Born in Bangkok

From the hotel desk of Chris...

Many people have asked us what it was like to have a baby at a hospital in Bangkok. While I'll save any delivery-related posts for Allie, I can show what some parts were like! I'll start by saying that the hospital we went to, Bumrungrad, is amazing. If we were going to have another baby in Southeast Asia, we'd defintiely go back to Bumrungrad. We didn't take any pictures of the delivery room, because there are some things that just aren't meant to be shared.

The post-partum floor was on the 6th floor, and we lived there for about 3 days. One of the coolest features is that they have an outdoor garden so you can go outside, walk around, and clear your head. Check it out!

 

We went out there on the first day and Allie's nurse freaked out on us. She forbid Allie to leave the floor because she would be "unable to see here." You can't tell people to walk around, offer an amazing outdoor garden, then rebuke them for exploring it! It's ok though, being banished to the room wasn't all that bad. Here's a view of the hospital room where we stayed after the baby arrived. I'm pretty sure it was nicer than our apartment in Changsha!

 



Another interesting thing is the substantial decrease in cost to have a baby in Thailand versus in America. They had 3 package options, we chose the one that included 3 days in the hospital, an epidural, delivery, and all other associated nursery costs until our 3 days were up. All in all, before insurance, the total cost was just under $2000! After our insurance pays their part, we'll pay just under $400 for our labor and delivery. Not too shabby! One contributing factor to keeping costs down for healthcare in Asia is that you have to pay your bill before you receive the treatment. So if you need an X-ray, after you get the doctor's order you stop by the cashier on your way to radiology. In our case they let us have the baby before paying, but we couldn't leave the hospital until the bill was settled.

Thanks for all your prayers and support as we were going through the labor and delivery process! Allie and Emerson are both doing well and we are loving being parents!