Torn between giving birth in Los Angeles or Mexico City — advice on prenatal, birth, and postpartum care?

Posted by Far_Tough_8869@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 18 comments

Hi everyone, I’d love some input from people who’ve experienced pregnancy, birth, or postpartum either in the U.S. (especially LA) or Mexico City.

A bit about me and my situation: • I’m Swedish, married to an American, and we both have permanent residency in Mexico.

• I also have a U.S. Green Card and Kaiser Permanente insurance.

• We split our time between Mexico City and California, and I’m trying to decide where to give birth and spend the postpartum period.

• We’d likely stay on the East Side of LA (Pasadena area) if we choose the U.S. • I work remotely as an independent contractor (around $125K/year) — so no formal maternity benefits, but I do have the flexibility to take 3–4 months off and ease back in slowly.

• My husband isn’t currently working, as he’s focused on recovering from burnout and depression.

• We have a beloved dog and are frequent campers and nature lovers — one of the main things we love about California.

Here’s what I’m weighing: • Los Angeles (Pasadena area): Close to family and access to great medical care through Kaiser. I’d feel more confident about emergency care, birth options, and long-term pediatric follow-up. But postpartum help (doulas, night nurses, etc.) is expensive, and the overall cost of living is high. Amazing nature which we would really take advantage of on the weekends once we have a little more routine.

• Mexico City: We already have a home and community here, and private care is high-quality and very affordable. There’s also easy access to postpartum and household support (nannies, cleaning, etc.) which would make recovery easier. It’s walkable and lively — but the air pollution worries me, especially with a newborn.

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has: • Given birth or done postpartum in either LA or Mexico City • Dealt with Kaiser during pregnancy • Navigated cross-border prenatal or postpartum care • Balanced cost, emotional support, and medical safety in a similar situation

What would you do — stay in Mexico City for the affordability and built-in support, or return to LA for the medical infrastructure and family connection? Any personal experiences, advice, or reflections are super welcome ❤️

[-]

biotechconundrum@reddit

I gave birth at a Kaiser hospital in California (Oakland). It was on the surface a pretty luxurious experience with your own huge birthing room and private room postpartum, but I experienced borderline malpractice and I think I ended up much worse off than I should have been and it was a literal nightmare for 2 weeks postpartum. They didn't even have a functional wearable monitor for me and I had to lay down the whole time. Then just a huge series of other things gone wrong. I requested my medical record afterwards and it was WILD what they left out. It was like my entire experience there never happened. Huge sections were blacked out redacted. Anyway my daughter was ok and they prioritized her, me not so much. Postpartum care was 1/10. Really not good, had to haul myself in multiple times per week completely neglected with a spinal headache. They refused me any home visits.

Not knowing how it is in Mexico City, I can't give you any comparison however. I just imagine you can get care as good as you can pay for?

FWIW I experienced the worst imaginable air quality with my newborn btw in California because we had a huge stagnant smoke event from the Camp Fire during almost the entire last month of my maternity leave (the day I went back to work from leave was still smokey and I had to leave early gasping for air). I was unprepared for it as it flared up my asthma like nothing else, and once you needed the air purifiers, nothing was available anywhere. In desperation I had to send my husband out in the thick smoke where he found a single HEPA furnace filter left at Target and a box fan at Home Depot and we made our own purifier and taped over all our windows. I was coughing for a year straight after that and had to get all kinds of tests. Pasadena was literally on fire in January this year. No idea what time of year you'll be in CA but just something to keep in mind. It looked like the apocalypse and did not help my already poor mental health postpartum.

Firm_Speed_44@reddit

I had traveled to Sweden. In 2017, there were 4 deaths per 100,000 births in Sweden, 28 in the US and 35 in Mexico according to the UN.

Mother and child surviving childbirth must be number 1 when you have the opportunity.

reddituser84@reddit

You need to look at this data by state, not just country. Poor healthcare in the Southwest US brings the national statistics down a lot. The number in California is closer to 10 or below.

Conscious-Tutor3861@reddit

This is the most logical answer.

mintjulep_@reddit

I second Sweden…I would never raise a kid in the US. Mexico maybe but no. Europe = better overall imo

-I’m Swiss but also childfree

Agreed, safety and security first.

FantasticalRose@reddit

Air pollution has been shown to have far more risks than we previously thought. Maybe have a really good HIPPA filter running at all times around the baby

Megaminisima@reddit

Can the CA family come and visit in MX easily?

dragu12345@reddit

I’ve had a couple surgeries in Mexico city and It was 100% better than any hospital in the USA. I chose a private hospital which still cost 10% of what they would have charged me here. The medical personnel was downright loving in Mexico, the difference in culture is palpable when you receive care from nurses there. The hospital was every bit as well equipped as an American hospital and the doctors well trained. I would choose CDMX girl.

cathline@reddit

Have your child in pasadena. That should give your child USA citizenship. Plus, you have family nearby.

After the baby is born, you can spend postpartum in Mexico if you want. Having the nannies is helpful, and maybe you can start the paperwork to have them come to the US with you when you need to relocate to the US.

kitanokikori@reddit

Parent is American, location doesn't matter for citizenship

L6b1@reddit

It does as only one parent is American and they need to have meet the residency requirements for transmission of citizenship, but if' they've got family in Pasadena and split time there and MXD, they likely have met that requirement.

True, though I assumed from OPs description of their partner as "American" that they did not have any other citizenships => they meet the requirements

To transmit if you don't meet the residency requirements is only possible if baby would be left stateless. In this instance, the baby would be eligible for Swedish citizenship and, if born in Mexico, would automatically be a Mexican citizen. Thus, US citizenship would NOT be transmitted by the partner if they do not meet the residency requirements.

Milacat57@reddit

Im a US citizen who had a c-section with my third in Mexico City about two years ago. We knew we were staying in Mexico for a while and did not have plans to travel out of Mexico for at least a year so it wasn’t an issue for us, but be sure you meet the requirements to take your newborn out of the country and the timeline it would take, if any first (as you say you frequent back and forth from US to Mexico). Just because you are the mother, countries have their own laws of taking a newborn out of the country, and Mexico had their own set of rules. Keep in mind also (and you might already know) that it can be very difficult to get straight answers regarding specifics as websites or contacting hospitals/immigration/laws are usually insufficient, vague, or not up to date. It also took about a month and a half to get the birth certificate for us. If you do qualify to take your newborn out of the country, I believe at the very least you have to have the birth certificate to leave Mexico. In the US, the hospital files the birth certificate paperwork to obtain the birth certificate, where in Mexico you have to do it yourself through the proper channels. We hired someone to do it for us which went smoothly, but again, something else to consider you will have to do in a foreign country right after having a child.

As far as the elevation, it definitely affected our now 2 year old. He does have asthma, and now looking back if we could have done a do over but still chose Mexico to have our baby, we would’ve picked a lower altitude location to have our kid.

I can give more specifics and I’m happy to answer any more questions through private DM. Hope the information was helpful 🙂

If your partner meets the requirements to transmit USC to children born abroad, I would chose MXD, because a private clinic there is going to be far superior to anything at Kaiser. A good idea is to compare emergency C-section and intervention rates between where you'd give birth in Pasadena and in MXD. You can also see which place is pushing things like inductions.

The post partum support in Mexican culture and what can be gotten re-nannies, night nurses, housekeepers, prepared meals, is fantastic and significantly cheaper than in the US. On 125k you can afford all the support in MXD, which you just can't in the US.

If baby is born in Mexico, kiddo will have triple citizenship.

Simco_@reddit

Consider your altitude acclimation and associated risks.

nurseynurseygander@reddit

No experience of either system's medical care, but it sounds to me like the sweet spot might be to give birth in CA for extra safety in case of complicated delivery, then return to Mexico ASAP for practical support if you have an uncomplicated delivery. As a fiftysomething who has given birth and been witness to many others, I can assure you that after simple deliveries, women and babies are much, much more resilient and capable of travelling safely than present day "omg don't let the baby near people/mothers have just had their bodies ripped apart, treat them like glass for a few months" discourse would have you believe.