₦airaland Forum

yabilalz: Many thanks mamacajah.

Much appreciated, I have sent emails to many hoospitals of California - so far no luck.

Anyway, What other options do I have If I go with my wife only - How long minimum husband should stay with wife before delivery and after in case if I shortlist doctorsparati.

Many thanks

Hi, could you do any other counties apart from the Citrus Height Area?
you could check nearby counties. Cos my baby was born in a nearby county from the county I was staying in. California is not that expensive if you do your research well. I would have suggested mine at Pomona Valley but thats like 6hrs driving. Just take your time and use google. Then go to their websites and get info then follow up with an email.
Good luck sha. I'm sure with patience you'd get something good.

nefertitiram: Dear All,
I wish I could post a POE story, but I developed severe complications on the day I was to leave for US. I am sure my friend @dinawe who we were supposed to travel together must have been confounded by my disappearance at the airport.
I started bleeding a few hours to my flight, and was rushed to a hosp. I had lost so much blood so they had to carry out an emergency surgery to save my life.
My babies were born at 27 weeks and are currently in an incubator. I am in recovery as well.
In all things I can only give thanks to God, things could have been much worse if I had gotten on that flight.
@dinawe, please reach out to me when you arrive phoenix. This is why I didn't show up for our flight, but I and the babies are safe and sound.

To God be the glory. Thank God for your life and the babies. It was God's doing that it didn't happen when you were on the flight. That would have been a real complication. Do take care and relax. God is in charge!

oawele: lol Singapore..... all join! .....lol

Anyways, these are some of the hospital i checked before i decided on MIHS for very obvious reasons.

Best way to research. Pick the are where you have family or where is preferrable to and then...GOOGLE! All these hospitals have websights and you can at least see the visuals and have an idea of price. Then you can now call them or email for better insights

trav: Hello House,

Please does anybody have any experience or information about processing Nigerian visa in the UK. Our baby's US passport just came out and we have less than a week to spend in the US before leaving so processing a Nigerian visa or passport in the US is not working for me. We plan to spend a few days in the UK before returning to Nigeria so I think I should just process the visa at the Nigerian High Commission in London. The problem is I am not getting much information from the High Commissions website and they are also not picking calls.

I will appreciate any advise or information regarding how to go about processing a Nigerian visa for our daughter at the Nigerian High Commission in the UK.

Thanks all

Its not a visa you would be requiring. Try and get what is called an emergency travel permit (or called something along those lines). You should get that from the UK. Allows your baby to enter Nigeria. After he/she returns u can then do a Niaja passport

justwise: I have an active life outside nairaland, I may be logged in here 24/7 but at the same time I'm not 'here'

Hahahahahahahaha......I like that statement....Logged in but not here. The guy no be wintchi o! But e dey try sha. Kudos to u.
I'm pretty sure it ain't easy moderating a forum as intense like this...cos this is something we are all passionate about. Our families.

bloggerina: Hello,

I flew BA and they really dont care about whether your baby has naija or us passport etc, that your own responsibility. Infant ticket will be charged at 10% of mother's fare plus some extra orisirisi so basically, your baby's ticket will be N50,000 plus or minus. The infant ticket rides on yours so you wont even get any miles/avios for it. Its a one-way ticket because you would have already used one leg of your ticket for departure from naija, its only coming back home that would be the active leg of your ticket as at the time you are booking for your baby. No seat for the baby though, you go lap your pikin but they'll also give you a bassinet for your baby on the flight. For the infant ticket you also get 23kg (one suitcase) for your baby + baby bag + car seat + stroller. EXPO: thers no weight or liquid restriction for you baby bag so you go take style pack am full. lol

pls I'm speaking for BA only o, I dont know about other airlines coz I only fly BA. Although, I think I read somewhere that Qatar or smth charges 20% for infant ticket. pls crosscheck sha

hope my explanation is clear.

It is quite clear. Thanks a lot and God bless you.......especially for the info. Lol

GenoMI: Please all new mommas in the house, will you be shipping baby items like food and diapers back to Nigeria?

If so, please what quantities should one be looking at? For example, how does one know how many packs of diapers to get and also what sizes? PLEASE HELP OO!! I'm confused.

Depends on your baby and how much you can afford to buy and ship.
An average baby uses like 10-12 diapers when they are newborn (so for that buy newborn sizes).
The older they get the lesser number they would use. But a rule of thumb is 10-12 a day in the first 2 months and 8/day in the next 3 to 5 months.
But it depends on the baby and if the baby is fed breast milk or formula. Breast milk means more diaper changes. Lol

When in doubt go to WhatToExpect.com they have a lot of useful insights. I recommend the site for all new moms

Phema: Eeerrrmmmm, are you very sure about this? I thought one will have to pick her bags at the POE, not necessarily one's last destination. So, if Atlanta is the POE of that airline, you will have to pick your bags and check in again to get to your final destination. Remember its at the POE your bags are scrutinised for foodstuff and other things before getting stamped in.

which airline did you go with?

What I meant is this. If you booked a BA flight for example and your destination is California for example. You could have a POE at another city and you land there and enter another airline like American Airlines (a BA partner). If you recall you paid for for a flight straight to California. The airline BAis responsible for getting your bag to its final destination not you.
So unless things have changed this is how it works. It might defer for airlines o!. This na BA I dey talk about.

After all when u fly Ba or Air France etc do u collect your bags at heathrow or paris airports to recheck in?
My thoughts sha. Someone might know better.

mamacajah: Hello all, good morning. Please i need clarity from those whose POE was atlanta. I want to know if you had to pick up your luggage at Atlanta and check it in again for the next leg. Thanks for your response.

If you bought your ticket all the way through with one airline you dont need to do that cos the airline will route it all the way. However if you made seperate arrangement like buying a seperate ticket from another airline, you will need to pick up your bags and head over to the counter of the other airline to check it in

titibaby: Hi Phema. I flew BA to USA when I was going to have my baby. Soso is right about the POE & cost of your baby's ticket. However I believe it depends on the documentation you have for the baby. Remember that if you use a Nigerian visa, nothing identifies the baby as a Nigerian citizen hence the airlines might require a return ticket for the baby. I have never heard of BA providing accomodation for a long layover. The best i have ever heard is people going through immigration to sleep in a hotel at their own costs. But really this is best clarified with the airline.

NB. I used an emergency travel certificate because for sentimental reasons I didn't want a visa.

Quick Question: Are you saying that if the child has a US passport and a Nigerian Visa on it that the child has to buy a return ticket? When I bought mine all I did was add an infant to the ticket which was about 10% of the ticket. Is this your statement perculiar to certain airlines or all? This issue is always casuing confusion and no one has been able to answer it fully.
Please mothers in the house that have travelled back with their infants...what did you do and with which airline? Thanks

Phema: Thanks Debrixxy! How was Delta on your return leg? How much did you pay for an infant? How many stopovers did they have?

Infant fare is usually 10% of the fare that the mum paid. I believe its standard across all airlines

debrixxy: Please can you help me with more details on how to expedite your baby's Birth certificate, Passport and Nigerian Visa.

Thanks

Well to expidite the baby's birth certificate all you need to do is tell the county clerk that comes to take the baby's details at birth that you wanted it expidited and she/he would tell u how much to pay for that service.

For the passport, you have to show proof that you require the passport urgently as you are applying for a visa with it and also show that you are travellimg soon. The time varies from state to state. I know that in LA you can get it with 48 hours (at the LA county office). Show evidence of travelling soon and visa being needed and then you pay. You can google and check for the State you are in then call them cos sometimes the details (in respect of timing) are not up to date.

The Nigerian Visa one would have to be through an agent. Unfortunately I've lost the number (I got it here a while back...hope its not amongst the missing pages).
Abeg if anyone in the house has it pls share o! @Justwise....hope that wouldn't be a violation cos this one no dey google o! Lol

beginningathome: It could take a little while to get your birth certificate. Sometimes 4 weeks, sometimes 8 weeks. Expect about that long. It's not really possible to hurry along the birth certificates, they kinda work on their own time frame.

Actually it doesnt take that long to get the birth cert. Usually an official would come to the hospital and give you the neccessary documents to fill and if u pay for expedited you'd get it in like 8 working days and if not you'd get it in like 15 working days. Passport works the same way, pay for expedited and you'd get it within 2 working days to 8 working days. Next in Naija visa. This would take approximately 2 weeks using an agent. If you are in Atlanta or New York it would be faster.

With expediting everything, within 4 weeks after birth you can be back in Naija

beautyx5: Hello House,

I am considering flying British Airways @35 weeks to el-paso. Can someone share any experiences they have with flying BA whilst pregnant? Especially travelling that late in the pregnancy.

Also apart from the fit to fly document, do I need a valid UK visa or some transit visa of some sort to enable me fly BA?

Thank you for all your help so far. God bless you all!

BA is a good n realiable...layover in the UK is short. You don't need a UK transit visa as you wouldn't even be stepping out of the terminal.
Good luck and all the best

P0rtHarc0urtB0y: With our hearts filled with joy and our mouths filled wth laughter,we give God all the glory for the arrival of our new bouncing baby boy last night @ El Paso, Texas. United States of America.


Speial thanks to @ Miri7b5N for staying with my wife during labor....may the good God always rise to your occassion.....i'm very grateful....i'd ve suffered cardiac arrest yesterday if not for your updates......thanks! thanks!! and thanks!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! God bless your little one and the rest of your family!

trav: Please I will appreciate needed info on how to go about signing the consent letter at the USA embassy. Does it require any payments and what time do they attend to people? Thanks

Just go to the US embassy site (google for the exact link) book an appointment and head over there. If it is to notorize the letter of consent its free but if its other documents i belive its $50 payable in $ or naira equivalent. Make sure you go along with a copy of your passport datapage. Fill the form but do not sign it! This you will do infront of the consular official.

Varvara: Hello, guy!

If I apply alone for baby usa passport, I have to bring that form DS3053 from the father, I know that form has to be notarized in the same date of father signature. So could father notarize it with any notary in my country or just in USA Embassy?

Thank you

I guess any respectable notary would do but to be on the safe side use the US embassy...whole process takes like 15mins max

naijamumcarephx: The DS 3053 - Parental Consent Form for American passport application. I've seen too many mums have heartaches over this form because of mistakes with the dates.
Pls tell the father of the baby to take a moment to check ALL THE DATES are correctly filled while he is still with the notary to avoid costly couriers payment.

an addition: They should not sign it before taking it to the American Embassy. The form is to be signed in front of the notary. Its written boldly there but people still make that mistake and have to repeat the process all over again.

skinydudu: Hello everyone, pls who knows d cost of giving birth in Los Angeles, California?

Approx. $7k varginal and $10k c-section. (includes epidural etc). There are a few lower and a few higher. This is an average

sweetcheecks: @ bolded, you guys have no dignity whatsoever, you would lie at drop of a hat. Where is the documantation you talking about? You keep on interviewing people and them telling stories by moonlight and you call that documented? Hopeless people!

Now now...this is the kind of stuff that gets us nowhere...I can see you are still in the fighting mood...we can all keep going at this forever and it wouldn't help anyone. When I speak of 'documented' I am refering to the media etc that talk about the help given by Nigeria to SA back then. A lot of other countries did so too. Like someone said earlier...SA people were sent money to fight the Boers, scholarships were given etc. It pales in the light of what countries like the Soviet Union did by sending actual fighters but it was something. As for talking about dignity, you should have some and not resort to saying it was a lie. Even your people on this thread admit it...all they are saying is that it doesn't give Nigerians the right to be making noise about it the way we do. I agree with that opinion cos we someone is helping someone u don't expect something in return.
Like I said before, even though its been fun arguing etc this is getting out of hand. We should expend our energy ensuring that our countries develop and step up on the world stage. I would be the first to admit that Nigeria has a long way to go but then none of are there. We should channel our energies like these first world countries do in developing their countries.
We Africans are the cradle of civilization yet we are lagging behind the Europeans.
Thats why I admire Nkuruma a lot, he knew that for Africa to be great we have to join hands together and build the continent.

I do know we are all passionate about our countries and would defend it with words(insults?) but thats not good...lets encourage one another.
We are all brothers and sisters ( and even siblings do fight) but we must remember..the enemy is not us...its them out there. Those that see Africa as the 'dark continent'.
So sweetcheeks my dear lets all sheath our swords. I do understand how riled up you must be seeing the insults etc directed at you and your country...sorry about that.
And my fellow Nigerians- E DON DO O!!! Its enough! Lets show the world that we are nice people too! and I do know that not everyone hates us! I've got friends from SA, Kenya, Uganada and a very good friend from Tanzania (none from Botswana sha...maybe BlueIvy would become one. Lol)

take care peeps

BluIvy: You have time dear, let the phools speak on things they know nothing and make themselves experts on them. They are showing their ignorance.

Lol. BlueIvy...must you spew hate with every comment you make? @Moratiwa obviously knows what he is talking about and feels that his earlier explanation was not that clear hence he made it clearer...more kudos to him.
I believe you made the inital statement of Mugabe arresting Mbeki in Swaziland. The way you portrayed it was that Mugabe had the power to arrest Mbeki INSIDE Swaziland, hence the whole argument about the borders of Swaziland.
Anyways enough of this...@Moratiwa has kindly explained how stuff like that can com about.

zaandrew: Just like to point a few things out here.
1 nigeria helping the anti aparthied movement was probaly pay back for SA helping bifar. SA sent wepaons, ammo, medical supplies and fuel. There where even south african speciol forces(we actually formed our speciol forces just to send a training team to bifar techncaly they where not yet speciol forces even since they left before forming it) in bifar to train them on these wepaons. This AID carrired on right up and till bifar lost(SA knew they had no hope in winning but hellped in any case) the SA solders left while the runway was being shelled. So it make sense nigeria would hold a grudge

2 the support given by nigeria was very littel. The mony provided was a drop in the ocoen compared to what the USSR gave and no nigerian solders died fighting south africa unlike Cuba and USSR who lost thousands. The USSR spent more money fighting SA than fighting afghanstan.

3 aparthied ended only once western goverments(america, europe, extra) put pressure. If they did not put pressure aparthied would still be strong and while right now.

4 nambia presdiant spoke because of 2 resoans 1 he chairs SADC and 2 SWAPO was a strong ally of the ANC. Raul castro spoke because mandela and fiddel castro where close freinds if gaddafie was alive he would have been allowed to speak. America spoke because they america and still the only supper power then brazil, china and india are parts of brics.

Thanks for the info. I like the way you CLEARLY spelt it out and it made a lot of logical sense. This is the way things should be explained. You are obviously an educated and exposed South African that understands African/Black unity. Some people both NIGERIANS and SOUTH AFRICANS took this too far and once national pride is at stake everyone throws decorum to the winds. The person that started this thread was probably curious given the much documented history of help that Nigeria gave SA. The whole thing now degenerated into a fight...Nigeria vs SA (with external fighters like the Kenyans and Bots peeps that weren't even invited into the fight making inputs...Lol).

This has gone far enough. Lets sheath our swords (If i said hurtful stuff I'm sorry...it was a good fun fight though...hahahahaha). So pleae please, lets look towards developing our respective countries. I am sure we don't like the bad stuff some of our people do to spoil our countries so lets channel all this energy into stopping it.
As someone pointed out..the whities aka europeans don't fight like this...they direct their energy into developing themselves or fighting us. Lets learn to do the same!

have a great day peeps!

Moratiwa: Swaziland is bordered by South Africa on three sides,north, south and west and the eastern part is Mozambique.

Dude that your map is faulty. There was and is no way to get into Swaziland without passing through South African airspace and if you read Blue Ivy's statement...Mugabe wanted to arrest Mbeki IN SWAZILAND...How is that possible? These Bots should try and be better informed. As for BCraig...I've got to grudgingly give him respect...he is witty and sacarstic in a way I like...just don't like his attack on my beloved country- Nigeria. As for sweetcheeks...she is loving a Nigerian brother and yet attacking his country..hope she knows if she marries him that she's nigerian.
Issue is this folks...It was a South African affair, they allowed to invite whoever they please (See the wahala about inviting Desmond Tutu caused...all because he was being honest about Zuma and his corupption).
As for the mud slinging up and down..the SA people are trying to defend their ego while the Nigerians are doing the same.

So unless this thread IS SHUT down, this would continue to infinity.

One more thing, these South Africans, Kenyans etc that are on this forum...what r u doing here? Name of the forum is Naira land not Randland...go to your own forum jor! This is a naija peeps forum and we are allowed to talk to each other as we like but we WILL NOT accept that from outsiders!!
We know our leaders messed up and r still doing it but we allowed to abuse them....you non-nigerians on the other hand are NOT allowed to.
...and like someone said...despite our short comings, the average Nigerian is far far better than the average blek south african or kenyan!
Case closed!!

BluIvy: Really tell these people, they are starting to irritate the heck outa me. You turn this side "SA not greatful, payback time, we liberated them, we sent them clothes and food, we trained their MK, We sent soldiers" what nonsense is that. When other people died on the frontline. I think their problem is they dont document thing but tell stories and stories get exergarated from.one person to other, then they choose to believe that. Batung!

To show that they are talking from misinformation they will start including Zimbabwe and Somalia to have helped SA when both these countries decided to work with the apartheid regime when Botswana, Swaziland and Mozambique were on the reciving end, getting bombed left, right and centre.

Where were they when Mugabe arrested Thabo Mbeki when Mbeki tried to slip into Swaziland for a meet up with his comrades? It took that old man Kenneth Kaunda to go beg Mugabe not to give Mbeki over to the SA goverment but him over to him( Zambia)

BlueIvy...quick question....what is Mugabe doing in Swaziland arresting Mbeki? Was he now ruling Swaziland then? please get your geography right. Swaziland is an independent country not an annex of Zim.....I know...I'm Swazi born.

Hmmm....I wonder how she got her share of a certain marginal oil filed which was auctioned in the 2001 bidding round. Am I to assume she could afford it then or that the name 'Obasanjo' did not pave the way.
Anyways they should stop washing their dirty linen in public. We all know what Obasanjo is like. She doesn't need to tell us. She might not be as bad as him but she did benefit from him...in fact more than any of his other children...all of a sudden she is playing the saint. She should explain how she got some of the 'things' she owns.
Iyabo, Abegi....we get more serious problems to think about than your letter....for instance we are wondering how we go buy rice for market for this xmas and how much kpomo go cost. Lol. Leave us be.

worry 359: First go to this section and both of you read from begining to end.
https://www.nairaland.com/617280/give-birth-usa-cost-procedure.

Then
Pick City, Hospital, Doctor.
Contact them and get prices,
Book birth appointment,
Get funds for Travel, accomodation, hospital bills + emergency extra funds.
Book appointment for Visa.
Be HONEST with V.O. Show paperwork and funds avaliable.
When you travel have everything ready to show at Point of Entry.

Thanks a lot. I appreciate.

dsaynt: Hallo vicjustice,
A big kudos for this forum...and most importantly for your awesome advice to peopel. Please my issue is this: I intend for my wife to deliver our child in the US around summer. These are the circumstances:
I work for a multinational as a junior mgr there. Annual salary is N9m. Monthly take home is N300k after tax and other deductions. Our joint account reads roughly N1m. My personal account reads N500k. My other account (salary account should read about N2m by Jan when the company pays me my housing). My wife works as junior staff at a multinational company too with about N4m per annum. She has about N400k in her account. My mother had borrowed N3m from me which she is to pay back by Januay ending.
I would like to apply for a US visa in Feb. What do you think are my chances and how do I boost my chances. Also we don't intend to lie if asked if she was pregnant(following your advice on not lying).
In your opinion, what are my chances, how do I boost them, will my bank statements/funds be enough? your help is really needed .
Thanks in advance.

Please other Nairalanders with their advice would be appreciated, Thanks all.

Guys please I'm still waiting for answer. Thanks

Hallo vicjustice,
A big kudos for this forum...and most importantly for your awesome advice to peopel. Please my issue is this: I intend for my wife to deliver our child in the US around summer. These are the circumstances:
I work for a multinational as a junior mgr there. Annual salary is N9m. Monthly take home is N300k after tax and other deductions. Our joint account reads roughly N1m. My personal account reads N500k. My other account (salary account should read about N2m by Jan when the company pays me my housing). My wife works as junior staff at a multinational company too with about N4m per annum. She has about N400k in her account. My mother had borrowed N3m from me which she is to pay back by Januay ending.
I would like to apply for a US visa in Feb. What do you think are my chances and how do I boost my chances. Also we don't intend to lie if asked if she was pregnant(following your advice on not lying).
In your opinion, what are my chances, how do I boost them, will my bank statements/funds be enough? your help is really needed .
Thanks in advance.

Please other Nairalanders with their advice would be appreciated, Thanks all.

Wow! Its like Nairalanders have made the GTB bank people take note. They have pulled down the new ebsite and restored the old one. I had tried several times this morning to log into the new one ...not only is it slow when I put in my password it would just hang there.
Now that the old one is back I was able to log in.
I gues they are fixing it or have gone to redo it (I hope they redo it and make it fater with better/new features

dasparrow: @Bolded

Forget that thing and give your fellow women a break Jade William. Is it not the African culture that says that the man should be the provider while the woman takes care of the domestic work while at the same time turning herself into a baby breeding machine? So why are you complaining when the woman allows the man who is her husband to pay all the bills? How many Nigerian-bred husbands support their wives by helping them with domestic work in the home and actively assist the wife with the rearing of the children? Very few. It is no wonder that Nigerian society is now crawling with paedophiles, r8pists, cultists, kidnappers and the likes. It is because Nigerian-bred fathers have abandoned their child rearing roles to their wives and we are seeing the outcome now. A society filled with adult males who molest every female in sight irrespective of how young or old she is.

I agree with your insight on the way kids turn out cos their fathers have not been responsible but on your other points note this
-The African context that you were referring to did not take into cognisnace that the woman would be working woman. If she is working then she is not the house wife that the saying envisioned so she should contribute o! The man should do the lionshare and the woman add small but the essence of the home is joint effort. The man should do a lot of child rearing/bonding activities too. If she is cooking he should be watching the kids/giving them bathes etc....shared effort. Thats the game.As for that contribution to the family purse......omo she suppose contribute o!

Oil & Gas local would be a tough one to guage as there are so many players there. Banking? hmmm....me thinks CitiBank, GTB, Zenith, FirstBank and StanBic ...in no particular order...or rather I don't know the order. Can some help out?