Just a few days ago we got back from our Diwali holiday break to Kerala. (I’ll write later about our trip.) We had a lovely lazy time and managed to miss quite a bit of the monsoon rains in Chennai. We did arrive back in time for the worst of the flooding. Our place is up one floor so there wasn’t any water in our apartment, but we did loose power and decided to abandon ship for two days. The school where I teach closed for two days because the front garden was completely underwater. We’re back home now and trying to restore normalcy. However, we have no right to complain, as some in the city have endured a great amount of suffering because of the rains. Here is a link to a story about the flooding.
Completely changing subjects – I thought you might also want to know some of the differences between what my first trimester care was like here and what it’s like in the US. I will preface this by saying that this is our first child, so I’m only going off of the experience of friends and my own research on what it’s like in the US. Firstly, my doctor arranges everything through text message. After I had two consecutive positive pregnancy tests, I texted my doctor and she told me to come in to her office the next day. I didn’t have complications, and I didn’t have to wait until I was 10 weeks to see her either (which is how I understand it works in the US). I had my first ultrasound at 7 weeks, and my second at 13 weeks. Most women in the US only have 2 to 3 ultrasounds during the entire pregnancy. I’ve had around 7 blood tests for the standard things. I see the doctor every 4 weeks. In order to arrange my appointments, I send the doctor a text message a few days before and ask if she is free, and she usually is. My doctor has no receptionist or nursing staff, and therefore little overhead. She does have a gate man, a waiting room, and an office/exam room combo at her home. She sees patients in 3 different hospitals.
Another question we get quite often from friends and family is if we’re having a boy or a girl. It is illegal in India for a medical professional to tell you the gender of the unborn child. The law is in place to try to prevent female infanticide. The law applies even for foreigners. We respect the reasoning and were wanting to wait to find out anyway. This way we don’t have to worry about anyone mistakenly blurting it out to us during a hospital or doctor visit.
When we were in Kerala, I had an allergy flare up to something. It was probably something blooming. I was pretty miserable, and so I sent my doctor a text message telling her my symptoms. She replied with the name of a prescription that was safe for me to take. I went to a pharmacy and showed them the message on my phone and they gave me what I needed. It was that easy. Also, if you only need 3 pills and the medicine comes in sheets of 10, the pharmacist will cut the sheet to only give you 3 pills. You pay for the number of pills you need, unlike in the US or Europe where the packaging is an all or nothing situation.
A Tea Lover's Dream 