[MayC]

The rooms at Union are really spacious. They are bright and clean.. and the bathroom is shared between two.. so it's really, really nice.

I think you should call the Union to ask them about whether or not they allow babies to room in with the mothers.

I know that POW allows this. My baby was a preemie so she didn't room in with me. They had to keep her under observation. However three other mothers around me had their babies beside them - for both breastfeeding and bottle feeding. It was really good. Once, in the middle of the night, a baby was crying. The mother refused to wake up although she requested for her baby to be next to her so she could look after him. The nurse tried to wake her but she didn't want to wake up so the nurse fed and changed the baby for her (Note: the mother bottlefed).
Public wards CAN be crowded. You may share a section of a ward with 6-8 mothers but it wasn't bad for me. I had so much help. The lady beside me helped me out of bed when I needed to go to the toilet after my c-section. She herself did a c-section two days earlier. When I dropped my pen, the lady on the opposite bed picked it up for me. She was waiting to give birth.

I was in the hospital for a month and everyone was really helpful. The mothers who had complications, the nurses and the doctors... they all did their best to help. When I got really scared, my doctor offered to do an ultrasound for me when she finished her shift.

The treatment you get at the Union is definitely better...my gynae at the Union was actually my POW's doctor's senior a long time ago. So the doctors at the Union are also very skillful.

I think the difference is this...
For an uncomplicated birth, Union is better.
If you think you may need extra help or if you foresee problems, go to the Prince of Wales.