Canada Nesties
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Help Pls. - US vs. Cdn Health Care ??
A friend of mine is American. She works in the US and has her primary care dr. there. She lives in Canada. She is pregnant and due mid-summer and will be giving birth in Canada as well. She just transferred to an OB here and was asking me if there is anything she should know about the Canadian system when it comes to pregnancy.
I am trying really hard to come up with something, but nothing is really striking me. Anything you can think of?
Re: Help Pls. - US vs. Cdn Health Care ??
We generally only have one ultrasound here, although more are done if warranted. Although one is what is recommended in the US, many doctors do them mre frequently for no reason other than to allow the mother to see the baby (the 20 week ultrasound is still the "big" ultrasound in the US to check on the health of the baby)
Our birth process is less interventionist- from what I've heard on the baby boards, American hospitals push more continuous monitoring, heavier use of pitocin, etc
That's all I know about.
BFP #1 2/28/12- 3/3/12 CP at 4w3d
BFP #2 4/1/12- 5/7/12 Missed M/C at 8w4d (measuring 6w3d)
TTC on hold until December
You certainly don't have to leave the hospital 24 hours after having your baby. You can if you want to but you don't have to.
One difference is that you can not elect to have a c-section up here unless there is a medical reason (including having a previous c/s). Also most doctors won't induce early like they seem to in the US.
My bad, my co-worker just had a baby and told me 24 hours as long as everything is good that was the expectation. We had a whole US vs. Canada discussion about it.
BFP #1 2/28/12- 3/3/12 CP at 4w3d
BFP #2 4/1/12- 5/7/12 Missed M/C at 8w4d (measuring 6w3d)
TTC on hold until December
I know where I am I've heard people say they try to have you out within a day, maybe our hospital doesn't have the space? That said, my SIL said no way would she want to have stayed longer, home is a lot more comfortable and restful.
You make this sound like a perk, the way you say "you can stay"- why would you want to stay in the hospital for up to 5 days? I had a c-section and I was BEGGING to go home. They let me go home on the third day, although they generally keep c-sections for 4, they said.
Every hospital probably varies slightly but from what I understand they will not "make" you go home here after 24 hours (or any timeframe for that matter) as that'd be totally irresponsible. They may certainly encourage it but if mom isn't "ready" whether it be physically or mentally, then they should stay.
My hospital in Toronto is generally 24-36hr for vaginal and 72hr for c-section. I had vaginal but significant tearing, etc. so was kept for 4 days for monitoring. Before discharge they specifically asked me if I wanted to/felt ready to go home yet. Of course I absolutely could not say yes fast enough!
How did I say that was a perk? I am pretty sure OP asked for differences in the Health Care System, I stated the differences I was aware of from living in both countries. Never said one was better than the other, I said "you can" like "if you need to" no need to make assumptions.
BFP #1 2/28/12- 3/3/12 CP at 4w3d
BFP #2 4/1/12- 5/7/12 Missed M/C at 8w4d (measuring 6w3d)
TTC on hold until December
*shrug* just the tone I got. You can stay in a Canadian hospital if you need to too, so I'm not sure what the differences you elude to would be, then? They wouldn't tell you that you can't stay if you needed to in Canada. I have a friend who was in after her c-section for a couple weeks when she experienced complications. I guess when I read your post I assumed that you knew that Canadian hospitals will keep you if you need to be there. Therefore I took your tone to mean that "you can stay if you want to" and I was commenting on that- on why someone would want to. I certainly didn't.
Anyway, I didn't say you said that the American system was better, I was asking you why you would want to stay in the hospital when you didn't need to because I thought that was what you were saying.
I don't usually post here, but wanted to say, yes, some hospitals do have fairly strict 24 hour policies for a vaginal birth. I was still IN LABOUR with DS2 and was informed that I'd have to be out the next day because they were out of beds and natural births only "need" 24 hours to recover.
My OB asked the nurse to leave the room the next day to speak to me privately, and told me there was no pressure to leave (despite what the nurses were undoubtably telling me was 'normal') and he had mild concerns with my recovery from a 10lb baby, especially because I had a 2yo at home. He encouraged me to stay, but since I had DH home and other help as well, I chose to go home.
Yes, though, I think being encouraged to stay if you'd like would be a 'perk' though the pp didn't make it sound one way or another.
Though I just read a post on the bump about how much everyone paid out of pocket for their deliveries, and I find my hospitals lack of hospitality much easier to swallow than that!