The Verran Family Blog

We belong to a medical aid, or medical insurance as many other people around the world call it. In South Africa, if you want quality health-care, going to a private hospital / practitioner is the way to go. But, this costs money and a lot of it and that is why belonging to a medical aid scheme is, so to say, a must, if you can afford it of course.

We belong to Discovery Health. Notably, one of the biggest medical aids in South Africa and I personally think, the most expensive too. I don’t want to go into how rough their monthly premiums are each month, but believe me, when you need them to work for you, gosh, those premiums are a huge godsend indeed. We have been very lucky with Discovery. Or should I rather say, fortunate enough that we hadn’t had the requirement for major surgeries and enduring endless days in hospital. They’ve paid for gore bladder stone removals, laparoscopies and so forth – nothing major at all.

But now, we are having a baby and that is where a medical aid really gets put to the test – with the upbringing of children and their endless ailments. Let the games begin!

We also belong to Vitality, which is Discovery Health’s loyalty program, where you can get discount flights, movies, etc, etc. Gosh, we get about R300 off our Kulula flights each year we fly up to Durban for Christmas. And if you register your birth with Discovery and you’re on Vitality, you’re in for a treat. Discovery Baby is their program for pregnant mothers-to-be. On Thursday, we handed in our form at Milnerton Mediclinic’s maternity ward and immediately after that, I was on the phone for hospital authorisation. That is also when they informed us that we now qualify for Discovry Baby.

I had to print out an e-mail they had sent to me which Bridgitte handed in at a Reggies close to us. She received a wonderful welcome pack with all sorts of goodies.

In the pack was:

• Book: What Nobody Tells a Father – Alan Hosking. My, my, looks like I have some reading to do indeed.
• Book: Mother and Baby – Johnson’s w/ Dr Carol Cooper
• Book: Expectant Mother’s Guide / Reverse side: Expectant Father’s Guide. My gosh, even more for me to read too.
• Baby book: Touch ‘n feel Little bunny. That has already found it way into the book rack in the nursery.
• CD: Raising Children Effectively by Sheryl Cohen – understanding your baby in the first year.
• CD: Majors your minors. Ag, no! Sounds like pan-flute music you hear in doctors rooms.
• DVD: Babies ‘R Us Baby Care – safety at home. Ah, now I see – to entice you to get the entire series. Is this on bittorrent anyone? hehehehe
• Sample: Johnson’s baby wash
• Sample: Breast pads
• Sample: Maternity sanitary towels
• Sample: Maternity underwear
• Sample: Baby bum cream
• Baby bottle. Bridgitte was happy that she now has her first baby bottle
• Baby on board sign to stick up in your car. Naaah, didn’t like this one. Too much advertising.
• Checklist for goodies you need when you go to hospital and in your nursery
• Voucher: Discount voucher for McLaren prams. Bridgitte didn’t like their prams, so I guess we are not going to use this one.
• Voucher: Discount voucher for a car seat. Oh yeah, we’ll use this one indeed.
• Voucher: 10% discount on Pampers nappies. There are about 4 vouchers with 26 each! Wow!
• And to top it off, a handy bag to carry it all in.

Not bad I must say. Plus, we have been subscribed to a pregnancy magazine until the birth as well as a baby magazine after the birth. Alrighty then!

So there you go. And also, now that we have registered at the hospital, we are going on a tour of the maturnity ward this coming weekend.