Get2Know Saudi Arabia ~ The Survival Guide!

Asalam alaikum,

I wanted to share that I am an Ameircan living in Riyadh, certified childbirth educator of natural birth focusing on the mom and husband (or other suitable birth partner) as well as a labor and birth doula. I'm not trying to spam here but childbirth education is basically nil here. I network with other doulas and there are currently half a dozen of us in Riyadh.

Well I for one am very disappointed. I very much hoped to see replies posted which would help in my situation. It doesn't SEEM a daunting task as the article states, it IS a daunting task. I am a pregnant expat, I came here 5 months pregnant. I made the decision up front not to flee to my homeland to deliver as I did not want to be away from my husband so long and I did not want to deny him the experience of being present at the birth of his first and only child and miss out on the first few months of his life as I would not put such small baby on such a long flight. Truthfully I would not blame anyone for wanting to flee. Sure you could ask co-workers and neighbors, but you may not have neighbors as you may be stuck in a hotel for who knows how long, waiting for a compound to open up. And co-workers may know family or friends who may have info to share if they know nothing themselves, but then again as in my case maybe they won't. Because maybe a majority of them are expats themselves who had their children way before coming here. Not to mention I'm not the one working here my husband is and how big a subject could that possibly be with men around here?

The internet has hardly been any help. I could not find much and what I did find was several years old. I posted for help on a blog and only one person with any experience reached out to me and she was a doula. I had no idea what a doula was, I could just tell she was trying to peddle her services which automatically made me leery. It seemed if I wanted information I was going to have to pay for it. It is stressful enough being pregnant for the first time without having to worry whether I picked the right hospital which will allow my husband in the delivery room, and whether they will support natural child birth without trying to interfere by hurrying labor with drugs or rushing to c-section too quickly, as I read in an old article was a common occurrence here. Or whether my desire to breast feed will be supported or ignored as they wisk him off to the nursery, or that I may be taken advantage of at my most vulnerable moment by someone looking to profit by claiming to do all this for me (doula) for a fee when I have to worry about none of these things back home. Sure I asked my doctor these questions and she said yes to all without hesitation, but I still don't really know as I have no one's actual experience to fall back on. And I know the doctor does not control everything, they are often absent until the baby is practically already on the ground. And in my last appointment I found there was no communication between my doctor and the rest of the staff. I was fifteen minutes late to an appointment and the lady at reception said my doctor had left and that she could try to get me in if I returned that evening. When I returned that evening my doctor and her assistant both wondered where I went as the assistant saw me at reception as she was taking a patient upstairs. She came to get me when she was done with that patient and I was gone. So my doctor had not left for the day as the receptionist claimed, she was sitting there waiting for me! This was at Dallah hospital by the way.

So here I am three weeks away from my due date and all I can do is hope and pray I made the right decision.

I will be sure to post my experience here for anyone else who finds themselves in my shoes.

One more comment on how hard I tried to get info here. Back home you can google any doctor's name and get more stories of experience that you could possibly read in a lifetime. I could not find a single comment on any doctor's name I googled which I picked out from various hospital websites listed above.

Hi, I totally understand u’r situation. I went through the same. And being my first pregnancy I did have a lot of concerns back then, but everything seemed to fall in place.

I really didn’t want my hubby to miss my pregnancy, so returning back to my home land was out of the question; instead we got a visa for my mom. She landed in Saudi 3 days before my delivery. I delivered a healthy baby girl at the Al-Hammadi Hospital. It was a beautiful experience! Yes, it was a normal pregnancy. Ann is 1 year and 6 months now and she’s expecting a sibling :)
It is after the pregnancy that you will really need a helping hand 24/7, cause that’s the time you will need rest and the baby will need attention through out.

Wish you the very best. Do not worry! You have come this far, and there’s just 3 weeks left to meet your little angel, God is great!

Thanks Anita, I have the post pregnancy help covered, my only worry is whether I will have to bite and scratch my way to prevent unnecessary medical intervention during birth. My doctor said to go to the hospital when contraction are 10 minutes apart! That is way too much time to be at the hospital and is most certainly to end up in interference as they will certainly be tempted to "help" me hurry things along. Back home half that time is recommended! I have had absolutely no indications I'm a candidate for a complicated birth. I have been quite blessed to have everything proceed quite normally. I'm very glad to hear you were successful here with a normal birth, however, sadly that's not the hospital I am currently attending.....or the same doctor, so it still does not provide a whole lot of comfort. Sure, a baby comes as a result no matter what the experience, but I don't think it's unreasonable to not want to be a dissected mess as a result of it without a serious medical reason for it.

hey there!!! how did it go?

@cluelessfromtheus

I know how it feels to be pregnant & clueless..my first pregnancy was very stressful as hunting for who's the best doc around wasnt easy..but anyways, i just wanted to tell u that there r reviews abt doctors it's just that most are in Arabic in women's forum!! As for english u can check facebook groups there r plenty of them out there where u could ask for information & many people would be very helpful. Hope ur delivery went smooth & u got to hold your bundle of joy after all..

hai yaar i want to know which is best gyn hospital in riyadh

Dr.Sukeishi Singh at Al-Hammadi Hospital, She's really good!

Dears i need a list of Vascular surgeons in Kingdom of saudi arabia please write to me at noordbaatgmaildotcom

Thanks in advance