Giving Birth in Q8 - The Hospital

Several friends have asked me what it was like to have a baby here in Kuwait compared to the States. I figured if I write about it here, I'll remember months from now when I'm starting to recover from my zombie state!

Let's start with the hospital, Royal Hayat. It's new and beautiful and THE place in town to deliver. The suites are gorgeous. We had the Lily Suite, the smallest of choices, still larger than any of the rooms that had at Sibley in DC or Virginia Hospital Center.

When you enter the hospital, you find a concierge, a bellhop, a cafe and sometimes even a little japanese woman playing some string instrument. It's more of a luxury hotel lobby than a hospital. There are little juice and cookie stations everywhere (to help keep the diabetes clinic in business no doubt!) and everyone is anxious to serve you.

Medically speaking, Christopher's birth was similar to my previous c-sections. The doctors and nurses were great throughout the procedure. No real surprises except they will remove your toenail polish prior to surgery! This is so they can see that the nail beds are the right color, or so the nurse told me. I was a little annoyed at that, knowing I wouldn't be able to reach my toes for a bit or be in any condition to return to the 'saloon' to have a fresh pedicure! (All salons are called saloons here.)

The food was amazing! The presentation even better! They made the clear diet look fancy!

The food was delivered in room service style, with the hot food in a food warmer so if you wanted to wait awhile, your perfectly cooked eggs wouldn't turn to rubber! Once I graduated from the clear diet, I was able to order from a very extensive menu, including steak, seafood and the best mushroom soup I've ever tasted! 

If you're curious enough to want to see more pictures, here's the site. It also has a taste of my next post, the cultural differences of having a baby in Kuwait versus the US. http://www.royalehayat.com/