Dubai Healthcare

Now that I've had several doctor visits in Dubai, I'm beginning to understand their healthcare "system." I'll start with the positives. One huge perk is the fact that all visits and meds are 100% covered. I don't think I will ever get fully used to leaving the doctor's office or pharmacy without reaching for my wallet. The facilities are modern and spacious. The hospital I'll be delivering at only has private rooms, which were really nice. The hospital also has a policy that the baby stays with the mother at all times unless the baby needs medical attention. So there's no area where you will see all the newborns thrust together (and less chance of us taking home the wrong baby, haha).

Private room with a sofa bed for Ram-ji and a shower/bathroom

And now onto my daily frustrations. The clinics here all have websites and the ability to request appointments online. Nice, right? Well invariably when I go to make my appointment 2 weeks out, the staff will call me and to let me know the doctor is available today or tomorrow. Then I have to go through the process of telling them that I don't need to see the doctor today, I'm scheduling my follow up appointment, etc. Then they tell me they can't schedule me that far out and I will have to call back. Every. Single. Time. On top of that, they apparently have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy when it comes to why your visiting the doctor and how much time you will need allotted for your appointment. They don't want to know if you need a procedure done and need an hour with the doctor. They won't schedule you that way. Very efficient.

No. 1 annoying factor is that everything requires pre-approval with insurance. It doesn't matter if you know and the doctor knows you have full coverage. Need a blood test? Come back in a few days once we have insurance approval. Need an ultrasound? Come back in a few days once we have insurance approval. Every. Single. Time. 

Thus their "system" requires me to visit the doctor's office frequently and therefore location is key. Until recently, I was able to drive a measly 5 minutes to see my doctor. Last week I found out (only by chance) that my doctor is leaving to go to another location and they will not be replacing her. So there is no OB at my neighborhood clinic now. Seriously?!

Both Ram and I were hearing great things about this doctor at City Hospital so I called to find out when I could see her. The next available appointment is in September. No scratch that, there is a waiting list for appointments beginning in September. SEPTEMBER. I knew she was popular, but damn. Since I want to deliver at City Hospital, I needed to find a doctor that also delivers there because I heard that Dr. Good can pick up your file from any stage of your pregnancy and go forward. So the closest doctor is now a 30 minute drive one-way (without traffic). I met her earlier this week and she is nice and competent (more so than my first doc), so I guess I should feel relieved. I do hope I get in with Dr. Good though sooner vs. later. I plan to call each month to see where I am on that damn waiting list!

Baby Aiyer Week 13

This is the last week of my first trimester! I've completed 12 weeks and now entering my 13th. Weird how the first trimester is longer than 3 months.... 

Thankfully I have not been plagued by morning sickness or nausea for a majority of the last 12 weeks. I have noticed that this week brushing my teeth induces a 5 minute gagging session, which can get ugly. That plus some foot pain but otherwise I feel normal! Funny how this peach-sized baby can inflict so much on the mother at this stage. 

I haven't had cravings as such to this point or food aversions.  Mainly certain foods just taste really good, like peanut butter and oranges.  Mmm. One morning I made Ram squeeze fresh orange juice using our hand held "juicer." It took 6 large oranges to make 3/4 cup but it was delish! (Ram thanked me later for the arm workout.) Aside from that, I've been a perfect angel. No crying, tantrums or meltdowns of any sort. And y'all know I can cry at the drop of a hat...well okay, I'm lying. I cried when I heard the baby's heart beat. But that was a happy cry...

In other news, I found out that I have to find a new doctor. I will no longer be able to drive 5 minutes to see my doctor. The second closest clinic is 30 minutes away one way. I know for Houstonians that's nothing but trust me when I say it's a pain. I'm on the waiting list for the best doctor here, her first opening is in September, yippee! Until then, the search continues...

I'm starting to show a little but at this point it's more of a food bump than a baby bump. (By the end of the day, I look like I'm having twins, lol):

Oh and check out those pants! So I went to Old Town Dubai yesterday near the Creek and checked out some Souks. All the stalls were selling these linen pants with stretchy waist bands. After passing by at least 5 stalls, I finally stopped and had to check them out. I ended up buying 4 pairs and they are seriously THE.BEST.PREGNANCY.PANTS.EVER. 

We take a hospital tour this weekend, so will be filling you guys in on the details next week. Oh boy do I have plenty to say about the healthcare system here!!! 

Babymoon

Who ever came up with the concept of a babymoon is a genius! Once we found out we were pregnant, we knew our next vacation had to be special.  Afterall, this will be our last adventure for a looooong time...wait, that means no Australia or New Zealand for another few years, crap!

With our no. 1 destination out of the question, Ram suggested the Maldives for some R&R, which I promptly shut down. I'm not hating on the Maldives, it's gorgeous and heavenly. But I shot it down for two reasons. Firstly, Dubai is warm and we have a pool, so there's plenty of R&R going on for this housewife. Secondly, I feel as though the Maldives is a baby friendly vacation spot. (As if planning a vacay isn't hard enough, now we have to make distinctions based upon places that are baby-friendly.) Even our friends, Asif & Dima, were saying the same about the Maldives. So we're planning on all going there with our bebe's in tow sometime next year.

Next suggestion was Greece, then southern Italy, then Switzerland. We kept going back and forth, back and forth. It sucks that now flights are a minimum of 5 hours to get anywhere. I'm used to hopping on a plane from Scotland and getting to our destination in 2-3 hours. Finally we decided to leave Europe alone and explore the far east instead.

Now I had to decide how long I could be on a plane comfortably. I decided 7 hours was my limit. So our 12 day babymoon will be spent in Kuala Lumpur, Bali, and Singapore! I'm so excited about this trip and esp about the food- it's going to be pregnancy heaven! Ram said that will be the extent of my knowledge of the trip. He's going to plan all the details and make sure I get plenty of massages along the way. Do I have a great husband or what?  Can't wait for May 15th! 

Happy Anniversary!

We graduated from the so-called "terrible two's" and now have been successfully married for three years. I don't think there's ever been a dull moment since I married this man of my dreams. My life truly began at 30 when I became Ram's wife. And when Ram promised me a life full of adventure, he was not joking. Our life together is my happily ever after. Looking forward to this weekend to celebrate. Cheers!

Tuscany Villa, 2010

Honeymoon in Cabo:) 

33 on 3-30

Another golden birthday? I think so! Last year we landed in Aberdeen on my birthday. This year we're celebrating in Dubai, next year who knows?! I could get used to this:)

My sister left for NYC early on my birthday morning, so after wishing her safe travels, Ram and I promptly went back to sleep for a few hours. Afterwards we had breakfast at good ole IHOP. Ram's gift to me was a shopping spree (he knows the way to my heart), so we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping. I had my eye on a few things but couldn't bring myself to pay more when I know it's less expensive in the US (am I a good wife or what?). But I did manage to snag this beauty:

So, according to Ram, I can pick up where I left off in the States when we go in July. Can't wait:) Now that we worked up our appetites, it was time for dinner. We went to a latin steakhouse called La Parrilla. This was our first steakhouse experience in Dubai and it was great. We had a beautiful view of the city while enjoying latin dancing between courses.

My handsome hubby:)

There was queso on the menu, so we had to order it. Wasn't quite what we hoped for but it was still good.

Argentinian Beef filet

Though I was missing our friends and family, Ram more than made up for it. Looks

like 33 is going to be a great year! 

Sister Fun

The past week has been so much fun and it went by way too fast. My sister arrived last Saturday afternoon. (Lucky for her, I got my own car a few days earlier). I allotted her 3 days of lounging and sleeping to get over her jet lag. Of course we had to have a game night one night:)

By Tuesday, we took the city by storm! First stop, Souk Madinat. We spent the day there shopping & perusing. My sister managed to find all of her souvenirs and gifts here on her first try. (I think I deserve a pat on the back). I also took her to one of our favorite spots to eat, Belgian Beer Cafe.

Chocolate made from Camel Milk! We tasted a spiced version which was NOT good. 

Tuesday night, we took her to our Golf Club to show her what Quiz Night is all about. Our friend Joe also joined us. Ram and I were SO excited to have more people on our team and we were sure that we would beat our past scores.  Unfortunately, four minds were not better than two. Joe is not allowed to join us for Quiz night again, lol.

Wednesday we hit up the world's biggest mall, Dubai Mall. We walked around and ate lunch at Ping Pong, a yummy dim sum place. Then we went to see the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.  The building is 800+ meters tall, which is almost double the size all of the other world's "tallest" buildings. It took 5 years to complete and is lotus-shaped. The building is part residential, has corporate offices & the rest is commercial. I would have loved to see a flat in this building but I could never live there, too much traffic. I did take away an interesting fact: they recycle the condensation from the A/C in the building which is enough to water the landscaping for the entire property. Pretty cool! We waited about half hour to go up to the 124th floor, but we were rewarded with 360 degree views of the city.

Wednesday night we went to Al Khayal (Arabic) restaurant at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. We've never been there before so we had no idea what to expect. Sure enough, we were in for a treat. They have a fixed menu that is priced per person and you get 6 appetizers, 4 mains, and 3 different assorted dessert plates. It was a feast that we were not prepared for! They also had a live band and belly dancer as the night's entertainment. We had plans to go to 360 bar afterwards which shows views of the city, but we were in a food coma and took our fat asses home after dinner.

This was just the beginning....

Random firework show during dinner

Thursday we decided to take it easy and pool hang during the day. At night, we met up with Joe and friends and ate dinner at Siddharta (Asian Fusion) and then went to Embassy bar afterwards.

Yummy drinks & great company

We couldn't let Shilpi leave Dubai without experiencing Friday Funday, so we took her to the Bubblicious Brunch at Safrron at the Atlantis Hotel & Resort. This hotel is insane. It's glamourous and reminds me of one of Steve Wynn's properties. The brunches here are on the level of Vegas buffets except they allow unlimited consumption of alcohol in a 4 hour time frame. The food options are also diverse: there's a sushi station, seafood section, chinese station, meat & cheese area, indian food & desserts galore. All that plus booze & a DJ = Friday Funday. After we stuffed & drank ourselves silly, we headed out to another popular after brunch spot, Barasti. There we soaked in the ocean views & smoked shisha till sundown.

Happy early birthday to me! 

Barasti

I still left a few things for Shilpi to see when she comes back until then, time to detox:) 

Taco Tuesday

Early in our marriage we established a tradition that we still follow 3 years later.  Every Tuesday was Taco Tuesday & Game night. We don't always have tacos, but it has to be mexican food. I recently saw a recipe for buffalo chicken enchiladas and I decided it would make its debut on Taco Tuesday.

The ingredients were simple enough, only I couldn't find red enchilada sauce here:( I did find red taco sauce, so I figured that would be a good enough substitution. So I made fresh flour tortillas, shredded the chicken, mixed the wing sauce & taco sauce, threw some cheese on there and BAM:

It looks good going into the oven doesn't it? Well that's where things went wrong. I guess it's my fault. I should have known the oven would do this to me. We have a gas oven, not the electric kind I'm used to. So when I've baked anything here, I watch the oven like a hawk because it cooks the food faster than the recipe calls for. I haven't burned anything to date, so I guess my number was up. I was so pumped about this dish, that I literally set it and forgot it.

After playing catch up with Ram in the living room for about 30 min, he asked me when dinner would be ready. I looked at the time and was like "oh crap." When I opened the oven door, the enchiladas stood before me baring third degree burns. (No picture was taken for obvious reasons).

So we attempted to eat what we could and then settled for cereal. After "dinner" we decided to skip quiz night at the golf club and stay home to play a game. We normally play Scrabble, but I thought why not play some UNO? I usually always beat Ram. And after the dinner fiasco, I wanted an ego boost. Well folks, let's just say it wasn't my night.

Anyway, that was a good wake up call because tomorrow Asif & Dima come over and I'll be making most of the meal from scratch, salad dressing and all:) Hopefully disaster doesn't strike again...