Hi there so i am a us citizen living here with my mexican husband. I am 3 months pregnant and we have been using his IMSS up to this point for medical care but the seemingly substandard medical is making me a bit nervous. this is my first pregnancy and all seems to be going well so far. we live on a mexican not US income which is why we are using IMSS but we have been trying to find information on better healthcare. any suggestions?
Congrats on your pregnancy (and welcome to our forum)! My wife gave birth to our new son via Caesarian 2 months ago, we used Galenia and I couldnt fault it. It's certainly a bit on the expensive side though. There's quite a few people here who have had kids in Cancun, so hopefully they'll chime in with their thoughts. Any specific questions feel free to ask away.
Most people, given a choice, would probably opt for Galenia and its staff over IMSS. Although things can fall short of optimum anywhere, you go into IMSS with certain disadvantages- a heavy patient load, a medical culture in which the doctor makes all the decisions, and the constraints imposed by institutional cost considerations in the choice of procedures and treatments, just to mention a few. Costs in obstetrics can easily escalate, if any complications should arise: with IMSS, this would not be an issue as all treatments and drugs are provided free, and they certainly have ample experience with labor and childbirth! Whatever your choice, may all go well with both mother and child!
Hello Isa! Congrats on your pregnancy. I too am pregnant and actually due any day now. Through my husbands job we have coverage at Galenia Hospital. So far its we´ve been happy with it. Although we do have coverage, which basically just covers doctor visits and you get discounts on other services it does not cover any hospital stay or my doctor´s bill when I give birth, which like Steve says makes it a bit on the expensive side. I must say that being pregnant here and being pregnant in the states is very different, or for me it is a least. They don´t do as many prenatal testing as they do in the states like gestational diabetes nor does my doctor do a pee sample at every visit to test the levels of protein, etc. like they do in the states. Though I do get an ultrasound at every doctor´s visit, which wasn´t done back in the states. As you may have heard already here in Cancun c-sections are very "popular" not only amoung the future mothers but also amoung many doctors here. So if you do plan to have a vaginal birth make sure you speak to your doc about it and make sure he/she does do vaginal deliveries. I have heard stories of some doctors who do not do vaginal deliveries at all. Galenia seems to be vaginal deliviery friendly, with packages for vaginal and even natural water birth deliveries. Well, if you do have any questions I´d be happy to answer them, if I can of course and I now there are mommies on this board that would be more than happy to answer your questions as well. Good Luck!!
Hi well I am a Doula - which means I help women give birth as naturally as possible. I have attended births here both in hospital and homebirths attended by a Dr ( from Clinica Victoria) and an excellent midwife from Germany. Feel free to call me if you have any questions or want some birth preperation classes. Cancun has an 80% c section rate and is not vaginal birth friendly!!!! Private message me for my phone number if you wish Good Luck Tracey ps In the uk I trained Doulas and set up Doula Uk www.doula.org.uk xxx
Thank u for all of your responses and well wishes. of course given the choice i would love to go with galenia vs IMSS but financially i just dont think its going to be possible. especially if we have to pay for the labor or hospital stay. i think i am going to travel to the states for a couple of weeks so i will get a check up there just to calm my nerves a bit. the c-section rate here does have me a bit concerned but i have also heard that if you wait til u are in full active labor meaning 5 minutes or less apart to go to the hospital that u avoid the doctors trying to speed up the process with a c-section. basically i have heard that its more about them not wanting to wait out the process. i have also heard that no one is allowed in the delivery room except the patient and medical staff does anyone know if this is true? additionally i am all about vaginal birth but natural im not so sure about. is getting an epidural here unheard of or what?
If time permits, I'll see if I can learn something more about IMSS practices with regard to C-sections, and epidurals. I'd be very surprised if they did not favor vaginal birth, as they follow WHO recommendations for much of their mother-child practices. I find the IMSS OB-GYN clinic/hospital (Kabah at Lopez Portillo) a rather attractive facility, open air as it is, though no one would mistake it for a thoroughly modern facility in an American city. IMSS standards of care are modeled on the U.S., but they have cost constraints; and, the medical culture is not twenty-first century. There it's still the old, "I'm the doctor and you're the patient," attitude. That makes it hard for the patient to maintain control of the situation, especially if their Spanish is not 100%. I'm no wallflower but I've felt swept along by the system, just a little, when I've sought treatment there. Being lucky enough to have a caring and sympathetic physician in charge, at the time of delivery, especially if it were one who spoke English (not common, in my experience, at IMSS, but there are some), would go a long way to solving these problems. _____________________
Hi and welcome, congratulations on the upcoming bebecito! I had my baby here in Cancun, but it was all private doctor and hospital, no IMSS experience, sorry. The numbers on C sections are really quite astounding and yes, they are true. I often hear people ask when the surgery is scheduled instead of asking a woman when she is due. I insisted and insisted on a vaginal birth and my doc was in agreement, but in the end, I too had a C. I think of all the women I know who have had babies here (a good number), I can only think of one who had a vaginal birth. All had desired one but they ended up being convinced that they needed a C. Stick to your guns, get a second opinion before jumping into the OR. Docs are pretty good at scaring women into it, they save time and make more money. :S
Just to join the debate really of natural birth vs C section. Our first child was born C section. The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck and would have added unneeded risk to a natural birth. We saw that on the ultrasound ourselves, so we were happy to take Doctors advice. Our second child was also C section, but that was through personal choice. My Wife's Dr didn't suggest C section as a preferred option, in fact she didnt even discuss it until we brought it up since all was progressing nicely. Jannet already had a C section scar and we have to say convenience played some part in the decision. An antsy 5 yr old and a preference for our son to be born before Sept 1 instead of after (cut off of UK school year) played a part in that. At the end of the day it's the womans body that is involved, not mine so I was quite happy to go along with whatever my wife wanted. Whichever way round, as long as it's the Mothers decision and not the Dr's or the Husbands then surely that's the true spirit of Mothers/Womens rights
