We hadn't planned for all of this to happen in these ways, clearly, but sometimes life just happens and you kinda roll with it. After settling in a few weeks and figuring out where to go grocery shopping and what to do, I found a few friends through Facebook. It was the first time that I ever went on blind friend dates. It is not something I was overly comfortable with. I liked my bubble when we lived in Berlin. I am a chatty person and can talk to anyone but this was a really different kind of situation. I was on a mission to make friends!
I found one friend very fast in particular since we had similar due dates and we instantly clicked. I met other friends through her and through my neighbourhood that I lived in. For the first time I realised what it meant to have a 'tribe of mamas' supporting you. It was so vital for my mental health to be able to talk to others that were going through the same experiences or had just gone through them.
I was very excited and nervous to have my child in Singapore, not knowing how things were done and a lot of things are done very differently in the hospitals, at the doctors and so forth.
In Singapore the doctor rules the birth. In Germany, a midwife has to be present at the birth but in Singapore there are few midwives, mostly there are nurses. They check up on you and check you, keep in contact with the doctor. You can ask for special midwife care in one hospital and you can hire a private Doula as well with a variety of hospitals.
Your gynaecologist who supports you throughout your pregnancy is affiliated with one or more hospitals and will be your delivery doctor. I really loved that aspect. The thought of having a close relationship throughout your pregnancy with a doctor and then going into labor and getting 'any doctor on site', that thought scared me.
I had an absolutely wonderful Doctor, for both my pregnancies and birth.
For my second birth I had an amazing Doula who supported me just beautifully.
What made me nervous though, I really didn't like how they took my babies away for the tests, we weren't allowed to accompany them. They were taken away, brought back and you were just notified 'everything ok mummy' or 'need to re take the test, baby was crying too much'. The hospitals, on the other hand, were like 5 star hotels! It was like a mini vacation for us to stay in it (minus the sleep deprivation obviously. oh and all the blood, sweat and tears) other than that though. Magnificent!
Looking back at my experiences in Singapore surrounding the birth of my children, there was a lot of support. Support from strangers on the street (who tend to like to just grab your child out of your arms because its just 'soooo cute'), support from nurses and doctors and most of all support from all the surrounding mamas.
Singapore is extremely child friendly and my children were always greeted with smiles and giggles. It was a great experience over all.