Having a baby in Korea

I have found a wonderful resource here, a public forum of foreigners who have had babies here. They are there to answer my many questions trying to figure out how in the world we are going to have a baby in a foreign country and have been very informative/supportive of the many options available. One of the biggest things has been learning how the culture works and I've concluded it runs very similar to a 1950's American society. Culturally, you are expected to not question those in authoritative roles, such as doctors. From what I've read, doctors may not talk to me but only my husband, C-sections are pushed along with episiotomies. Since I am going to an international clinic who are used to seeing foreigners, I may not experience these cultural differences since they model their clinic after the Western hospitals.

One thing that has me concerned the most, is finding out the sex of the baby. In 1987 the Korean government created a law banning doctors from telling parents the sex of their baby due to the increase number of gender-based abortions. Boys were highly sought after and often girls were aborted, even though abortion is illegal in Korea; only rare cases of rape and severe birth defects allow abortion to be legal. My understanding is even though they were not allowed to disclose the sex of the baby, many doctors would still hint at the sex by saying, "invest in some soccer balls" for a boy or "paint the room red, you have a ballerina" for a girl. This practice was done in smaller clinics where the chance of getting caught was less. The law dictates, any doctors hinting at the sex of the unborn fetus could face up to 3 years in term or a 10 million won fine (a little less than $10,000 US dollars at today's exchange rate). In addition, the government could cancel the doctor's license. In July of 2008, the Constitutional Court ruled the law was unconstitutional. The nine-member court said the law was out-of-date and "violated pregnant women's right to know, while restricting the freedom of doctors and nurses." It was added that the ban would remain in effect till Dec. 31st, 2009; so that means we SHOULD be able to find out the sex. I have only been able to find one article that disclosed how long the ban was to be in effect. According to the Korea Times, Korea, India and China prohibit doctors from revealing the sex of fetuses. I am being seen at a larger hospital so I may have to print out the article I found just to ensure we can find out the sex if it is a new policy beginning this year.

To read the entire article, click here:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr

Overall, the hospital system here is very different. We have Korean National Health Insurance and we also get a 50% discount at the hospital I'm attending since it is on campus of the University Greg is working at. Typically, you can get all your prenatal care done for fairly cheap at local clinics, difficulty is... most only speak Korean. I found a few that spoke English but they are over an hr away on bus and subway from where we live. Once you reach around 25 weeks you need to get a referral from your doctor to another OBGYN so that you can deliver; most clinics you do not deliver at. It was a bit easier for me with the international clinic. My first appointment I had to see a regular doctor who referred me to an OBGYN the following week. New this year at the clinic I'm being seen at, is an English speaking OB that works in the clinic one day a week. Previously foreign parents said they had to visit her on the OB floor instead of the clinic which resulted in a very rushed visit since she was also seeing Korean patients. So now, every Wed. she puts aside a day solely for foriegners. We have been trying to get an estimate of how much delivery at this hospital will cost but keep getting quoted drastically different prices. We are learning, no one really wants to take responsibility and quote you an estimate since it is based on what your doctor wants to do, the type of delivery you have and or the tests your doctor requests. It has been quite frustrating. Unfortunately it makes me have to be pushy so now I need to bring it up again at my next appointment on April 16th.