I had problems right from day 1 of being pregnant. I bled for the first 4 months - so was a constant worry that I would lose baby. Before 20 weeks I started to feel braxton hick's contractions. With my first it was around 24 weeks. This time I knew what they were. They started to increase and I tried my hardest to avoid the hot weather and anything that might aggravate them. The Dr kept monitoring me to check that nothing was happening. Well at 26 weeks they started to increase and my cervix started shortening...yipes so on bed rest and told if I wanted to fly home to Australia then I should think about doing it very soon. So we arranged for my Dad to meet us in Thailand (my son and I) and Jon (my husband) managed to be able to arrange to fly to Thailand with us and then come back to work). I was terrified of flying and I just new at the time that I shouldn't do it.

What if the baby came in the plane?
What if the baby came in Thailand?
What if the baby came while I was in Australia and Jon hadn't made it there yet (he still had 2 weeks of school to go)?

So on the night I was to fly I was admitted to hospital. My dad continued on from Thailand to here and I faced an uncertain next few days, weeks... what... well in the end months.

(Let me just back track a little - I went to the hospital the day before worried that I was leaking and wanted to check all ok before I flew. My Dr was not available so I saw another Dr. I was naieve enough to think that all would be ok and it would be a false alarm... was I wrong. SO I was told to go home and ring my Dr the next day - because they don't have facilities at the private hospital for premi babies - I would have to be admitted to Omani hosp and that would have to be done by my Dr as she works also at Omani hosp - it is very complicated here. SO next day I rang my Dr and was she MAD that the other Dr had not contacted her. Anyway to make a long story short she spent the entire day trying to find me a bed and the baby a bed.)

A little hospital history - the closest hospital (Omani gov hosp) is a surgical Neonatal intensive Care Unit - that means priority is given to babies needing surgery. So no beds can be "booked" as such - they won't hold a bed in "case" i give birth. They will transfer people out of the hospital as necessary and you could along with your baby be transferred to ANY hospital in the area - up to 3 hours away.

Firstly I went to the delivery ward at the closest Omani hospital - the surgical hospital. There I was put on a drip, examined. My husband was not allowed in with me - as it was a room full of beds. This was the initial exam room you are taken into. WHile I waited I could hear the screams of other women and the crying of babies. Let's just say I was glad to get out of there - they turn them out like a factory - they have a very high birth rate in this hospital about 30 on average per day. So I was transferred to another hospital where they had a bed available for me and an intensive care baby bed just in case. I was very lucky it was only 30-40 minutes away...

Birth Experience

Lately a few people have asked my what it was like having 2 kids overseas. So I have decided to blog a little (well it will probably end up being a lot- because a lot happened) about my experiences. So I might divide it into parts.

Firstly to make it clear I had complications with both pregnancies and spent time in hospital during my pregnancy.

First son - 2005 - Frankfurt, Germany (Private and Public patients - no difference)
I went to 2 different hospitals. The first hospital was when I went into premature labour and the second was for the actual birth.

Second son - 2008 - Muscat, Oman This is a little more complicated. Firstly if you are an expat and do not work for the Omani government you can only attend the private hospital. However, if they cannot cater for your needs then you will be transferred or admitted to an Omani hospital. I went to 2 of the Omani hospitals during pregnancy and then the private hospital to give birth.

I will start with my second pregnancy as it is easier to remember...

Having a baby overseas is a challenge I can tell you that now. Not only are you away from family, in an unfamiliar environment, unsure of cultural differences, different procedures, rules, regulations and hospital policies BUT you are also PREGNANT! I was fortunate enough to have my mother around after the birth of my first and for my second she was here for the time I was in hospital until I had my baby - over 10 weeks. My Dad also dropped everything for me and came as soon as I was admitted to hospital and stayed for 4 weeks. For that I will be forever grateful. But it still isn't the same.

PLUS to make things more difficult for myself the only people that came to visit me (aside from a couple of friends before the holiday) was my husband, my mum, my dad and my son at times (although this is another whole story in itself - one I will address at a later stage). This was mainly because everyone was busy with end of school year stuff and then everyone left for summer break which was 8 weeks and the hospital I was in for the majority of the time was about 30 minutes away.

So here I was stuck in a hospital bed facing the scary possibility of delivering a premi-baby, infection and doctors wanting to deliver baby straight away...

BUT I managed to stay as positive as I could and hang in there...

Will continue when I get a chance...

Souk Wandering Wonderings!? Be thankful...

The other night we went on a trip to the souk. I had a few items in mind that I wanted and of course ended up with completely the opposite. I didn't even get to my usual silver shop.

We have a friend right at one of the front shops who runs a Kashmiri shop for his family. They have a factory back home in Kashmir where they make the majority of items he sells in the shop. We usually don't stop there for long but we know how lonely he gets (he works every day mornings and evenings), so last night we made extra effort to stop and chat with him. He has been really kind to us and always gives us "best price"!

Of course he had new items in and usually it's our friends or family that buy from him - but this time he had a rare find wall hanging made with a lot of silk thread and we couldn't resist. It is beautiful and the thread has a special name in Arabic (zari).

"Zari is a type of thread made of fine gold or silver wire used in traditional Indian and Pakistani garments. This thread is woven into fabrics, primarily made of silk to create intricate patterns. It is believed this tradition started during the Mughal era."

Then we headed off to the Silversmith Supply shop! It's not at all organised like you would think of a shop in Australia or many other places. Finding things is by pure luck or chance or sometimes surprise that they even have it! I can ask for an item but there is no guarantee that they will know what I am talking about. Last time I took pictures of items I wanted with me and that was the best way. Nothing is really displayed in the shop - just crammed into every spare space and odd boxes, although they seem to know where everything is. I got an assortment of items including pure silver granules and a small amount of sheet silver as well. What he did bring out this time was a great find - not cheap but worth it and exaclty what i had been looking for. Steel blocks with designs in them - to put designs onto the silver. Some really nice omani looking designs and i got an elephant! I also got some copper wire and sheeting to play around with - far cheaper than practicing with silver! A few other supplies were found also. But all set me back a fair bit again. Oh well it's worth it when you see the end product!

My most interesting part of the night, other than my jewelry making finds, was my little insight into the way these men live! My baby became quite upset and I needed to feed him! As it is not appropriate to breastfeed in public here the owner of the shop offered me a room to go feed my baby! One of his indian workers who was in the shop lives next door in a small room with his wife. No one was there at the time and I was able to sit on the small bed and feed him. To me this was not a shock (the room I mean) - but to many it would be. A room about half the size of my bedroom contained a small bed for the 2, a table with a gas burner (the hose ran out through old louvers in a window), a broken cupboard and a small fridge. There were a few other possessions around but otherwise fairly bare. No sink, no bathroom - I suppose they share a toilet with others and wash up in a tub in the room. The air-con was switched on for me and the thump thump started over the hum of the old "wall banger" as they are known locally.

By standards this would be considered a good place to live by many! For me the stench of the cat pee wafting in from outside, the musty dampness of the room and the overpowering frankinscence wafting in from the souk was all a little too much. Another reminder of how lucky we are to have such high living standards. Even if we do get the odd rat outside our house - I think the threat of rodents in those conditions would be even worse!