Giving birth in Indonesia - opinions and experiences, please!

[Michelle O'Brien]

4 million births may happen here annually...but what are the mortality/morbidity figures...? (and could you trust them if you did know them...?)

[suzanne2545]

I'm sure you've read my opinions in the recommended link but here are my thoughts:

A healthy pregnancy and normal testing during pregnancy does not a healthy baby make. In fact, a healthy delivery does not a healthy baby make. I would NOT have a baby here. My youngest would not likely have survived even to get to Singapore from here. And, knowing what I know now I wouldn't even go to Singapore to have a baby. They may be fluent in English but heavily accented requiring a great deal of concentration.

When your babies life hangs in the balance and you need to make decisions quickly the last thing you want is to have inadaquate facilities and training in your caregivers and also to struggle with language barriers of any kind.

Mine was a third healthy easy pregnancy and easy birth. But he was born with a life threatening airway complication and thankfully, while we didn't live in our home country we lived in a same language country with a top five pediatric hospital at our fingertips.

That is all.

[MilaS]

To answer a few questions above... In Korea an IVF pregnancy is definitely regarded differently, especially at my age^^ - for one thing I have to do 3 months of hormones after implantation and limit exercise and stress as much as possible. There also seem to be a barage of tests we have to do (although that is Korean overkill and age related more than anything else). I guess I'm also a bit more careful about it if I were younger or could just try again if this one doesn't work, but it's been a long hard slog to get here and this will be our final 'try'. I certainly realize that women have babies everywhere and no doubt we could sucessfully give birth in Indonesia, but I'm still interested to hear feedback about other peoples experiences. Some South African private hospitals are good, but pricey and public hospitals are not to be recommended - at least not the last time I was in SA. Korean hospitals and medical facilities are great and almost free, but it's a constant battle to get past the cultural expectations of doctors, nurses and family. Btw, are epidurals readily available in Indonesia?

[Bang Arif]

Hi Milas
My wife had her first two kids (my step kids) at Siloam Kebon Jeruk. We are currently expecting a third child in couple of weeks and we will be returning to Siloam Kebon Jeruk. My wife was and is very pleased with the facilities, the doctor, and the rest of the staff. I as well, being involved this time, am very pleased with the service we have received thus far. However, I do need to say that my wife is Indonesian and I speak Bahasa Indonesia, so language for us is not a problem. But on the other hand our doctor, Dr. Asriel, speaks very good English and also German. He has never tried to suggest unnecessary, expensive procedures and with every check up gives an explanation in English and Bahasa Indonesia. We were quoted a price of 8-11 million for Class 2 normal delivery and 18-20 million for class 2 c-section. I should also clarify that class 2 only refers to the overnight room my wife will stay in and not the actual delivery room. If I am not mistaken Class 2 means sharing the room with possibly three other people but could have the room to ourselves. There is a VIP class as well; which is a private room. For what it is worth, I have had a couple other medical treatments at Siloam Kebon Jeruk and have always felt taken care of. The only complaint I have ever had is the "appointment" system here, but I think more or less it is the same where ever you go in Jakarta/Tangerang. My wife says that epidurals are available at Siloam as well.