Welcome!

Are you pregnant? Do you feel lonely or isolated sometimes? Are you a pregnant expat woman that would like to meet other pregnant expat women? Do you wonder if what you are feeling or going through is normal? Would you like to know how other pregnant expat women living in Mozambique feel about being away from home? Do you wonder about the birth and what options are out there? Are you thinking about giving birth in Maputo? Nelspruit? Back home? Would you like to feel more informed about your options in birthing? Do you wonder how your baby is developing and if he or she can hear your voice? Do you feel like interacting with other pregnant women? Are you uncertain about which doctor to go to? Are you wondering about a midwife and if they exist in Maputo or in Nelspruit? Do you know what a doula is?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should come! I have experienced 2 pregnancies as an expat in Maputo and can relate to how you are feeling. Let’s get together and share our feelings and experiences. Let’s meet each other. Let’s support and get to know each other. We can learn and connect with each other so that we all feel less lonely and more in touch with our bodies, our selves and other pregnant women around us in a similar situation.

Much love,
Susana

23 April 2009

Remebering this moment

Being pregnant is a special time in your life. Melissa van Herksen tells us how we can save our memories from slipping away (sleep deprivation will do it!)

Some of her suggestions:

1. Have a photo session with a professional photographer. Contacts in town include:
2. Put your pictures on the web to share with family members that are far away.
  • www.flickr.com (FREE, but has some limitations with storage)
  • www.shutterfly.com (no limits on storage and it is FREE)
  • there are many more out there... Snapfish, Photolog, etc..
3. Create an album of your digital pictures. Make it a goal to create an album for each year of your baby.
4. Make a blog where you can journal about your experiences as a mom and post pictures. Share it with the world!
Resources and other ideas:

Last, but not least, this is a video of the presentation Melissa prepared. Thank you so much Melissa!


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10 March 2009

Accommodation in Nelspruit

written by Caoimhe

We stayed in a self-catering, fully equipped 2 bedroom cottage on the farm where Belinda Loudon runs the Bella Rose Birthing Centre. The farm has a few self-catering units and is a beautiful place. It is a lovely environment to be in when waiting to give birth and recovering after, even if you don’t use the birthing facility, as it is peaceful and quiet and Belinda is a great source of advice and information. It is a wonderful place to go if you have other children, as the Loudon family have four young children and welcome other children into their fantastic garden, pool and play area.

The cost per night is 700 Rand for two adults (350 per adult) – children and nanny stay free. However, Belinda is flexible and provides discounts depending on the length of the stay. You are welcome to use the hot tub in the birthing room, which is very nice. Belinda also does yoga and massage with Mums-to-be, if time allows.

Contacts:

Belinda Loudon

tel +27 (0)83 445-0376

fax +27 (0)86 684-9359

email enquiries@bellarosebirthing.co.za
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Caesarean Section in Nelspruit (Mediclinic)

written by Caoihme

Costs

The hospital requires a deposit of 18,000 Rand, which covers the cost of your accommodation in the hospital and the theatre costs, except for the surgeon’s, anaesthetist’s and paediatrician’s fees. The fees each of these charged included a follow-up visit. E.g. the doctor / surgeon’s fee included the 6-week check up for me. The paediatrician charge included the 6 week check-up for the baby. Also, each of the three doctors came to see us in the hospital room after the operation, to check all was well.

We had to pay the deposit on the morning that I was being admitted to hospital. They accept credit cards. If your costs don’t run to the full 18,000 Rand, they will give you back the balance in a cheque that you have to cash at a particular bank in town. You might consider getting them to make the cheque out to your partner, as it is going to be easier for them to get to the bank, usually. Check in advance if they will do this for you.

We also had to pay the doctor/surgeon in advance. We paid the paediatrician and anaesthetist after the operation. The paediatrician (Dr Botha) is based in the Mediclinic. I think the hospital reception took the fee for the anaesthetist for us.

The accommodation in the maternity ward is in 1 or 2-bed rooms, with a bathroom en-suite, albeit shared between 2 rooms. I don’t think there’s any difference in price between the 1 and 2-bed rooms. You are allocated a room on your own or sharing based on how busy the ward is. They will give you a room on your own if possible. Its very comfortable, in general. My only negative experience was that they kept trying to give me pethidine injections for the pain, which made me nauseous, dizzy and weak and therefore made it hard to breastfeed. They also give another painkiller in suppository form, which was totally adequate for me. I refused the pethidine as soon as I realised its effects on me.

This is what we paid in Rand for an elective C-section and two nights accommodation. We had no costs that were unforeseen, e.g. we didn’t have any ICU costs etc.

Expense item Rand

Theatre and 2 nights accommodation: 16,000

Doctor / surgeon: 5,100

Paediatrician: 1000

Anaesthetist: 2600

Total 24,700

Our doctors were:

Dr. Barry – GP / surgeon - Tel. 0027 13 745 7672

Dr. Botha – paediatrician - Tel. 0027 13 745 7179

Dr. Malan – anaesthetist

They all took excellent care of us.

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08 February 2009

Militza's chocolate cake

Our last meeting we met at Militza's house and she shared with us a delicious chocolate cake. This is her recipe. Thank you Militza!

Ingredients:
450ml flour
350ml castor sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
150ml cocoa powder
400ml milk
350ml oil
3 extra large eggs seperated
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
Method:
Set oven to 180 and grease cake tin
Sift all dry ingredients into bowl. Beat egg whites till stiff. Mix egg yolks, oil and vanilla in a bowl.
Add yolks and oil mixture to the dry ingredients and mix together well. Add the milk and fold in the egg whites.
Bake for 50 min
Icing:
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
150g margarine
1/4 cup hot water
mix together and ice cake.
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24 January 2009

Karolina's apple cake

On our last meeting held at Karolina's, she welcomed us with a delicious apple pie. We all loved it so much that she agreed to share the recipe. Thanks Karolina for the recipe and thanks Hannah for typing it and sending it.

Karolina's Apple Cake:
For a form of 25 cm/6 people:

-1 egg
- 1,5 dl (150 g) flour
- 1,5 dl (150g) sugar
- 2 apples
- 1 table spoon cinnamon
- 2 table spoons sugar
- 50g nuts
Melt the butter, mix in flour, sugar and egg. Stir for a few minutes until smooth. Pour the dough into a form (25cm).
Peal the apples and cut into small slices. Cover the dough with the apples. Pour cinnamon, sugar and nuts over it. Put in the oven at 175°C for 20-25 mins.
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