Family from London relocating to punta cana :-))

[TravelHippo]

I guess we were lucky in all regards because with my birth experience... I wasn't given any pain meds either and had a great recovery. The nurses didn't take the baby for more the 10 minutes after birth (and after I had already had the chance to see her) and my husband went with them when they did go to clean her and weigh her, and then gave her back to me for the rest of the time I was in the hospital. They didn't give her any bottles/milk (I had asked them not to but they didn't fight this) and encouraged me to breastfeed the whole time. I understand this isn't the case at every clinic and hospital in this country but I really did have an overall excellent experience and know it is certainly possible in this country.

I only mentioned the passport as I believe someone else mentioned that it could be a problem.

 

[Criss Colon]

Travel, we are all happy that both you and your baby are doing great!!!!
But I will support "Mauricio" in his views.
If you had spent the $1,000 on a r/t flight to Canada, you would have had the delivery for "Free", and got to visit your family too!
My wife had 3 babies here by "C-section", with no problems.
I would have preferred to go to the USA for all 3!
"Better SAFE, than "SORRY"!
When things go as planned in a delivery here, great, but when they don't, THAT's where to problems begin.
Just ask the 6 parents who's babies died in two days in the neonatal intensive care unit in Los Mina last week!!!!!
SAD, but true!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

 

[Mauricio]

I guess we were lucky in all regards because with my birth experience... I wasn't given any pain meds either and had a great recovery. The nurses didn't take the baby for more the 10 minutes after birth (and after I had already had the chance to see her) and my husband went with them when they did go to clean her and weigh her, and then gave her back to me for the rest of the time I was in the hospital. They didn't give her any bottles/milk (I had asked them not to but they didn't fight this) and encouraged me to breastfeed the whole time. I understand this isn't the case at every clinic and hospital in this country but I really did have an overall excellent experience and know it is certainly possible in this country.

I only mentioned the passport as I believe someone else mentioned that it could be a problem.

They did it well then....good for you (really). Which clinic is this, and where is it?

 

[Harleysrock]

No way would I let my wife give birth here, back to Canada we would go! I'm sure many people have fine experiences here but we are talking a BABY not a broken leg!! Why take any chances?!

 

[TravelHippo]

My husband and I live and work here full time (run our own school and summer camp). It isn't as easy as just getting on a flight to Canada to have the baby. The most important thing was for my husband and I to be together to welcome our baby and that wouldn't have been possible with leaving the country. Also, this is where we live now, permanently, and therefore, it really wasn't a question about where we would have the baby.

Travel, we are all happy that both you and your baby are doing great!!!!
But I will support "Mauricio" in his views.
If you had spent the $1,000 on a r/t flight to Canada, you would have had the delivery for "Free", and got to visit your family too!
My wife had 3 babies here by "C-section", with no problems.
I would have preferred to go to the USA for all 3!
"Better SAFE, than "SORRY"!
When things go as planned in a delivery here, great, but when they don't, THAT's where to problems begin.
Just ask the 6 parents who's babies died in two days in the neonatal intensive care unit in Los Mina last week!!!!!
SAD, but true!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

 

[TravelHippo]

They did it well then....good for you (really). Which clinic is this, and where is it?

Centro Medico Cabarete.. we are in Cabrera so it was about 1 hour 20 minute drive for us.

Also have a good friend here in Cabrera (American) who has had her two babies in Santo Domingo with great experiences as well. She too would recommend her hospital/doctor and wouldn't suggest that you 'should' leave the country to have your baby if this is where you live.

 

[Omar- The One]

I agree with Mauricio, give birth to your son in Europe, you problably have health insurance there and plus the doctors are more advanced in Medicine than the ones in PC. Come down later when your husband has gotten all the info for the school, ect.

 

[Martanathan]

I agree with Mauricio, give birth to your son in Europe, you problably have health insurance there and plus the doctors are more advanced in Medicine than the ones in PC. Come down later when your husband has gotten all the info for the school, ect.

hello, thank you for your opinion . True, ALL Europeans have a health insurance and public health sector is FREE all over european union but thats not the point. The point is not to split the family and stick together regardless .
international school is already sorted thanks to some lovely people who has given me great advice and it only took a week ;-) surely , if there is a will there is a way. however , contrary to popular believe public hospitals in uk are really not that amazing. Sky news are reporting daily on under-staffing and lack of training . True , in case of medical emergency they are well equipped but as for quality and privacy , well its a matter of opinion . i had an option to have my son 7 years ago at chelsea and westminster hospital in london but after a tour of maternity ward ( 10 beds divided by curtain and absolutely no privacy ) had changed my mind and had him privately in Poland .( lots of people would run away on the thought of eastern europe lol) but .... it was fantastic , great care , private room, physio after c section and stem cells storage program if i wanted, which i did . the stem cells program was not available in london but its a common practice in poland . Having said that i really dont expect that i DR, i really dont but i hope that the private facilities will be good enough and i really dont expect the massage , round of applause and a chilled margherita afterwards ;-) just the basic care . If i wanted to stay in europe i would have my baby in poland but i dont want to separate the family for a few months, this is a life changing moment and i dont want my husband to miss it for anything !!!!! . Anyway , i try to reason with myself that women give birth in worse conditions all over the world and try to look at positive rather then negative but thank you for your post and massive THANK YOU to all who gave me their opinions and advice in this thread . All your kindness and wisdom is very much appreciated ;-)

 

[beechbum12]

Hello I wish the best in your adventure to the DR. I also relocated to DR for a hotel job and escaped . First of all, unless the job that awaits is a one of the 5 or 6 management jobs at the hotel its not worth it. Unless the job includes a generous housing and car allowance its not worth it. Unless the job pays London wages its not worth it. The quality life in Dr is very low compared to London, its a third world countryvacationing there a week and laying on the beach is alot different from living there. In sum here are the warnings you shoushld know: Not sure whats going on at the hard rock these days but after they took over from the previous owners it was mismanaged by mostly Mexicans. Anytime you want to recieve a simple piece of mail or a shipment of something online you will pay dearly in taxes. anything that comes in is going to cost you. Its not worth shipping your furniture etc. even if the hotel pays for it. Just rent a furnished place. The customs fees to import anything of value is a very high. For examlple I ordered $100 barbecue grill online from an american store. Ended up paying $350 after shipping and custom fees. I opened one of those mail forwarding mailboxes and recieved a big cataloue as junk mail and had to pay $30 bucks for it. The roads are really bad and loaded with bad/drunk drivers, pethere is no smog laws so most vehicles emitt major amounts of pollution so make sure your car windows are always up and therefore your air is working. Is oppresively ot and humid 10 months out of the year. the DR land is mostly rock and there is alot of dust in the air from construction, you need to shower after any errand in town. Cocotal is your best option as they have a decent clean water system most other places use wells that often have sewer leaks The pool at cocotal is the best part of it. Very nice. The golf course is decent too. But cocotal has problems too. The electriciy is very expensive there, you are subsidizing alot of poorer neighbors that dont pay for it. And the speed bumps are ridiculous, one trip around cocotal has at least 40 speed bumps. The back gate is closed mostly at night so plan on driving an extra 3 miles to get home after dark. And going over the 30 speed bumps in front of the hotels in bavaro. The electricity didnt go out much in cocotal but goes out in bavaro alot. Then you can't buy gas. The gas truckers went on strike and there was no gas for sale in bavaro for 2 weeks. We had to buy gas ouof beer bottles on the street and pay like 10 bucks for 16 ounces. Gasoline for a car is very expensive.Cars are very expensive becuase the government charges about 50% import tax. if you dont bring anything of quality with you will pay double to ship it there because of taxes and shipping. As far as the schools there is one good gringo school in the area, Veron I believe, and its about 30 minutes from Bavaro. Home school would be better perhaps. be prepared to overpay for food and hopefully you are a vegetarian. I do not recommend relocating to the DR if you have children. The local DR cow meat is from cows that are only grass fed and do not have any flavor because of lack of fat. You pay triple for imported beef. Beware of the fish, most sit on boat in the sun for 4-8 hours caught and is bacteria prone, nstead of being put on ice and treated properly. Almost every expat I know had gastrointestional desease at one time, such as parasites after moving Bring lots of toilet paper. I assume your or hubby speaks spanish if not you wont be able to communiate with most people.

 

[keepcoming]

I understand your wanting your husband to be apart of the birth of your child. It is totally understandable. Your not the first expat to give birth here and you won't be the last. With a good plan anything is possible. Wish you all the best.

 

[Dolores1]

If you were able to register your child in PC International School you should try to find a place in the Punta Cana Village to live.

 

[Eugeniefs]

Hi Martha and Nathan - welcome to DR1. I, too, am a Londoner (from Victoria / Chelsea area) and have been here for the last 8 years. I live in Los Corales (not very far from Cocotal - in fact my chiropractor lives in Golf Suites in Cocotal).

There has been some great advice given to you and I know you are coming over as a family, however, I too would suggest that you give birth in the UK. Just thinking about passports etc., which is hard enough to get here now but what about the future too when you are traveling as a family.. just a thought.

The owner of 'Noah's Ark' actually lives opposite me, lol. I do believe it is a great school. I don't have any kids but know people who have given birth here as well as others who are bringing up their children here. I would check with Hard Rock and see if you can include your up and coming birth on the insurance your husband will get from them. It will be nothing for them but it will mean a lot for you.

If you need someone to chat to when you are here - PM me and I will give you my mobile number - seriously I am only just around the corner and sometimes it is great to have someone else to talk to. I wonder which part of London you are from.

I, too, have traveled extensively when I was a child as well as an adult, it really is such a wonderful life experience and your first child will pick up Spanish quickly. Just one quick word of advice, don't bother bringing anything electronic with you, even if you get your house rewired (like we did) the general voltage is still only 220v and in the UK it is 240v. Everything dies in the end, (be it the stress of a slightly lower voltage or the continuing power shortages, trust me on that one.. lol, an expensive experiment!

Well, enough from me, have fun planning and PM if you would like.

 

[TravelHippo]

Great advice and nice to have someone reaching out to them in the area. The only one thing I did want to say again is that they won't have a problem getting a UK passport for the baby even if the baby is born here, as long as they are from the UK. Only my husband is British (I'm Canadian) and we had no problem at all getting our daughter her UK passport from here when she was born. I know everyone has their reasons for suggesting they have the baby in the UK, but she has stated that she really doesn't want to break the family up to do so (which I completely understand and felt the same way with my daughter) and the passport thing is a non-issue. Baby can be travelling in no time!

M - I can even send you the info / documents we needed to get our daughter's passport.

Hi Martha and Nathan - welcome to DR1. I, too, am a Londoner (from Victoria / Chelsea area) and have been here for the last 8 years. I live in Los Corales (not very far from Cocotal - in fact my chiropractor lives in Golf Suites in Cocotal).

There has been some great advice given to you and I know you are coming over as a family, however, I too would suggest that you give birth in the UK. Just thinking about passports etc., which is hard enough to get here now but what about the future too when you are traveling as a family.. just a thought.

The owner of 'Noah's Ark' actually lives opposite me, lol. I do believe it is a great school. I don't have any kids but know people who have given birth here as well as others who are bringing up their children here. I would check with Hard Rock and see if you can include your up and coming birth on the insurance your husband will get from them. It will be nothing for them but it will mean a lot for you.

If you need someone to chat to when you are here - PM me and I will give you my mobile number - seriously I am only just around the corner and sometimes it is great to have someone else to talk to. I wonder which part of London you are from.

I, too, have traveled extensively when I was a child as well as an adult, it really is such a wonderful life experience and your first child will pick up Spanish quickly. Just one quick word of advice, don't bother bringing anything electronic with you, even if you get your house rewired (like we did) the general voltage is still only 220v and in the UK it is 240v. Everything dies in the end, (be it the stress of a slightly lower voltage or the continuing power shortages, trust me on that one.. lol, an expensive experiment!

Well, enough from me, have fun planning and PM if you would like.

 

[flyinroom]

"Frank",.....Looks like the little guy to your left,and possibly the one on your right, FOUND what they were looking for,.......YOU!!!!!!!!!
My "Meter" is clicking!!!!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Mercy me.....
And to think I had "two-fingers" on the left (of the screen) pegged as our Frankie.
I guess that just goes to show that we aren't as smart as we think.
(lol...).

 

[Martanathan]

Hello and thank you for your concerns and your advise even though it slightly sounded' gloomish and doomish '. Firstly we are not escaping Europe if anything we are escaping weather , i love LOVE sun , spend fortune following it in my 20ties and traveled all over the world , south america and even Honduras doesnt freaked me out or being stuck in st lucia during hurricane thomas in 2010 ;-) so i doubt it very much that DR will scare me away. But i do understand your point and honesty .
We are not in a hotel industry either but gaming and casino and even London wages vary , you can be on minimum wage in london and ' scratch bottom of the barrel ' or earn lots and still have no quality of life .Everything in life is a matter of perception ;-) My husband speaks fluent spanish , i am very very eager to learn and one of the reason we are going is for The kid to learn spanish too , nothing sets you better for life then languages and understanding of different cultures and open mindness and that only comes from exposure ;-) i dont do home schooling , its all about interaction with different kids and learning compassion and understanding . The Kid traveled since he was 6 mts old nd just got back from argentina so i am not worried about him at all . But thank you , from the bottom of my hart for your post and i dont expect miracles to happen , i expect to make them . Life can be struggle anywhere in the world , but i think good weather , beautiful beach and challenge makes it bearable ;-))) As for food , i am not vegetarian but i can live without dominican cow for dinner , its the argentinian steaks which gets me going ;-) look , i know its not all rosy but hey , life is all about taking a risk , and if you dont life, could be very boring ;-) kindest regards marta

Hello I wish the best in your adventure to the DR. I also relocated to DR for a hotel job and escaped . First of all, unless the job that awaits is a one of the 5 or 6 management jobs at the hotel its not worth it. Unless the job includes a generous housing and car allowance its not worth it. Unless the job pays London wages its not worth it. The quality life in Dr is very low compared to London, its a third world countryvacationing there a week and laying on the beach is alot different from living there. In sum here are the warnings you shoushld know: Not sure whats going on at the hard rock these days but after they took over from the previous owners it was mismanaged by mostly Mexicans. Anytime you want to recieve a simple piece of mail or a shipment of something online you will pay dearly in taxes. anything that comes in is going to cost you. Its not worth shipping your furniture etc. even if the hotel pays for it. Just rent a furnished place. The customs fees to import anything of value is a very high. For examlple I ordered $100 barbecue grill online from an american store. Ended up paying $350 after shipping and custom fees. I opened one of those mail forwarding mailboxes and recieved a big cataloue as junk mail and had to pay $30 bucks for it. The roads are really bad and loaded with bad/drunk drivers, pethere is no smog laws so most vehicles emitt major amounts of pollution so make sure your car windows are always up and therefore your air is working. Is oppresively ot and humid 10 months out of the year. the DR land is mostly rock and there is alot of dust in the air from construction, you need to shower after any errand in town. Cocotal is your best option as they have a decent clean water system most other places use wells that often have sewer leaks The pool at cocotal is the best part of it. Very nice. The golf course is decent too. But cocotal has problems too. The electriciy is very expensive there, you are subsidizing alot of poorer neighbors that dont pay for it. And the speed bumps are ridiculous, one trip around cocotal has at least 40 speed bumps. The back gate is closed mostly at night so plan on driving an extra 3 miles to get home after dark. And going over the 30 speed bumps in front of the hotels in bavaro. The electricity didnt go out much in cocotal but goes out in bavaro alot. Then you can't buy gas. The gas truckers went on strike and there was no gas for sale in bavaro for 2 weeks. We had to buy gas ouof beer bottles on the street and pay like 10 bucks for 16 ounces. Gasoline for a car is very expensive.Cars are very expensive becuase the government charges about 50% import tax. if you dont bring anything of quality with you will pay double to ship it there because of taxes and shipping. As far as the schools there is one good gringo school in the area, Veron I believe, and its about 30 minutes from Bavaro. Home school would be better perhaps. be prepared to overpay for food and hopefully you are a vegetarian. I do not recommend relocating to the DR if you have children. The local DR cow meat is from cows that are only grass fed and do not have any flavor because of lack of fat. You pay triple for imported beef. Beware of the fish, most sit on boat in the sun for 4-8 hours caught and is bacteria prone, nstead of being put on ice and treated properly. Almost every expat I know had gastrointestional desease at one time, such as parasites after moving Bring lots of toilet paper. I assume your or hubby speaks spanish if not you wont be able to communiate with most people.

 

[DRob]

Hello and thank you for your concerns and your advise even though it slightly sounded' gloomish and doomish '. Firstly we are not escaping Europe if anything we are escaping weather , i love LOVE sun , spend fortune following it in my 20ties and traveled all over the world , south america and even Honduras doesnt freaked me out or being stuck in st lucia during hurricane thomas in 2010 ;-) so i doubt it very much that DR will scare me away. But i do understand your point and honesty .
We are not in a hotel industry either but gaming and casino and even London wages vary , you can be on minimum wage in london and ' scratch bottom of the barrel ' or earn lots and still have no quality of life .Everything in life is a matter of perception ;-) My husband speaks fluent spanish , i am very very eager to learn and one of the reason we are going is for The kid to learn spanish too , nothing sets you better for life then languages and understanding of different cultures and open mindness and that only comes from exposure ;-) i dont do home schooling , its all about interaction with different kids and learning compassion and understanding . The Kid traveled since he was 6 mts old nd just got back from argentina so i am not worried about him at all . But thank you , from the bottom of my hart for your post and i dont expect miracles to happen , i expect to make them . Life can be struggle anywhere in the world , but i think good weather , beautiful beach and challenge makes it bearable ;-))) As for food , i am not vegetarian but i can live without dominican cow for dinner , its the argentinian steaks which gets me going ;-) look , i know its not all rosy but hey , life is all about taking a risk , and if you dont life, could be very boring ;-) kindest regards marta

Some people have amazingly good experiences, some amazingly bad. For most, it's somewhere in between. I really hope you have a great experience, but if things don't work out, they aren't planning on shutting down the airport anytime soon.

In the meantime, folk should consider accepting the fact they are moving as a family, and concentrate on providing some helpful pointers for them. Who wants to talk realistic budgets for Cocotal-type living in PC?

 

[Martanathan]

Thank you so much for you kind message . I ve lived in chelsea for many years then we moved to fulham . Its only due to my husbands career opportunity ( we are in gaming industry ) that we decided to bite the bullet and go for it ;-) its a challenge but i d rather try and see what happens then not try and then dwell forever WHAT IF ?????? ..... i really dont expect luxury for a peanuts and i know that there will be obstacles. We have briefly lived in st lucia so i know about a little bit of island life . And in the worse case scenario we can always come back to london/ europe. I hope i can learn spanish fairly quickly, rosetta stone here i come and when i am old i can bore people to death with the amazing stories from my adventures ;-)))) plus as we all know life is unpredictable ;-))

 

[SKY]

When you get there tell Jessie you want an apt. where he lives. It is nice there, with a beach close by and near the hotel.

 

[charlise]

Marthanathan, you sound very grounded and ready to embrance your new adventure... It's all in the perception.

I left everything in Canada and came here 2 years ago... I am not rich but I am happy, living in sunny weather every day.. For me that's Worth a million...

If your mind is open, you will adjust very easy and quickly.. Don't worry, you'll be fine...

 

[Martanathan]

Hello, thank you , but who is Jessie ? Yes , we are going ahead with the move and now its the issue with the rentals as apparently its high season and places are going fast ;-( please, Please any ideas? thank you ;-)

When you get there tell Jessie you want an apt. where he lives. It is nice there, with a beach close by and near the hotel.