This tale is related around the local midwifes.
We moved to Prague, Czech Republic in 1994, shortly after the birth of my third child, Susannah.
Communism had only broken down a few years before we moved so the country was still trying to find it's way and it was a fascinating place to live and see this beautiful country evolve.
It was not, however for the faint hearted.
You developed a very warped sense of humour to say the very least. Power cuts were frequent, as were water cuts. The longest was for 3 days. The council kindly brought a horse and cart with a large barrel on. We spent the time walking down and up from the school with nappy buckets flushing out the toilets!
If you were a foreigner (and quite rightly so in my humble opinion) , you were not entitled to any benefits whatsoever.
When I found out I was expecting my twins, ante natal care took on a whole new realm of understanding.
We decided to go down the Czech route, mainly because we were not employed by a company and therefore did not have their health care packages. Without these the expensive 'westerner' care was no possible for us on a teaching salary.
The Czech route meant I attended all the clinics the Czech ladies did and received their levels of care.
This, of course was 15 years ago.
I had to travel across the city to my gynaecologists clinic (about an hour by bus and metro). You did not see a doctor or a midwife, but rather the gynaecologist every time. Although the medicines and equipment were basic, the knowledge and expertise were not, and I was looked after exceptionally well.
I was seen every month. My bloods were taken. This was, I have to admit a bit hair raising. The needles were taken out from one cut off coke a cola bottle, stuck in your arm and then the huge end screwed on. Yuk. I hate needles. This didn't help. After the test , the needle was discarded in another cut off coke bottle and I suspect washed and used again. I tried not to dwell on this too much.
I was scanned at every single appointment. This is routine and picks up many more antenatal problems . The rate of both pre natal and post natal deaths in babies in the Czech Republic is far lower than here, perhaps this is one of the reasons why.
With the twins, it was discovered I had a huge cyst. I have had these before and just told they will 'hopefully' go away. Here, I was given drugs and herbs ( routine for every single aliment at the chemist). The herbs were gross. I drunk them up. The tablets worked. My cyst shrunk dramatically. When I was subsequently pregnant back in the UK and had another cyst I asked about these drugs, but sadly they are not passed and regulated in the UK.
Due to the over load of appointments I felt very safe and secure. Again, when I came back to the UK I could not believe how little I was seen and checked up on.
The twins were due in September so we drove home for the summer and waited, and waited for them to appear early. They had other ideas, and after climbing a mountainside with my 2.5 year old on my belly, I managed to break my own waters and induce labour at 38 weeks. A good job I did because Luke had stopped growing at 35 weeks and his blood sugars were rock bottom.
When I went back to The Czech Republic and related this tale to my gynaecologist there, she raised her eye brow, tutted and said ' And you think we are backward in our practices'. She had a fair point. Luke's condition would have been picked up there and he would have not had such a bad start.
Only eight months later I found I was once again pregnant. Rather a shock as it usually takes me 2-3 years!
The pregnancy was tough as Luke suffered infantile asthma badly and I did many a hospital run with him late at night, phrase book in hand (there was no accident and emergency unit either...quite another story).
This time, the baby was due in January, so I had not choice but to give birth there. I knew my way around the ante natal system now, however the thought of actually giving birth was alarming.
I had heard all the stories from the other mums. Babies were taken away after birth for hours and returned , not with a nice baby tag on their arms and legs, but permanent marker pen! Took the mums weeks to get these labels. I laugh now. Can you just see it happening here? Other mothers had suffered with breast feeding where the staff weigh the baby before each feed and then afterwards. If the baby has not put on x no of pounds, the mums were forced the keep feeding.
I discussed my concerns with my gynaecologist. She had not heard in recent years of anyone giving birth to their 6th child, and said it would be better for me to give birth outside Prague in a little town called Neratovice. 25 km away. They were more laid back there.
In order to give birth we needed to submit or marriage certificate. This had to be translated into Czech first. Can you only imagine therefore the stigma of being a single mother? We also had to sign a variety of other documentation including a form because I wanted to leave the day after the birth, again unheard of. I was also given a heart scan and checks by a variety of Dr's just to see if I had many other major problems that could go wrong in child birth. Again, issues are often picked up here, so mothers are looked after far better during their deliveries.
I was a day over my due date, so was offered induction. I was huge, tired and this looked appealing with 5 small children to organise in a foreign country.
We met the gynaecologist there. She had taken the train. Wages for her specialised job, were so shockingly low at that time she could not afford a car.
We paid to have her present, my one concession, as I was confident with her, she had cared for me throughout my pregnancy and she spoke excellent English. I cannot begin to describe how disarming it is to be in labour and not understand a word of what anyone is asking you to do. I have every sympathy for ladies in my country faced with this.
After an internal exam I had my waters broken. I was then asked to rest. A few hours later I was examined and taken to a small room. I was asked to lay on a granite slab. A bic razor was then produced. As the nurse lifted my robe, she looked and smiled, and muttered something. I had been warned to shave everywhere, as having a dry shave from a nurse was not, I was told the most pleasant of experiences. Judging from the sumo wrestler I had facing me with the razor I can relate to that one!
Then she produced a cut off orange hose pipe. She attached this to the end of the cold water tap in the sink, came over to me and placed it, well guess where! Turned on the tap. The sudden gush of very cold water inside me was quite a shock. I started to contract violently. Martha was born 40 mins later.
It was by far the quickest birth. Simon was rushed to get gowned up and dashed in. The utensils were all being washed, in a sink, with hot water and then dried with a towel. I prayed a c section would not be in order! The door to the corridor and other clinics was left open and the nurses were chatting to all the patients waiting to see the heart specialist, meanwhile I was lying in stirrups in full view of everyone. There are times when not understanding what people are saying is advantageous, this was one of them!
The anaesthetist came in. If I wanted an epidural, the price was x, if I didn't need a receipt it was xy (and considerably cheaper) Simon fished around in his robes, produced the amount and I was given the drug. This continued with every part of my care.
There was no gas and air. Boy did I miss it. The epidural successfully numbed my legs but not any of the parts I needed numbing. To say her birth was painful was the understatement of the century!
When it was all over I was taken to a private room (again I had decided to pay for this as I couldn't face being on a ward with people I could not talk too) It was beautiful and I was rested. The statutory filled dumplings were brought in for me to eat. Gave these a miss! Simon enjoyed them instead.
We waited for Martha to appear. She had been taken away at birth as we had been warned. After two hours I was getting worried. Two and a half hours later I was demanding to see her. Finally she was brought in, wrapped in a blanket, with a little bow tied around her.
Ah! I must have got it all wrong. The delivery was a dream. My mum was right. The stork had brought her after all. Or so it appeared. It was rather cute and somewhat strange all rolled into one.
Thankfully now I had her. I could look after her and dress her and get to know her. I was still in shock from the speed of delivery.
Over the next few hours I think I was visited by just about every dr. and nurse in the hospital, too look at my family photo of all my children. I was the first person in a few decades to have their 6 th child in the hospital so I was viewed as a real novelty, in the nicest sense of the word.
I escaped the next day, to everyones utter surprise. No one leaves that early!
So, 14 years to the week on. What do I feel? I am sure a lot had changed since then. I am told my gynaecologist has a large practice now and drives a very expensive car. Good on her! She was excellent and deserves this.
Although the induction, I have since been told was dangerous, a lot of the antenatal care was far better than here and I felt more looked after.
It has certainly made me appreciate both the NHS, and the fact having a baby is free of charge here. Martha's birth cost us about £3,000, and we did it cheaply! Is it any surprise so many Europeans want to live her and deliver!
I will never take for granted the fact I can communicate with nurses and health professionals . I found this aspect very disarming.
Martha is proud, she is the only sibling born over seas. She has Czech birth certificate and can happily disown us as it says she is Martha Beavonova. Every girl has 'Ova' added to their name. We were no exception. As yet she has no British one. The embassy wanted to charge £130 for typing it out!
Other brave mothers I know gave birth in Hungary and Russia during this period. Their stories were far more horrific than mine. It was certainly interesting to go through the maternity services somewhere so different,it taught me a lot, if nothing to appreciate the free health care and on tap resources we have in our country. It makes me squirm when I hear people moan, as it does Susie, who witnessed health care on a far more basic level still during her stays in Uganda.
Let's not knock what we have! It could be a lot, lot worse.
