Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bassexpander]

I found this interesting...

Recently, my wife and I put a deposit down on one of those baby hospitals that allows the wife to stay for a few weeks after the birth. At this place, she will be cared for somewhat, and taught the essentials of bringing-up the baby. I had never heard this before, but apparently, I am able to sleep over with her at the place. My coworker had told me about being away from his wife and baby for two weeks. Is allowing the male to stay over an uncommon thing for these hospitals?

Oh, and according to new anti swine-flu regulations, only ONE family member (me, in this case) is allowed to even visit the hospital to see the baby. Her mother won't like that very much!

[Cohiba]

They tried to push this crap on my wife and I to. This is some weird
idea only Koreans seem to buy into. Total waste of money if you ask
me. From what I have seen, the baby making process, business
and legislation in Korea if rife with unscientific wives's tails all the way up
to basic fraud. Small wonder fewer and fewer Koreans are having kids.

Hopefully my wife will have a problem free birth and be back at home
ASAP where she is comfortable and her mother and me can take care
of her.

[bassexpander]

[Cohiba]

[bassexpander]

[eperdue4ad]

Those (joriwon?) are really popular these days. Husband's work kept insisting that he just HAD to shell out big bucks and send me there after the birth. Otherwise, how would I relax? Fortunately, I'm Western and the idea of being away from home for weeks being force-fed miyeok guk was out of the question.

The staff takes care of night-diapering and things like that, calming the baby while it is screamy, etc.; generally taking the role the new baby's grandmother usually plays.

But the grandparents aren't allowed to visit much or even hold the baby...I read an article about this recently but (sorry!) can't remember where. The interviewed grandmothers understandably were fussing about this.

As far as the husband's role, it depends on the facility. They'll each have their own rules as to why their way is the ONLY way to safely bring up dear baby

[Countrygirl]

I had a C-section because my first was breach and was out of the hospital in a couple days. There is no way I'd want to stay longer. Of course this is a Canadian hospital and with the nurses coming in and out it was too noisy to sleep.

By the way, a C-section is very difficult to recover from. If your wife is going back to work in 3 months, natural birth is a much better way to go.

[eamo]

My wife was thinking of using one of these new mother training and rest places......until I saw the price. 2,000,000 for two weeks. About the same as a luxury 5-star hotel.


Then we visited one of my wife's friends who was in one and saw the little 2-pyeong cubicles she would stay in. No windows. I'm not sure how much actual service you can get from the nurses.....the food was poor.

2,000,000 for what??? It was little better than a goshiwon......and this was supposed to be one of the good ones......

I rejected it outright. We just paid 300,000 for a couple of extra days in the hospital where the nurses were great and had their own little program for training the new mums.

I get the feeling the new mum rest centers are just a new status thing that richer Koreans like to show they can afford.

[saw6436]

My wife went into labor in her 6th month carrying our twins. Consequently she had to enter the hospital quite early. For 2 weeks she was in a shared room (4 beds). Her remaining stay (10 weeks) was in a private room. I came and went as I pleased. Visiting hours were enforced for other people but not for me. I ended up staying with her about 75% of the time.

[Ruraljuror]

Coincidentally my wife put our deposit down for this a few days ago. When is your wife due Bass?

Our experience was pretty much identical: I would be allowed to stay and spend the night, but other than that visitations would be greatly restricted due to swine flu. My sister in law had a baby a year ago and we were able to go visit her as much as we wanted, and even hold the baby for brief spells. My wife told me that visitors would be very discouraged and permitted only brief stays, but I didn't get the impression that they would be outright banned.

We also got a 10% discount by reserving our room in advance. My wife is not due until next year.

Finally, I have mad props to those of you who were able to convince your wife that this is an unnecessary expense. Attacking the veracity of Uri Nara wife's tales while dealing with a pregnant wife sounds like a fantastic way to experience sleeping alone on the couch for a week to me. Much better to just hand your wife a blank check.

[bassexpander]

She's due in March of next year, but we both like to pre-plan everything. My wife is not your typical Seoul Korean. She's from Busan, is fluent in Japanese, and worked for an extremely organized Japanese company for several years. We're a good match in terms of wanting to plan ahead.

She'll have more than a cubicle. She has her own room -- not huge... maybe 7 to 8 actual pyung, I'm guessing. There is a queen-sized bed. You can pay another 500,000 for a larger room, but we have no need. I'll try to sneak some video of the place and post it the next time we go there (although that will likely be March of next year).

[Xuanzang]

[Goon-Yang]

Your wife should stay there for a few weeks. She shouldn't bathe for a month and never go outside. you wouldn't want her to get wind in her bones...lol.

Korean
B.S. and a complete waste of money. Have the kid, and take it and the wife home in 2 or 3 days.

Congrats on the upcoming little one.

[Bryan]

Research is saying that it's incredibly important for mothers and their babies to get vitamin D now.

[lhasa]

I've got a quick question for those of you who have or are about to have kids. What's your plan for education? Put them through the Korean public system? Private? Return to western country once child reaches a certain age?