Lets start at the beginning!

For my first post I guess it makes sense for me to talk about having a baby in the Seychelles.

When we found out I was pregnant we had only been living here for a couple of months but we had planned on having a baby so it wasn’t a total shock but I didn’t think it would happen so quickly!

Early on we discussed whether or not I would stay here to have Arthur,  we knew little about the healthcare standard for pregnancy and childbirth in Seychelles.  The alternative would be that I  return home to the UK, where the NHS was a known quantity!  After a few discussions with some other ex pats who had their children here the decision was made I would stay here.  Going back to the UK would mean being separated from Mark for too long!

As an ex pat we had to pay for a “pregnancy package” which was about 15,000 rupees (about £750) that included everything up to and including my hospital stay.

As with all pregnancies there was lots of guesses about whether we were having a boy or a girl.  The consensus seemed to be that we were having a girl, so much so we had a girls name sorted.  Mark wanted to know whether we were having a boy or a girl from the start, I couldn’t decide.  Our decision was made for us at one of our scans where we were told that we were having a boy!  It turns out that everyone here finds out and so they would never think about asking whether we wanted to know or not!  As soon as I knew I was happy about knowing and the name Arthur was settled upon almost immediately (in the car on the way home from the scan!) despite not being able to agree upon a boys name at all before this.

Obviously it was REALLY hot which was a struggle but I had nothing to compare it to since this was my first pregnancy and I hadn’t even really been here long enough to properly adjust to the heat not being pregnant so I just got on with it!  The good thing is that this is the kind of place you can really just throw on anything and no one would look twice so I didn’t have to worry about spending ages getting ready to make myself presentable to leave the house!  Also maternity clothes shopping isn’t really an option here, actually clothes shopping full stop is really limited, so it was kind of a case of making do.

I had to have an elective c-section with Arthur as he was breech which in the end worked so well as I had to go to the main island (Mahe) to have him while Mark stayed on Praslin to continue work, so knowing the date took all potential drama of him not being able to get to me in time out if it!  My parents and brother also came over from the UK so knowing dates worked well!

My stay in hospital was reasonably short….I had Arthur on the Wednesday and was out Sunday morning.  I was very impressed with the surgery itself and the hospital was fine (first impressions are a little scary), they are in the middle of renovating the maternity ward so it was a little bit crazy there.  I had to move rooms every night for some weird reason and the food was awful  but I was well looked after so I can’t complain!

We stayed on Mahe for about another week and then flew back to Praslin (15 minute inter island flight) with our new little man, our lives have never been the same and have never been better!