So many US/UK Differences...

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Mine comes when he can--he goes to any and all ultrasounds and big appointments but hasn't been to the last few checkups--i don't see much point really since they are pretty quick...weight, blood pressure, measurement of belly--any questions/answers and i'm on my way. I tell him when i want him to come and he does...he'll start going to the later ones with me as we get closer and of course he'll go if there's ever a concern.

I could not imagine sharing a room post delivery. Forget that! We have private for l&d and post delivery here...thankfully. I'd be checking out right away if i had to share a room...and i'm already asking for early release even with a private room.
 
I just wondered about the husbands. My husband and I are lucky because he works for the family business. His dad's his boss. So we just scheduled all of our appointments for times when he knew he would be able to sneak away for a couple of hours. So he hasn't missed a single appointment. Even though I agree that many of them are pointless and he didn't need to be there. I doubt he will make it to all the routine appointments in my next pregnancy.

Our hospital has an amazing birthing center. The rooms are all private and HUGE. We actually get to deliver right in our private rooms and stay in them afterwards. They have twin size pull out beds for the birthing coach and everything. And baby gets to stay in the room with us. I'm excited:)
 
Sorry I should have said my OH only comes to them all because he works for himself and his warehouse is practically down the road from the Birth Centre so he just meets me there. The other UKers are right though that men don't get time off for antenatal here x
 
I don't think men get time off here, at least when DH takes off to go with me he has to go in and make up his hours or not get paid for them...so he doesn't get the time given to him at all.
 
Makes me really appreciate Hubby's job. They let him off whenever I have an appointment so if I want him to he'll come with me. Most times though it's just a simple BP check and such and boring so he's stopped coming lately. But he's been to all the important ones and the ones I've been scared of, haha. :)
 
Here in Canada, the men can take the m(p)aternity leave, or the mom and dad can split it between the two of them. Unfortunately though, gender equality does not exist in this aspect Mom gets paid more for her maternity leave than Dad does. My husband and I looked into splitting leave when our daughter was born and we found out that the pregnant women at his work get paid 85% of their wages for a year's leave, while the men only get 55%...we decided not to do that.

Our hospitals here also have three recovery options, shared, semi-private and private. Shared, you share with 3 other women who have just had babies, semi-private, you share with one other woman, and private, you get your own room. No matter what kind of room your insurance covers, Dad cannot stay past a certain hour, which is absolutely ridiculous. I hate our hospital here, and would jump at a home birth opportunity if my husband was comfortable with it, and if our son didn't land in the NICU at birth. The NICU nurses were amazing, and both Mom and Dad could come and go as they please if your child was in there, but if you are a dad whose baby is born at 8:15pm, you have to leave at 8:30pm and are not allowed to return to visit until noon the next day. If your baby is born at 3:15am, you're given half an hour, and as soon as Mom is moved down to Maternity, you have to leave until noon. Just absolutely pathetic. I can't wait to get out of the hospital already, and I still have 13 weeks to the due date.

...At least I get to deliver in private...with the exception of my family standing around watching.
 
ireland is similar to uk you could have the baby and be discharged the same day without any complications. if you have a c section its 2 days. they normally let you have a good sleep and stuff before letting you home but other than that your free to go. i find it difficult only gettin scanned at 12 weeks and 20 weeks and 32 i think it'd put my mind at ease if there was something in between but i suppose you could always go private!
 
River was born at 5am and we stayed in my labour room until 9 and i ent to the ward. OH had to go home then but visiting times started at 11 (he didnt turn up till 2 though!)

Unless they are really busy you get to stay in your delivery room for about 3 hours
 
BrandiCanucks said:
Here in Canada, the men can take the m(p)aternity leave, or the mom and dad can split it between the two of them. Unfortunately though, gender equality does not exist in this aspect Mom gets paid more for her maternity leave than Dad does. My husband and I looked into splitting leave when our daughter was born and we found out that the pregnant women at his work get paid 85% of their wages for a year's leave, while the men only get 55%...we decided not to do that.

Our hospitals here also have three recovery options, shared, semi-private and private. Shared, you share with 3 other women who have just had babies, semi-private, you share with one other woman, and private, you get your own room. No matter what kind of room your insurance covers, Dad cannot stay past a certain hour, which is absolutely ridiculous. I hate our hospital here, and would jump at a home birth opportunity if my husband was comfortable with it, and if our son didn't land in the NICU at birth. The NICU nurses were amazing, and both Mom and Dad could come and go as they please if your child was in there, but if you are a dad whose baby is born at 8:15pm, you have to leave at 8:30pm and are not allowed to return to visit until noon the next day. If your baby is born at 3:15am, you're given half an hour, and as soon as Mom is moved down to Maternity, you have to leave until noon. Just absolutely pathetic. I can't wait to get out of the hospital already, and I still have 13 weeks to the due date.

...At least I get to deliver in private...with the exception of my family standing around watching.
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Would Canada cover a home birth? My hubby was quite reluctant at first for a home birth but after thinking about things like what you said, him having to leave us in the middle of the night and not being able to stay really got to us. Also because he doesn't drive and it's about 2 or 3 different bus trips to get home if that's the case. So yea once he did loads of reading and talked to a few people about how easy it really was we decided to go for the home birth. We understand we may have to transfer and those worries we're trying to avoid would still be there, but if all goes well hopefully we'll be snuggled up in bed. :)
 
Husbands/Partners are allowed to come to midwife and scans (if you want them to) but not if its a early pregnancy scan (i.e for bleeding before 12 weeks) my hubby took time of work as I was freaking out and he was so annoyed to have to stay in the waiting room.

Weight - they normally weigh you at least once near the end of your pregnancy in the uK if you are under consultant care (means you see your consultant more normally for gestational problems/complications) incase you need to have a csection for the anestetic. They have weighed me twice at my consultant appointment as I had a very preterm labour last time and so they did it around that time (27 weeks) and last time i went in at 36 weeks. I ask them to do it but not tell me the weight as I have a thing about my weight (lost 4 1/2 stone before pregnancy have alwasy been overweight and was teased horribly as a child for it) and they are very good and don't make a big issue of it.

I too wondered what onesies were too!!!

In the UK private rooms you can pay for - but you are able to have them on the NHS if you need to be issolated (i.e due to swine flu or somthing similar) or if there are any free and you or baby have complications - i was in a private room on the NHS for 5 weeks last pregnancy then got moved to a 3 people ward when they needed the room for an infectious patient.
 
A few of my friends have given birth in Dublin, there are 3 maternity hospitals there and they're all the same. They're massively overcrowded, with massive waiting times. Some have scans at 12 and 20 weeks, one of them only at 20 weeks. If you pay for private, you're not guaranteed it- many end up on public wards because private is unavailable. There was an article the other day about a TV personality who had her waters broken on a trolley in a corridor. (there were screens though). My friend paid for semi-private but for the first night was in a public ward, built for 6 beds, but had 8! I'm not sure about partners- think they (one) can be there all the time in labour, but restricted afterwards.
 
secretbaby said:
Husbands/Partners are allowed to come to midwife and scans (if you want them to) but not if its a early pregnancy scan (i.e for bleeding before 12 weeks) my hubby took time of work as I was freaking out and he was so annoyed to have to stay in the waiting room.

Weight - they normally weigh you at least once near the end of your pregnancy in the uK if you are under consultant care (means you see your consultant more normally for gestational problems/complications) incase you need to have a csection for the anestetic. They have weighed me twice at my consultant appointment as I had a very preterm labour last time and so they did it around that time (27 weeks) and last time i went in at 36 weeks. I ask them to do it but not tell me the weight as I have a thing about my weight (lost 4 1/2 stone before pregnancy have alwasy been overweight and was teased horribly as a child for it) and they are very good and don't make a big issue of it.

I too wondered what onesies were too!!!

In the UK private rooms you can pay for - but you are able to have them on the NHS if you need to be issolated (i.e due to swine flu or somthing similar) or if there are any free and you or baby have complications - i was in a private room on the NHS for 5 weeks last pregnancy then got moved to a 3 people ward when they needed the room for an infectious patient.
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That first bit must be selective because my hubby came in with me for both my early preg scans. I had one at 4 weeks and one at 6 because they thought she was eptopic.
 
Here guys can come to pretty much everything. All scans, appointments, etc. The only thing they aren't allowed to do is when birthing is going on and the woman gets an epi, they either need to leave or go to the other side of the room. After that they can do what they want. They also get paternity leave but it depends on the company for how long.
 
I'm really looking forward to the stay in the hospital. Depending on what time I have the baby, I will either get to stay 2 or 3 days with vaginal birth. Rooms are private and DH will have a bed in the room so he doesn't have to leave. Baby also gets to stay with us the entire time if we want...which I do. We will be bf, so the lactation help in the hospital will be great. I want to get started off right.

DH gets two weeks full pay paternity leave. Not normal for around here, his job really values family. He's also been able to come to every appointment.
 
DH came with me to my early scan last preg at about 8 weeks.
 
My hospital, my hubby can stay as long as he wants and even order off the menu and have them bring him food as well as me! I think that is so cool, they have room service! Private rooms and rooming in if you want it, and I can use a hospital pump and equipment while there. I'm looking forward to it, actually, they make it quite comfortable. I would be PISSED if hubby got kicked out.

On a side note, uk girls, um, what does chavvy mean? I can't work that one out in my mind...:blush:
 
Chavvy is generally an insult broadly aimed at working class teens, but particularly those who dress a certain way like wearing Burberry and loads of sports type designer clothes, and smoking and drinking and generally not entirely pleasant. It's just a cultural subsection of our population that is currently considered the lowest of the low. What can I say, people like to brand others and feel superior. The best US equivalent I can think of is trailer trash but it's not really the same at all.
 
.
PeanutBean said:
The best US equivalent I can think of is trailer trash but it's not really the same at all.
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:rofl:

I have cried all morning (thank you erratic hormones) and this seriously put the first smile of the day on my face!
 
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