Just found out my new wife and I are already expecting a baby much to our enjoyment so I have a few questions and hopefully some of you might be able to assist…
First of all I know we need to find a Dr., her family has suggested one but that they have always used, but unfort. he speaks no English and since I just got here I do not know the language yet (learning)… So first do any of you know from experience any good Dr.'s here in Taipei City that speak some English… Doesnt have to be perfect, just enough to communicate with me at a small level (hopefully by the time the 9 months is up I will be able to communicate in chinese somewhat)…
Also, I am not sure how it is done here as she isnt either, do we pick the hospital or does the Dr. and can any of you point us in the right direction as to which hospitals are good (up to date, private rooms, clean, etc) vs which ones to stay away from… Should we go private or public??
Basically, just any advise any of you might be able to offer… I have had a child in the states from one of the nighters years ago so I know what to look for in the states, but this place is completely new to me and really dont know where to start…
Congrats cw, I had good experiences with our two births at the Taipei Adventist Hospital on Bade Rd, I think all the doctors there speak at least some English.
I believe pics are available, but only for a certain price… … JK, think I might get in trouble for that…
Thanks Daltongang, that is right next to my apartment so we went by there along with a couple of others and we def. liked that one the best so we have an appointment with Dr. Chan??? tomorrow, think that is his name.
If any of you have any other tips/pointers please dont hesitate to provide… Also, do you know if there are any classes that are in English??? Thx again.
I’m also expecting and my doctor is Dr Jean at the Chungshan hospital 2708 1166, her English is excellent and she is very approachable although she takes a while to warm up. She is also happy to cooperate with our birth plan where ever possible. She is also happy to answer questions. Dr Bernice at the same hospital has also been recommended. Maybe you could take a look at the parent pages site www.parentpages.net. Congratulations and good luck.
I’m sorry but I have to take back that recommendation as I had my baby at the Chungshan and found that the doctor’s and nurses lack of competence and hygene left both me and my baby extremely sick. There pediatric care is appaling our baby now has to spend a considerable amount of time in ICU in the excellent Cathay hospital as a result of there misdiagnosis and face saving lies. Please PM me if you need more details but please don’t use this hospital. I had heard excellent recommendation of this hospital and found there pre-natal care to be good yet on labour day my experience was beyond belief.
WOW!!! What a difference 3 hours makes. Sorry your good news turned bad so fast Nepenthes. I hope it will make another u-turn later tonight.
CONGRATs CW. My daughter is 2 months old and it’s a great experience you have ahead of you, notwithstanding the lack of sleep. We did ours at Changung Hospital. Good enough I guess (the baby is healthy, the birth is behind us and everything’s going fine). We chose it for the convenient location, but I was disappointed by some things that are probably true of all Taiwan hospitals: no choice of birthing positions and an eagerness to give drugs, cut the perineum, apply suction, and suck it out so they can do the next one. I would’ve rather done it at home underwater. But, as I said, all worked out fine and that’s in the past.
I’m really sorry. I was in a hurry to post before dinner and wasn’t paying attention. I do hope that all that is in the past for both of you Nepenthes and you are both doing well now. We’ve been fortunate that our baby has only suffered from minor ailments and I know how terrible even such minor things can be, so I can imagine how horrible it must be to see your baby suffer through somehting serious. I offer my sincere apologies and I hope you are both healthy and happy now.
My wife is 7 months pregnant. At first we went to tai-da and my wife complained about the doctor and the general atmospere of the hospital. I finally went with her to check it out and it was horrible. I’ve been to hospitals in egypt that were cleaner. Now I’m not just a whiner about the taiwan medical system. I’ve had really great help there in the past but the obs-gyn section( at least our doctor) was the worst.
in a nutshell, they were not checking the things that were listed on the hospital checklist. They charged the insurance for tests that werent given. it took 2 weeks to get blood test back. the waiting room was dirty and a woman came in bleeding and the doctor told here to sit on a stool and wait untill I got finished asking her irelevant questions about my wife’s blood test. It actually gets much worse than that but I’ve gone on enough.
the good news is that I called a friend(chinese) and she took us to the adventist hospital. so far the adventist hospital is great. any ideas about what to expect for the delivery.
in defense of tai-da, it seems that everyone wants to go to tai-da to have a baby because it’s supposed to have a great reputaion and thats why it was so overcrowded. the doctor had adout 25 pregnant women waiting outside so the pressure must have been enormous just to shuffle them through. nevertheless i wasnt impressed.
:bouncy: :scooby:
then at least of the newborn when he/she finally makes an appearance… 
What a difference 3 hours makes. Sorry your good news turned bad so fast Nepenthes. I hope it will make another u-turn later tonight.
Sorry.