Comments on naijablog: Ante-natal classes, Nigeria-style

abeg, make una come warri, we get better medical f...

2007-09-09T19:32:00.000+01:00

abeg, make una come warri, we get better medical facilities there, dem dey give free flowers self! hisssssss.

@ Anon 12.45 i'm sure you havent being pregnant co...

2007-09-08T10:34:00.000+01:00

@ Anon 12.45 i'm sure you havent being pregnant cos if you have then you wont need to fight your fundamental right to wear heels. you will ditch them yourself was you waddle along

I suggest we all head off to Scandinavia then, whe...

2007-09-04T16:45:00.000+01:00

I suggest we all head off to Scandinavia then, when the time comes. I wonder what their policy is on pregnancy tourism? (JOKE, FOLLOWED BY RHETORICAL QUESTION O!)

@ negresse adore...I totally sympathise with your ...

2007-09-03T20:19:00.000+01:00

@ negresse adore...
I totally sympathise with your friend. It's a mixed bag for sure. And sometimes people just luck out no matter where they go or who is in charge of thier care.
I know someone who opted to have her baby privately in a hospital in North west London - I think it may have been the Wellington - I forget now - anyway despite the money she paid - 2 or 3 thousand pounds she was left largely to her own devices during labour, no proper CTG monitoring was done and her Mom-in-law (who luckily was with her) practically managed her entire labour and delivery!
Thank goodness mom and baby were ok but my what a horrifc experience just 'cos she was keen to "have her baby abroad"...
On the other hand with research, a smidgen of intelligence (and Gods grace of course) many have had their babies in naija hospitals without any issues. Certainly I did not have any problems - my ob/gyn was very experienced and a kind, lovely person, the nurses/midwives were professional and knew their jobs. One good thing here in the UK is that to some extent there is accountability- so if it all goes pear shaped and the family wants answers - they WILL get answers. The concept of self-auditing is a sound one as organisations (especially the much maligned NHS) are forced to look at their mistakes, go back to the drawing board and improve. Unfortunately I have yet to see that happpen in naija. Over there it is business as usual. It is the way it is.

Foxy sweetie...you missed point entirely...the Har...

2007-09-03T19:59:00.000+01:00

Foxy sweetie...you missed point entirely...the Harvard reference was not to foreigness of the dr, rather, the expert knowledge of said physician (Harvard being part of the ivy league of Universities en Amerique? Must spell out dahlink, cos afraid you missing point). The Point of the tale was that there are good PRIVATE options in NIGERIA. (Dr. Ohaeri is Ibo, hosp is First Consultants in Obalende, Lagos, yes, they are stil there)... So if, alas i you equated good service with foreigness, pele. Also as to the gucci bag, chanel glass reference? Where did THAT come from? you sound bitter. And single. (sorry i couldnt resist last bit- J delete

Hi- 5, Negresse! Please. Apart from possibly Scand...

2007-09-03T19:35:00.000+01:00

Hi- 5, Negresse! Please. Apart from possibly Scandinavian countries with alleged fantastic social health programs, National Health Services the world over are basically crap. They might not have the hand clapping Tongue Speaking, but lets face it, with many of those systems, you are literally going in with little but a wing and a prayer to see you thru :)

@ anonymous..dont be so bitter foxy! This was in L...

2007-09-03T19:33:00.000+01:00

@ anonymous..
dont be so bitter foxy! This was in Lagos.Nigeria? I'll be glad to give you the Dr.'s #, AND the hospital. Also, my birth and delivery were relatively pain AND drug free, thank you very much. And also, JUST to annoy you further, I'm STILL married (happily) and now i have 3 beautiful kids. oh, and i have great figure .Have a great Monday!
______________________________

I was being totally sarcy darling! Of course you missed the point. If someone is amused at your typical "my Gucci bag" , "my Chanel sunglasses" , "I had my baby in yankee" or "the girl who did my wedding makeup trained with Pat Mcgrath" then folks like you instantly fall back into that old hoary excuse - "she/he is jealous 'cos (insert the rest as you see fit)- my hubby has not left me/I have a big house in Parkview, Ikoyi/it's 'cos I just shipped in the new MB CL55...

Yawn. Who really cares about all that? Not me so relax. There is really no need to go on about the harvard trained docs etc - these people are human and trust me - make as many mistakes as the next health professional. Not to mention the fact that many Nigerian trained ob/gyn are excellent clinicians.

But of course that would not mean much to people for whom if it does not come with a foreign tag it ain't good enough.

@ anonymous..dont be so bitter foxy! This was in L...

2007-09-03T19:30:00.000+01:00

@ anonymous..
dont be so bitter foxy! This was in Lagos.Nigeria? I'll be glad to give you the Dr.'s #, AND the hospital. Also, my birth and delivery were relatively pain AND drug free, thank you very much. And also, JUST to annoy you further, I'm STILL married (happily) and now i have 3 beautiful kids. oh, and i have great figure .Have a great Monday!
______________________________

I was being totally sarcy darling! Of course you missed the point. If someone is amused at your typical "my Gucci bag" , "my Chanel sunglasses" , "I had my baby in yankee" or "the girl who did my wedding makeup trained with Pat Mcgrath" then folks like you instantly fall back into that old hoary excuse - "she/he is jealous 'cos (insert the rest as you see fit)- my hubby has not left me/I have a big house in Parkview, Ikoyi/it's 'cos I just shipped in the new MB CL55...

Yawn. Who really cares about all that? Not me so relax. There is really no need to go on about the harvard trained docs etc - these peoplke are human and trust me - make as many mistakes as the next health professional. Not to mention the fact that many Nigerian trained ob/gyn are excellent clinicians.

But of course that would not man much to the people who if it does not come with a foreign tag it ain't good enough.

Hahaha! Naijablog, what have you got to say about ...

2007-09-03T19:26:00.000+01:00

Hahaha! Naijablog, what have you got to say about the NHS?

Let me share a couple of true life experiences of ...

2007-09-03T18:23:00.000+01:00

Let me share a couple of true life experiences of giving birth on the NHS in the UK.
(1) A friend waited for ages for ante-natal treatment. Never the same Dr or midwife twice. Being totally made to feel like a number. Left to her own devices for ages in labour because she didn't scream the place down. Opted for a private room after delivery and was given the impression the baby would be detained if she didn't pay up before leaving. The baby had some problems and the casual way she was informed of the situation was inhumane. Horrible.
(2) My sister's waters broke at home. No ambulance available so yours truly had to do a home delivery - with no experience and no help. When the ambulance finally arrived, mother and baby were fine, but they botched the placenta delivery, leaving her in agony. Finally, they strongly dissuaded her from going to hospital to take up unnecessary bedspace. Seemed more concerned to ensure that (being Nigerian although British born), she was entitled to NHS treatment than any thing else.
Utterly callous and obsessed with bureaucracy - that's today's NHS. Give me happy clappers over nurses-as-immigration-officers any day.

it would have been funny if it wasn't so horrific!...

2007-09-03T16:45:00.000+01:00

it would have been funny if it wasn't so horrific! two women i know lost their babies due to the nonchallant attitude of doctors and nurses. i've seen doctors walk out the door while one is in serious pain. he'd tell you his time is up and he has to go for lunch! the least he could have done is put the patient in the hands of a nurse or another doctor... where i had my second child, the nurses and doctors dumped the 8mins-old baby on my lap and went after my husband for a little what-can-i-get-for-my-service. no one bothered to check if she was breast-feeding well. no check-up was done after birth. nothing! it's sad

No such thing, Nonesuch. Singing and dancing , i t...

2007-09-03T12:45:00.000+01:00

No such thing, Nonesuch. Singing and dancing , i think, is part of wild pentecostal wave that has swept our land. And while it has its place i'm sure, the Birth and Delivery ward of the National Hospital is highly inappropriate.
Pregnant or not, if i choose to wear heels, as a grown woman, it is nobody's place to deny me my right to antenatal care. It is my choice. It is not like using drugs, or even smoking (which is universally acknowledged to be harmful to the baby, yet many women stil do). Its that moralistic simplistic logic that African women tend to have...the high heels are actualy a kind of scarlet letter by another name.
i consider myself a sexy mama or Mama in all the full implications of the word..or in modernspeak, a yummy mummy. Good thing i'm done having my kids cos i'd be the one sitting crossed legged in my Manolos till they were forced to give me a number.

i think we should look at the philosophy behind th...

2007-09-03T12:11:00.000+01:00

i think we should look at the philosophy behind the way they run things naija style. The singing and dancing helps to relief the stress and the tension and might even prevent hypertension in pregnancy. its a social event for most of the women. The no wearing of heels is for obvious health reasons Heels and pregannacy dont go together and noone needs to tell u b4 u dicth the heels.

the getting there early to pick a number is just a reflection of under staffing issues and the fact that we need to revamp the health care system.

i like the singing and the dancing. The also give talks on diet and execrise and how to prevent mother to child transmision of HIV virus.

the going round the ward i think its ok so u know where to go and wat to expect really. i might be wrong but its good to see the facility and then make up urmind if you want to push in that place.

Having babies in Nigeria is a scary business espec...

2007-09-03T11:42:00.000+01:00

Having babies in Nigeria is a scary business especially if you are used to the relative hygiene and order of Europe or US.

My wife and I wanted our daughter to be born in Lagos as the uupheaval of her and my other kid going back to UK for a few months sounded like too much hassle.

We must have been to about 5 / 6 different private hospitals to check out the antenatal and they got worse and worse. Quite a few asked you to pay the fee before you could even see the delivery rooms.

One that she went to for a couple of check ups (expensive and supposedly well respected) got you to do your urine samples in used plastic bottles that were left on the toilet sink for you to rinse out from the last persons use!!!!!! No word of a lie. The scan room was like a shoe box and when we went on the tour of the facilities we were horrified by the dirt and general oppressive feel of the place.

Luckily with a couple of months before decision time Reddington Hospital opened on VI. Thanks to them and the fact that BUPA was paying the whole experience was very very good. The only trauma on the day was the fact that the traffic on third mainland bridge meant I only just made the birth by five minutes! This thoroughly vindicated our decision to send my wife in the night before and to have a indcution....i'm not sure I could have made the delivery in traffic!

dont be so bitter foxy! This was in Lagos.Nigeria?...

2007-09-03T11:06:00.000+01:00

dont be so bitter foxy! This was in Lagos.Nigeria? I'll be glad to give you the Dr.'s #, AND the hospital. Also, my birth and delivery were relatively pain AND drug free, thank you very much. And also, JUST to annoy you further, I'm STILL married (happily) and now i have 3 beautiful kids. oh, and i have great figure .Have a great Monday!

At anonymous..So you had a "harvard trained" Gynae...

2007-09-03T10:04:00.000+01:00

At anonymous..

So you had a "harvard trained" Gynaecologist and "american headnurse"....No doubt your childbirth was a totally pain free out of body experience, your baby a supersonic one, your belly and womb snapped back into shape in two tics and you were ferried home on a magical cloud.

Afraid of what inaroundmyheadand aroundme is going...

2007-09-02T15:01:00.000+01:00

Afraid of what inaroundmyheadand aroundme is going to say in her (?) post...let me say this..everything is relative. I lived in lag when my first child was born 14 years ago..my hosp experiece was awesome. I had a harvard trained dr., my hosp had an american headnurse that didnt put up with BO ( a small thing, you might think, but if you've ever been hit my BO Naijastyle, you know what i'm talking about).. The most awful thing about i remember about being pregnant and attending antenatal stuff was those gallons of water you had to drink before a scan. My doctor was cool, hasd a lovely bedside manner, and called me "Kid", didnt see the irony. I went away to the States to have my daughter, and my 2 regrets were 1. That in a bid to show the American doctors how advanced they were,our hospital had written 'one FEMALE foetus" in our file when we opened it (we hadnt wanted to know the sex), and 2. that i couldn't take my hospital and staff with me. My point is this, if you go to a public institution in Nigeria, you need to manage your expectations. This is how they roll over here, deal with it. Or fork out a small fortune and get orchids in your after-birth room which is never (heaven forbid!) shared.

This just inspired a post. I actually started typi...

2007-09-02T13:23:00.000+01:00

This just inspired a post. I actually started typing a comment but it was too long so will just put it up on my own blog.

I will put it up in about a week.

Thank you thank you thank you... I really needed t...

2007-09-02T12:35:00.000+01:00

Thank you thank you thank you... I really needed that laugh.

Ha ha! AN classes, naija style!Give them time - so...

2007-09-02T09:15:00.000+01:00

Ha ha! AN classes, naija style!
Give them time - soon they will knuckle down to teaching actual exercises etc.
At the very least your expat firnd wiil have many colourful stories to relate to her friends in England.

I experienced the same thing at the National hospi...

2007-09-02T09:04:00.000+01:00

I experienced the same thing at the National hospital last year with my first child. I was really taking aback by the singing and dancing round. I was so afraid when they showed us round the ward, that I kept getting panic attacks everytime the baby kicks. My mother , a midwife was also horrified. She said during her days, they never did that. I wrote a letter of complaint to ED of national hospital at the time and they were equally surprised. So I am indeed surprised that this is still going on.

hehe, Na wa o! 'If you are wearng high heels u won...

2007-09-02T07:15:00.000+01:00

hehe, Na wa o!

'If you are wearng high heels u wont be given a number'

That made me laugh...

I don't know whether to laugh or to be horrified.....

2007-09-01T23:13:00.000+01:00

I don't know whether to laugh or to be horrified...