Paphos People

Just thought i would post my experiences so far of my pregnancy here in Paphos to help others hopefully.

When we found out we went firstly to the General Hospital in Paphos to have a look around, see if i felt comfortable there, go up to the forth floor and asked a midwife what we needed to do, basically every Tuesday morning between 8 - 13.00 there is an antenatal class, we had a look around and it was clean and quiet and i felt comfortable. I was advised to go in at about 9/10 weeks for my first consultation.

OK so i have my pink medical card (a must) and you firstly register on the 1st floor, this is a bit of a scrum and people do push in, but grit your teeth it took on average about 20mins to q up. You hand over you medical card and say which doc you want to see (i always said pregnant - keeps things simple!) pay 2E and they give you a receipt and some labels. if its your first time, tell them and they print get a prescription book for you and set you up on the system -its easy, no worries at all.

Head up to 4th floor, you get your blood pressure measured, weight and urine checked, fetal heart check and then they may feel your belly but they only started doing that to me at about 33 weeks. Then you wait to see the consultant who will scan you every visit and discuss how things are going. Its a quick visit and can feel a bit like a conveyor belt but its ok, some things are a bit old fashioned (like no pain relief for natural labour - eck) and the midwifes are a bit off hand but the consultants are lovely and i am happy to continue going to PGH for the birth.

I am on maternity leave now and will post my experience of the birth when i can.

Maternity leave - very easy to sort this too, go to the social insurance office (on the Cyta road) and ask for a maternity form, unfortunately it is in Greek so you will need to ask someone to translate it for you, but it is easy to complete, you need your consultant to sign it for you but this cannot be done before 8 weeks before the baby is due, so in theory you can't take maternity leave until you are 32 weeks pregnant. you sign it and your employer signs it and you simply return the form to the social office, i have received a letter from them confirming my application and they are currently processing it, that is as far as i have got so far, so keep your fingers crossed for me! Again i will update this info once i get any further on.

Hope this helps someone, as i had no-one and nothing to help me when i first found out so would have appreciated this info.

Cheers

Amanda

Just wondering if I should move this into the 'New Build' section

Taxi for Pete

I am sure Verity will love to respond to this Amanda.

Hope you booked that taxi Pete

_________________
Tina
xxxx

Its more like a green van & padded jacket

Well I know its not quite like building a property but it is a life changing situation & you are actually building a new life & bringing it into the world, so I'm not that insane, am I

I'll reserve judgment until we meet face to face Pete

_________________
Tina
xxxx

Well done Amanda for putting this post, and it should be moved to somewhere - not sure about the new build Pete but it is something that will interest a lot of the younger generation that are moving over.

_________________


"Your dog is your friend, your partner, your defender. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true until the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion"

Great posting Amanda, I did mention to Verity it would be nice for 'someone' to start a 'baby' diary.

_________________
Molly

Treat others as you want to be treated

Trish, that was exactly what I said. I asked Amanda whether she would document her experiences when I spoke with her the other day.

Not thinking of a baby diary, but I thought hard information may be of use to others.

If there is anywhere to move it to keep it in one place for information it would be great. Maybe Pete will have some ideas.

Verity.

_________________
Verity.

Be who you are, and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

http://coecyp.blogspot.com

Due to the frequency of babies appearing on the forum I can't really justify creating another forum solely for this information, at present the only location I can suggest for important information is the FAQ's, because even if we create a thread in the Day 2 Day life, the post will eventually fall off the front page

So if you're able to get all the important information together, like who to see, what you need to have etc etc, then we can create a FAQ that all members will be able to view

I'm sorry that we can't really do more at present

Hi Paphosgirl,

Just wanted to add to this thread as i had my second daughter at Pafos General almost 4 years ago now. It would seem from your description that things haven't changed much, as in the way the clinic is ran and procedure.

I found the ante natal care to be thorough, midwives sometimes friendly and sometimes not and my consultant wanted to do what he wanted, well he tried but he hadn't bargained on my knowledge and determination to do things my way. We clashed all the way through but as he and my husband were from the same village many years back my husband felt we were obliged to go to him every time. He is not at the hopsital anymore.

I found their outlook on delivery to be very medicalised, there were very few on the ward that had laboured and delivered naturally, most were laid up in bed for 3 days following a section.

On the whole though, arrogant consultant aside, the care was good and if i had another baby (which i wont) i would go back. Compared with my first experience when i went private, i felt i received better care at the hospital. Just be assertive and tell them what you want and stick by it - make them listen.

I also used the paedeatricians at the hospital - fantastic service. Why pay to go private when the Dr's at the hospital are really good? That was my experience anyway.

M. xx

Pete, when I spoke to Amanda about this I wondered about the FAQ section. Maybe we could condense the salient points and put a link to this posting so that anyone who comes along and wishes to find it can do so easily? I find the search engine on this type of board tedious - not a criticism of PP, just of the design of this type of search engine.

Amanda - 3 days? Laid up for 3 days? I hope they give an anti-coagulant. You must ask them when you go again. We spoke about this, if you remember.

The figures for caesarean section are difficult to obtain from the Cyprus government, but they run at around 80%. This is because it is a very medicalised system that they run here. It has to be a medicalised system as the doctor takes the ultimate responsibility here, whereas in the UK the midwife takes responsibility and is accountable for acts and omissions.

I would find it very difficult to work as a midwife here. I have said before that I couldn't keep my mouth shut, and I couldn't compromise my standards. Much of the practice is undertaken as tradition and for ease of the care-giver. It has little to do with research-based evidence and best practice. Having said that I am sure that the doctors are well trained, and that a safe outcome for mum and baby are the ultimate aim.

I know that Amanda will put them in their place if she is not happy.

Well done to you M for being assertive. Not an easy thing to be when you are at one of the most vulnerable times in your life.

Verity.

_________________
Verity.

Be who you are, and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

http://coecyp.blogspot.com

That's fine by me, as I'm not too keen on the search engine either, wish there was someway to make it better

So if you can give Twosox all the informations you think we'll need, she can then make it into a FAQ with a link to this thread

Sounds like a plan.

_________________
Verity.

Be who you are, and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

http://coecyp.blogspot.com