Giving birth in a Chinese hospital
As you might have guessed (or seen on Instagram), I finally gave birth! Baby A. was born August 31 and according to Chinese people this is a very good date as it is the cut off date for starting kindergarten. This means that Baby A. will be able to attend when he has just turned 4, and the children in his class will all be born between September 1, 2017, and August 31, 2018, meaning he will be the youngest. I’m not sure this is a good thing! And yes, I just gave birth and people are already thinking about when my baby will start kindergarten. Sigh…
Today I wanted to write about my birth experience in a Chinese hospital. Most foreign women choose an international hospital when they give birth in China, but I’m not too keen on them because they are ridiculously expensive. Besides, I speak Chinese and I don’t need the doctor to speak English, so I chose to have my check-ups and delivery in the Suzhou Municipal Hospital, which is also known as Maternity Hospital and the place all the local women want to give birth in. Also, if I’m not mistaken, it’s the only hospital with a neonatal ICU, which fortunately we didn’t need to use.
My due date was August 27 (according to the 24 week ultrasound, August 18!!!) and when that day came and passed, everybody started asking when I was going to give birth. Well, it’s not like I can decide… and, besides, I read somewhere that many first time mums don’t go naturally into labour until week 41. But on August 30, during my week 40 check-up, the ultrasound detected that my amniotic fluid was a bit low and the doctor decided the best course of action was to induce my labour that same day as my cervix was already effacing and I was 1 cm dilated. I panicked a little (and I had not brought the hospital bag!!) but in the end this was a good idea as I could get a family room that had just been vacated. If I had gone into labour naturally in the middle of the night I wouldn’t have got a family room, as they are the most sought-after (and, remember, this is the most popular birthing hospital for locals). So I went directly to sign the admittance documents and stayed in the room while C. went back home to pick the things. While he was outside, a doctor came and wanted to break my bag of waters at that very moment. I panicked a little bit more again and told her my husband was not there (I didn’t really want to go through it alone). After considering the other test results from my check-up, the doctor decided we could wait and see if my labour started on its own during the night, and if not I would be induced the next morning. I spent that night in the hospital and, guess what, I had again the shenanigans of nurses coming to listen to the baby’s heartbeat at 12 am!
My labour did not start and the next morning at 8:30 a.m. a male doctor, after asking twice if I was ok with having a male doctor, broke my bag of waters. This didn’t hurt and not a lot of liquid came out. The worst part was that I was not allowed to get off the bed to avoid risking a cord prolapse and I had to pee in a bedpan. At 9:30 a.m. I got an IV with Pitocin to get my contractions started. From this point, the midwife was with me all the time monitoring my contractions. Her name was Chen Ping and looked quite young. I hated having to stay in bed and contractions were quite painful that way, so after a while she allowed me to get on the birthing ball. This was a bit better but after a couple of hours on Pitocin, when I was dilated to 3 cm, I asked the midwife if she had used the epidural herself, how was her experience and if she had had any side effects (I had read some horror stories in books about natural birth). She told me she had it and everything was fine so I asked for it. At 1 p.m. I had the epidural inserted (it didn’t hurt that much either, why do people like scaring pregnant women?) and it was a great relief. I could still feel the contractions but they were bearable, and I could even wiggle my toes (I thought I would not be able to move at all). I got quite relaxed and one hour later I had dilated to 8 cm!! The midwife was very excited and said I was progressing faster than anyone else in that floor (I wonder if the midwives make bets on who will give birth faster each day!!).
At 3 p.m. I was told I could start pushing when I felt the urge. I would have liked to be in a more upright position for pushing, but I couldn’t really move my legs at that point (and I couldn’t stop laughing when I found out!) so I had to push while lying in bed. I pushed for almost an hour (but quite calmly, to be honest) and by this time the room was full of people and devices. There were at least 6 or 7 doctors/nurses/midwives or whatever they were! There was a bit of an emergency situation at the end when one doctor said the baby’s heart rate was slowing, I was not pushing hard enough and I needed to get him out asap so she shoved herself onto my stomach (which didn’t hurt but I almost couldn’t breathe so couldn’t push much either). Luckily this only lasted a couple of minutes and Baby A. finally made his appearance a bit before 4 p.m.! The cutting of the cord was delayed until it stopped pulsating, as I wanted, and after towelling the baby a bit they put him on my chest and he latched on! While this happened, my midwife was sewing up a first degree tear I got. I don’t know how many stitches it was but she took her time! When I asked, she said she was sewing very carefully so later on I wouldn’t even know where the tear had been. After some skin to skin time, they did some tests on the baby and my belly was massaged to help the uterus shrink. One nurse pushed so hard I peed! It was a very weird sensation and I might or might not had a laugh attack again. The midwife proudly confirmed that I had been the fastest giving birth that day in our floor, even faster than the women having a second baby.

It was a private room with a companion bed, a living room with kitchen (on the left) and a bathroom. By the time I was pushing all the space was filled with people and machines.
We stayed in the hospital for two more nights and were discharged on Sunday morning. Even though the birth did not go as I had planned (I wanted to go into labour naturally) I am very happy with how everything turned out and very satisfied with the level of care I received in the hospital. My midwife was amazing and everything was done as I asked. For example, I told her I wanted to avoid an episiotomy and she did a great job during crowning so I only had a small tear and of course no episiotomy needed. Meanwhile, all my friends who gave birth in Spain had episiotomies. They also ensured I was able to breastfeed immediately and the nurses kept checking on how I was doing and if the baby was latching correctly. Also, the room itself was very comfortable and being in a home-like environment probably contributed to the fact that I was so relaxed the whole time. I definitely recommend Suzhou Municipal Hospital for any Chinese-speaking mums to be! The price was also not bad at all: the bill totalled 13,778 rmb for the 3 nights we spent there, including everything from meals to the epidural.
And this was my positive experience giving birth in China!
Congratulations, Marta! Sounds like your birth went well and I figure you and the baby are doing fine at home now. Hope you’re resting well and enjoying all the time with your son.
Thank you! We are all fine and I am on house arrest xD The baby gets very angry when we go outside, haha.
That’s good you are all fine. At least you can enjoy some more rest, ha. That should change soon as he grows.
Congratulations once again. Great that you got the skin to skin time with the baby, nearly all of our friends in China didn’t get it at all and they were not even allowed the hold the baby the first day! The baby was given instead to the mother in law…
Anyhow for our two kids both were late by nearly two weeks, imagine how annoyed my wife was 😅
You certainly had a lot of people there in the room. Both in Finland and in Germany there were only two midwives during the entire time except a short visit by a doctor at the beginning and after giving birth for a quick check up
Ugh, what kind of hospital did they go to and more importantly, why was their MIL even there? 😂 I was very explicit that I didn’t want anyone present during the birth, and not even outside in the waiting room!
I’m not sure why there were so many people there when I was pushing, maybe they were students? Anyway, I was too busy to care about them xD
Congratulations, Marta! What wonderful news! I’m glad you had a good experience! ❤️❤️
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Thanks a lot, Charmaine!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!! So very happy for you — welcome to the world, Baby A!
Thank you!!
Oh, I think you’re right, you just know they have bets on who will give birth first. Did you ask for a share of the money?!
I have never heard of anyone lying on top of the ally to help push the baby out. Interesting, and definitely better than forceps.
I read somewhere that pushing the belly is actually discouraged and even banned in some countries! But yes, forceps is worse…
What a beautiful account of the birth Marta. Wonderful news a healthy baby boy. Warmest congratulations.
Thank you, Sue!
I’m So Happy for you, C., and baby A.
I tried to find you on Instagram and no luck, help!
Thank you, Kathryn! My instagram username is miss_jerusalem
I’m so glad it was was a positive experience. Congratulation, Marta, on the birth to your baby boy. My third daughter was born on Aug. 31, exactly on her due date.
Oh, now I will always remember your daughter’s birthday! Thanks a lot, Nicki!
Wow. What an experience! One that you most likely won’t forget, eh? Not unless you have many more babies! Heh, heh. How many children do you want? ;)
Welcome to the world Baby A. Rest easy. I hope everything continues to go well Marta! Hugs from Thailand.
Er… for the moment I have enough with this one, haha! Thanks a lot, Lani!
Congrats Marta! It sounded like the hospital have you the care that you need, and it was all quite relaxed. Even with a lot of people in the room it didn’t sound chaotic 😁
Thank you, Mabel! I was so relaxed during the whole thing that I was actually surprised, haha.
Congratulations!
Thank you!
Congratulations! Sounds like our kiddos might get to be classmates – just under the wire! We had our Little 1 at Kowloon VIP – which was also pretty nice. My wife got send home after her heartbeat monitoring session and her water broke as soon as we got home. Enjoy your time with baby 1 and get ready for major league staring when you go out with baby and husband!
Thank you, Zhou! And great to see you again :D How old is your baby now? I have also heard good things about Kowloon. I haven’t been out much yet but on Monday I have to go to Shanghai and I am a bit scared of doing such a long trip with the baby!
Good to be back. Busy with diaper changes, general dad work and the jobby job. Most fun I’ve ever had – after the L1 started sleeping more than three hours at a time. Fear not, an 8 hour night will be upon you before you know it.
My daughter is 10 months old so she’s getting big. Enjoy the newborn time because it’s over in a flash.
You going to Shanghai for some vaccinations? That will be a nerve racking trip. Make sure to give yourself the whole day and try to relax – because you’ll struggle. We started traveling to the foreign hospitals in Beijing to get those shots done because, you know, some of the Chinese shots don’t work at all- I’d prefer Shanghai but the wife will jump at any chance to visit Beijing.
Wonderful news! Congratulations… you are a MOM now! Excited to hear more of your stories. Rest and be happy!
Thank you! I hope I can get the hang of this mom thing soon xD
Ah, you will! Is your mother visiting? If not, maybe she will come soon. It’s nice to have a little help in the beginning. :)
My parents are arriving next week! We’ve had my mother in law here since the birth, she is being a great help as I don’t have to worry about cooking, washing or cleaning!
Excellent!!!
I’m so glad to hear that you had an uneventful birth story. There were several times in the story that I laughed out loud, when they were pushing on you so hard you couldn’t breathe, and when it made you pee. I was induced around 8:30 am and had my baby at 2 pm, so my labor was unexpectedly fast too. These next few months will be tough, but you’ll get the hang of it quickly!
http://hotandsourblog.com/2018/03/22/my-birth-story/
Thank you Katie! I remember I read your birth story before and now rereading my comment I’m glad I got to have a fast labour too, haha.
Tough Mama you are, congratulations! May Baby A grow healthy and a wonderful person. Hope you have gained your energy back. Enjoy the most difficult yet fulfilling job on earth, being a Mother! :)
Thank you! I think I am more or less fully recovered, yes, but I still have quite the mommy pouch xD
Congrats. Marta.. and you will announce baby’s name soon. :)
Thank you!!
Marta! Wow you make giving birth sound so easy, haha. If all the birthing stories were as calm and funny as yours I probably wouldn’t be so scared to do it. Pregnancy and childbirth really frightens me, but I think you make it sound so easy!
“I was not pushing hard enough and I needed to get him out asap so she shoved herself onto my stomach (which didn’t hurt but I almost couldn’t breathe so couldn’t push much either)”
That’s nuts! I’ve never heard of that…
And that hospital looks super nice! Wow! That’s like US quality right there. Plus… I’m so impressed you did all this in Chinese! I don’t know how to say epidural in any language but English lol..
Glad everything went well. How is it having an infant? I hope baby A is an easy one!
I was also scared before but after getting pregnant I started reading many books about natural birth and they all emphasized our bodies are designed to do this. And it’s true! But the media has been doing a great job scaring us, always depicting birth as painful, noisy and gory. Don’t let it affect you! Birth is overrated, the really difficult part comes after it xD Or maybe I just say this because I had a relatively smooth pregnancy and delivery.
Epidural is 无痛分娩 I think but I just said 麻醉 and they understood!
I am in baby prison now xD I think he is relatively easy but still a baby so I spend the whole day feeding, holding, burping and changing him. Oh and making him sleep at night takes like 2 hours!
What? 13778 for 3 nights?
Yes, 3 nights in the single VIP room and everything else included (meals, drugs, etc.). Do you think it is cheap or expensive? I don’t know how it compares with other local hospitals but I know it’s very cheap compared to international ones!
Hello Baby A!
Congratulations Mama and Papa! I can’t believe you’re a Mama now. Seriously I can’t! A friend had her first baby back in June and I’m still kinda in disbelief she’s a mum, yet at the same time not. I’m looking forward to posts on all the adventures to come now you’re plus one mini you! Love the way you tell stories :) Besitos
Thank you! I can’t believe it either. Well, to be more specific, I can’t really believe such a big thing came out of my hoohaa!!
JAJAJA! Way TMI! But yeah, I can’t believe such big things come out of girls hoohaa’s! Our bodies are amazing!
Seems like a lovely room! Thanks for sharing!
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