Money! Money! Money!

In this era of hyperinflation, our spending power is limited due to increasing cost of living and stagnant economy growth.

It is very common to hear the young couples complain of high cost of maintaining a family, particularly after having a baby.

Many of my young patients complained of high cost of having a baby due to expensive private medical care and high expenditure during confinement. To make thing worse, their salary is stagnant for years........

I could feel that many of them are under financial distress and personally I have a strong empathy to them.

Pregnancy should be a joyful moment in your lifetime because a newborn baby will bring happiness to your family. However, high cost of pregnancy and delivery may deter many of you from taking up this responsibility.

The delivery package in most of the private hospitals is getting expensive over the years. Generally, private hospitals in Klang Valley charge around RM 3000 for a normal birth package and between RM6,000 to RM 8,000 for caesarean delivery.
In Penang, the normal birth package is around RM 2,000 to RM 3,000 and caesarean delivery is around RM 4,000 to RM 5,000.

The hospitals are under pressure to increase the charges due to expensive medical instruments and medicine with most of them are imported from overseas and the cost will be passed down to the patients.

In my subsequent blog, I will give you a few tips to reduce your financial burden during pregnancy...so just stay tune!

Meanwhile, I would like to hear from you. Are you spending too much to have a baby ?

Please leave a comment.

Less Active Baby !

Dr Jason,

Recently my baby will move certain time per day include morning. But today since morning he is not moving, even i call him or touch on my stomach also he never move. What can I do? Is it consider normal situation? Thank you.


Regards,

S J


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Hi, S J

Normally your baby needs to move more than ten times from 9am to 7 pm. If you feel that your baby' movement is less than ten times, you need to immediately take your meal and count again. Sometimes, baby has less movement because of low blood sugar, particularly after 7 months when your baby's demand for food is higher.

Occasionally, baby has less movement because after 7 months the space inside your womb is limited. Your baby is clamped inside the womb due to his own body size.

However, extra precaution should be taken if you still sense less movement despite after taking your food. You need to consult me as soon as possible if the problem persist.

You can give me a call if the movement is still not improved.

Dr jason

Tiger vs Dragon

This year 2010 is the year of tiger

Due to the Chinese traditional belief, the year of tiger is not suitable for pregnancy and delivery.

Generally people believe the tiger babies are not auspicious and may bring bad luck to the family.

Because of that, this year most of the hospitals registered a decline in the number of newborn babies and most of the gynae doctors have more time to 'lepak' because of less patients.

2012 is the year of dragon

2 years later will be the year of dragon. Many people believe the dragon babies will bring luck and prosperity to the family.

I have many patients come to see me specifically asking for the best time to pregnant if they want a dragon baby.During the last dragon year 10 years ago, most of the hospitals registered a sudden increased in delivery by 10% to 20%.

However in real life, is it good to have your baby delivered in the dragon year?

A sudden increase in the number of babies may bring unexpected problems to your family and society:

1) You need to wait longer to see a gynaecologist due to increase in the number of patients. But it is good for doctors who can get better income : )

2) You may face problem to employ a confinement lady. The confinement lady may take the opportunity to increase the charges.

3) By the time your child start schooling, he/she needs to study in a crowded classroom. The teachers may not able to give individual attention to your child because of big classes.

4) Your child need to compete with more students to gain entrance to the university or scholarship awards. The univerisity will not offer more places for the dragon babies. At the same time, the number of scholarship will not increase to accomodate more top scorers.

In conclusion, It is not sure our traditional belief of auspicious dragon babies is true.

But one thing for sure, the dragon babies really bring more prosperity to the gynae doctors due to more business :)