Your postpartum experience in a Dubai hospital?

I delivered both my babies at Latifa Hospital here, and my experience was the polar opposite of what BintNizam and many others describe. FYI I am American and am familiar with Kaiser Permanente as well as the fancier private hospitals. After delivery I was given a sandwich, a juice box, was allowed to sleep for 45 min then a nurse helped me and baby into a wheelchair. Latifa had just started its Baby Friendly Initiative certification so they provided amazing breast feeding support. There was one night when my first baby wouldn't settle, so I called the nurse's station. They said "why did u wait 2 hrs before calling us to help you?? We've been listening to you n baby and we've been worried!" So I went to them and they made up a bottle of formula and rocked my baby to sleep, I was so happy with relief. Baby and I both slept well. Baby no2 woke up every 20 min to feed from sunset to sunrise, and I was no longer shy about calling the nurses for help. I had terrible engorgement and the nurses helped me extract excess milk, hold the baby, etc. TBH, I managed fine without Tucks or witch hazel. My aunt in States drove to every Rite Aid/ CVS in my area and they were out of stock, so I had to do without. I had 2nd degree tearing as I didn't want an episiotomy, and I coped with applications of Mebo, using frozen night-time pads (a tip I got from the Mothering forum), sitting on ice packs. Re the laxative, Duphostan is routinely prescribed. There's a natural laxative in this region called Isphagol. It doesn't taste as nice as fruit-flavored Metamucil but it has the same effect. FYI a handful of dates or eating more than one mango in one sitting has the same bowel-related result.

Also, why do you need a laxative? I have had 4 children and never took a laxative postpartum.

I suppose it just depends on which hospital you are at. I had all four of my children here in Dubai and I was always well taken care of, particularly for the last two children that I had at the government hospital. I had the opposite experience to BintNizam.

I had my first baby in the UK under NHS and my second at Al Garhoud private hospital. Both my deliveries were normal and uncomplicated so i didn't need much care afterwards, but what was offered here was head and shoulders above UK....an abundant supply of maternity pads, regular bedsheets changed and maternity sheets on the bed, regular blood pressure checks, nurse helped me walk the 2 metres from the bed to the bathroom the first time and i'm certain would have helped me inside had i not indicated that i could manage alone. They also obsessed about asking whether i'd wee'd and poo'd...an important indicator of any possible damage if you can't. In terms of medication, i was given normal painkillers (maybe paracetamol?) and they kept checking to see if i'd taken it / needed more / something stronger....i didn't. I was given Mebo cream for the stitches (i believe it's a burn cream, but the doc said it's great for this purpose too). I would recommend arnica tablets which you can get in any pharmacy here in the alternative medicines section...my brand was Nelsons. These help the body heal by clearing up and internal bruising. And if you're planning to breastfeed, Lansinoh cream - nothing beats it and i wish the hospitals would be more supportive on advising on products to get you through the first few days of breastfeeding which can be quite painful, until everything settles down into the rhythm and routine. In fact the nurses saw my initial difficulties (which were v minor as both my girls were excellent feeders) and promptly brought me a bottle of formula...not v supportive of the best and most natural way to feed. If i were you and you felt that you may need particular products after delivery, have them in your hospital bag just in case.

If I compare my post-part Dubai experience to my post-partum American experience, it was dreadful. 1. 1 hour after delivery, baby was taken for cleaning, shots, etc. and I was expected to WALK back to the recovery room on my own. In the States, a lot more bonding time is allowed before being separated from baby and at no point in the first 24 hours (or usually the entire hospital stay) are you expected to walk anywhere. Instead, you are assisted into a wheel chair and wheeled around room to room. 2. There was no one to assist me in going to the bathroom, getting up and out of bed or guiding me on they hygienic ways of cleaning the delivery area. I'm grateful for having my first baby in the States where the nurses where phenomenal at showing me each and every detail of taking care of not only baby, but my own healing body. Sure, it was super embarrassing to have a woman sit you down on the toilet and help wash you down there, but in hindsight it was one of the most selfless and caring acts on the part of the nurses. In Dubai, no one helped me out of bed much less sat me on a toilet! 3. Back home there are constant checks on baby and mother through out all hours of the night and day. Annoying but necessary, I understand. The post-partum monitoring I had in Dubai wasn't as rigid (is that a pro or con?) but I was super annoyed that when they would barge in at 3 am when baby and I were asleep, they would turn on all the lights and talk very loud. Not very sensitive to an exhausted mommy! 4. In Dubai, the only post-partum hygiene tools you are given are pads, some mesh underwear and the bed pads. And they are very stingy about them. But on one of my many unsupervised bathroom trips,I just looked in the bathroom drawers and found the stash of the pads, etc. and just used what I needed. In the States both times at different hospitals in different states I was given bags and bags of Tucks pads, spray bottles, creams, laxatives, soap, etc. All that being said, if I didn't have my back home experiences to compare it to, I'd think my Dubai experience was okay. But personally speaking, I miss the bed-side manner and extra attention to detail back home.

Not to scare you but I had an awful experience at City Hospital 3 years ago. I had an emergency C-section and had to beg the nurse to give me something for the pain. She was annoyed with me and finally gave me one injection of morphine in my leg about 2 hours after my LO's birth. It was the only narcotic pain relief I received. It was the worst experience I've ever had as far as feeling helpless and in so much pain. We are not having anymore children but if we were I would go to my home country for the birth after that.

For got to add - you might get a better response if you post this question in the "Pregnancy, Babies & Toddlers" section of the forum.

Unfortunately, don't have experience with postpartum care in Dubai, but I'm pregnant (FTM) and have been doing some research and can comment re: Metamucil. Although Metamucil specifically isn't available, the active ingredient is psyllium husk and you can buy the powder in pharmacies here under other brand names. Its a bit hit or miss, as with most things, so you might need to check a few places before you actually find it (for example, the Solgar vitamin brand, which is in many pharmacies here, produces psyllium husk powder capsules, but not all pharmacies might have it in stock... thats just one brand, others make it as well). Also, if it gives you peace of mind to use things that you've researched and found good reviews of, it might be worth it to sign up for Shop & Ship and order these items from US or UK, if not available here. I am having many of my postpartum care (and baby care) items shipped to me from the US.