First week in Thailand

April 27, 2013

So far we’ve had 3 nights here, first one we went to bed at 7, nex one 8, and last night not 10. We woke up less, feeling a bit more normal. It was really exhausting and stressful packing up the house, packing, and traveling here, then first day here I went to meet with the birth team andother mums to be. It was overwhelming as I was tired and hadn’t settled in yet and Soeun was sick from the trip. Meeting lots of new ppl and getting lots of birth info was hard when I was sleepy and just thinking about how and where and when I could buy a sim and some toothpaste.

Yesterday we had a day at home, rest and unpack, and let my brain think about all the other things we need to do and ask, so feeling a bit better now. Can’t wait until we have a chance to go to the shops and find our way around a bit more. Things seems hard when I don’t know how to get stuff yet , and neither of us have much energy.

Wnjoyed meeting others from all over the world at our guest house and also in the birth class.

May 2^nd

First day with nothing on, relief! We’ve been here a week, and each day we’ve had at stuff on, and felt tired. Its been good to see the hospital, find a doctor, get to know the birth team and have some birth classes etc. I think I was a bit surprised that the first week was so tiring as I thought packing up and travelling here was the hard part, and that it would be suddenling restful once we got here, but first week in a new country can be frustrating. We don’t know our way around or how to get around etc, so just having one thing on a day seems really hard as we need to work out how to get there.

I’m finding it mych more pleasant getting around here than in PP. These roads are really smooth, and we don’t need to go on a moto or bike, so i don’t get a sore back and hot and dusty when I go out, and my hair doesn’t get knotty from the wind. Feels much easier.

Today I’m hoping to maybe go see a doctor about my leg and maybe go to tesco. Although I feel kind of tired, maybe just rest, but a bit worried about the weird thing on my leg (soft tissue infection?) and have a list of household type stuff I want to get, as well as want to find my way around a bit.

So this was our first week:

24/5: left PP early in morning, a taxi, 2 planes, another taxi (with 4 short airport bus rides in there) and we got to the guesthouse for 5.30pm dinner, went to bed at 7pm.

25/5: Soeun’s inner ear recovering from getting up too fast and travelling. I went for lunch and birth class at an expats house with a group of people.

 3 other pregnant people and their partners and a sister, plus about 4 expat ladies who help ppl inour situation, plus a midwife student. Two of the couples live here, a Thai/ USA couple and a Chinese/USA couple. The other couple are from the USA, they actually came all the way here to have the baby as their family lives here.  I normally think of ppl going back to the US to give birth, but this girl has actually come from the US to Asia. Her mum has 8 kids and her and her husband actually met in Asia.

We had lunch and a birth class together, it was great to meet them and have people to talk to about birth stuff and get help. One of the couples (Chinese) drove me home and helped me buy a SIM and some swimming shorts on the way home.

I was tired from travelling, and disappointed Soeun couldn’t be there , and as we hadn’t unpacked or bought toothpaste or SIMs yet. And being new in country, not knowing where or how to get them or when we would have time or energy, so felt a bit frustrated about that. But that’s whats the first day in a new country is like I guess (esp when hot and pregnant).

Glad we are staying somewhere restful with trees and helpful people and food and washing done for us, and glad to have the birth team and network to help out.

26/ 5:

Unpacked, put clothes and and stuff away in our room. Made lists of all the things we need to do in the next little while.

27/5:

Birth class. Also at the same expats house, also caught taxi there and got lift back. Soeun came this time, but 2 of the couples didn’t make it. Among other things we went thru the first stage of labour and different things that the husband can do to help the mother in the different stages. We sat on balls and did different things.

We also were given some bags of maternity clothes and baby clothes, the network here has a pool of things like this for people to borrow. We don’t have any baby clothes yet, expect for the 6 month things we were given back in PP. It was sort of on my list to do in first few months this year, but ran out of time, and not really sure what a small person in hot weather should wear.

28/5

First song tow ride, went with others from guesthouse to near by English language church. Out to dinner afterwards to  place with HUGE portions of American food.

29/5

I went with to look at 2 hospitals with another pregnant women from PP who is staying here on a reccon visit, planning to give birth here later in the year. We saw the nursery and the 2 active labor rooms, we wanted to see the rooms you stay in for a few nights afterwards but they were all being used.

I think this was the day we went for a swim for the first time. I don’t really ever swim but there is a pool here and ppl said its nice to feel cool and weightless when you’re pregnant. It was nice, and fun, we haven’t really ever been swimming together so it fun to have the time to do it now. Any pools in PP are expensive and we find it hard to get around- my back would get sore on the trip there and back, and hot and dusty, so makes it pretty unpleasant and feels like a waste of money. But we can walk to the pool here, and play with others at the guesthouse.

30/5

Spent the day at home as we had a big outing late in the day, and the thought of that was a bit daunting as normally one outing a day zaps the whole days energy. Also working out the parts of the trip was a bit tricky. Unfortualty at Soeun ate something at lunch that made him dizzy, so disappointingly he didn’t end up coming.

At 4pm I left the guesthouse in a song tow to go to a clinic where I was hoping to see a doctor for the first time. The initial doc who was ressomeneded is going to be away, so I was hoping to see a lady who replaces her. On the phone the clinic said she wasn’t taking new patients or appointments so I wasn’t sure I would get to see her, but she is only there on Tuesday evenings and Sunday mornings, so I had to try asap.

It was a bit weird , but I ended up seeing her, after bumping into some Aussie friends in the waiting room. She said she only does normal birth and c- section, not natural/active birth. I didn’t know what all that meant, but when she described it to me I realized I think I want the one she doesn’t do…oh no.. she said as she is acting as a replacement for the other doc she can do it with me. She doesn’t normally do it, made it sound like Thai ppl think it is so inconvenient, why would you hang around and wait for the baby to come out when you can speed things up?

After that I went to get dinner from a “7” while I waited for some birth class classmates to see the same doc, then they drove me to our birth class. So glad they gave me a lift, I thnk I would have given up and gone home if I had to try to find it on my own in the dark trying to speak thai and read a map….

It was nice to see everyone again and learn about breastfeeding, and know we have this network of ppl to call on for help. Also the breastfeeding teachers husband cooked us scones!

The classmates drove me home, stopped on the way to buy rice and fish for Soeun, he didn’t have dinner at the guesthouse as I had signed us both out as we were planning to be out. Got lost on the way home, drove around for ages in the dark.

May 1^st

Soeun went for a swim in the morning, then we got picked up for lunch by some Aussies from our church in Aust. They live here, near the hospital. After lunch they took us there, so Soeun could see it. Rooms were still full, only got to see one of the active birth rooms. Next went to  huge shopping centre, got some more pre natal vitimins. They drove us home via a 7 and helped Soeun put money on his SIM. Their 4 year old gave me some baby care advice “ Don’t hit the baby on the head, feed it milk everyday”