First, births in Ukraine take place in a roddom -- literally a birthing home. Roddoms are not part of hospital complexes. We plan to have the baby (which, by the way, is kicking hard enough that I feel it every day now) at a fancy birthing home called Isida.
Isida is lovely and professional -- and about two hours away from our house by public transportation. And the doctors like to see their patients frequently. At week 17, my doctor started asking me to come in every two weeks. In addition to meeting with the prenatal doctor, so far I've gone in for:
1) an EKG
2) a meeting with a general doctor
3) an ultrasound of my stomach, kidneys and thyroid. (The ultrasound tech asked me if anyone had ever told me about the growth on my thyroid. I had to tell him no one had ever looked at my thyroid before.)
4) multiple blood tests. Nine tubes at one time!
Plus, the day before every prenatal visit, I have to get to the clinic before 11 a.m. to hand over a, um, (insert throat-clearing sound) sample. The sample must be collected at home, so, as my sample and I are getting pushed around on the metro, I appreciate the protective nature of Ziploc bags. And this sample is not just tested for protein; these tests are far more extensive. My white blood cells have never had so much attention shown them, and they're starting to get a bit big-headed about it.
At my second visit, the swine flu was sweeping Ukraine, so my doctor suggested I not take public transportation or go to the grocery store. Right, like that's possible. So, instead, I wear a mask on the metro. At the beginning of flu season, I fit right in. Now I'm the dork with the mask on.
At this point, you might be thinking, well, clearly they insist on all this testing and the frequent visits to make extra money. Which may be true, but we've already paid for all our prenatal care AND the birth, and the combined total is about 75 percent less than Dietrich's birth and three months of prenatal care in the States. And we didn't even use a coupon!
When you buy the birthing package at Isida, you sign a contract about which we had a few hesitations due to statements like the following:
The PATIENT is obliged to fulfill planned visits to the doctor in charge, to fulfill diligently all his assignments and recommendations.
If the PATIENT consults some other specialists she is to follow their recommendations only after the confirmation and approval of the doctor in charge of the HOSPITAL.
Basically, do everything we say and don't get a second opinion.
On the plus side, the birthing package includes six ultrasounds! At this point (week 19), we've done three. This made the last ultrasound, in which our modest baby refused to show us his/her boy/girl parts, much less disappointing, as we will have another chance in three weeks.
