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Queen Mary and Husbands!

  1. #25
    MLBW Guest

    Just got to say one more thing--I don't think having to adjust your own bed during labor is exactly a bedside manner thing--some things a woman in extreme pain in labor should not be asked to do...I don't know if that happens at QMH, though. I kinda laugh because it's just about as plausible as asking patients to do their own injections and stuff. But, as most of the women here have said--they had pain meds--or full epidurals so maybe pain wasn't an issue at all--but if you're really doing natural childbirth and you happen to have a lot of pain I can imagine the situation described above by alibali would be complete hell. In order to get through a long natural birth you have to be able to relax and I don't think I could just relax being jabbed and not told why or being shuffled around and yelled at like I'm in a prison camp (my other friend who did give birth in the public hospital described it this way). But, then again as carang pointed out as well as alibali, it's an assembly line situation with staff stretched to the max so the likelihood that they would allow for a natural childbirth if it didn't fit with their tight schedule and expectations seems pretty dim. That's really too bad too. But, what can you say, right? You get what you pay for.


  2. #26
    Dink is offline Registered User
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    You get what you pay for, but some of us can't pay so just have to make the best of it! I am going to strictly not read this thread anymore since all the negativity is making me unecessarily stressed about something I have no choice over....

    Thanks for your positive story Nicole, it was v. kind of you to post and your baby looks gorgeous, can't wait to meet ours.


  3. #27
    Matty is offline Registered User
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    Dink - I hope you read this thread one more time.

    It's amazing that people can have such different experiences at the same hospital.
    I've had 2 public deliveries, and they were both positive.
    I had no drugs, and found the staff at QMH during labour to be wonderful. I admit that I didn't like one of the midwives during my 2nd birth at PWH, purely because she kept badgering me to sign a consent form for an episitomy.
    But, after I threw it across the room she got the message and was OK after that! ( by the way I didn't need one and I didn't tear).
    I did find it a bit more difficult comunicating with PWH staff, but had no such difficulty at QMH.

    I'm suprised at the way the showers and toilets are described, as I always found them to be clean.
    Maybe I was just lucky and managed to use them in the mornings after they'd been cleaned.

    As for emergency situations, I had an ectopic pregancy 2 years ago, and went to the Adventist emergency, as I didn't realise at the time what it was and our insurance covers everything but maternity.
    They were hopeless.
    Even though I was in excruciating pain they kept me waiting 2 hrs and then had the nerve to haggle over insurance.
    In the end I took myself to QMH where they were amazing.
    They had me triaged within 10 mins and treated it with the seriousness it deserved.
    My tube had ruptured and I was bleeding out, my blood pressure was 80/30.
    They scheduled me for emergency surgery and even waited for my husband to arrive to see me before I went in.
    The staff were so reassuring and nice in a very scary situation.

    As nice as it would have been to have a nicer room and a few more comforts, I have nothing but praise for the public system.


  4. #28
    HappyV is offline Registered User
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    I'll agree with some of the negatives, and a lot of the positives.
    QMH is the BEST health care in HK - in terms of surgical care, diagnosis, treatment and outcome. All the public hoispitals suffer the same disease which is lack of $$. Lack of staff. Grumpy nurses, lack of personal care.
    I do have to say that I have always found the maternity wards to be kept very clean (in over a dozen admissions). Half the problem is that you do tend to get passed from pillar to post, so no one really shows you around (ie where are th clean pyjamas? Where can I get snacks/milk/water? etc etc). Once you;'ve got the 'system' worked out, it gets easy to see what comes next.

    I think it's good to be prepared, informed and realistic. YOu can be all these things and still stay positive!!


  5. #29
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    nicolejoy is offline Registered User
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    Ask lots of questions - because they do forget to tell you stuff. They forgot to tell me to "chart" when the baby fed and pooped and wet and all that - and the chart was all in Chinese so I couldn't figure it out myself! But I was kinda proactive in asking lots of questions and I read my own charts (when the nurses weren't looking because someone told me that they sometimes didn't like you doing that) - and if I was unsure about anything, I would ask them. I also figured out who the "kind" nurses were and who the "grumpy" ones were. It seemed to me that the younger they were, the nicer they were - and the old ones were the really cranky ones... so I would try to ask the nice ones because they'd be more kind and friendly and all that. I also went through all the drawers in the bath room and just took a change of clothes if I felt like changing (no idea if I was meant to or not, but I went through 3 changes of clothes a day ;) ).

    There's the funniest sign in the bathroom there, it said "Please warp (sic) the maternity pad and put it into the rubbish bin with other rubbish" - it made me laugh every time I went in there ;) I even took a photo of it ;)


  6. #30
    MLBW Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Dink View Post
    You get what you pay for, but some of us can't pay so just have to make the best of it! I am going to strictly not read this thread anymore since all the negativity is making me unecessarily stressed about something I have no choice over....

    Thanks for your positive story Nicole, it was v. kind of you to post and your baby looks gorgeous, can't wait to meet ours.
    Just wanted to say we didn't have insurance either but we found another way around it.

  7. #31
    MLBW Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Matty View Post
    Dink - I hope you read this thread one more time.

    It's amazing that people can have such different experiences at the same hospital.
    I've had 2 public deliveries, and they were both positive.
    I had no drugs, and found the staff at QMH during labour to be wonderful. I admit that I didn't like one of the midwives during my 2nd birth at PWH, purely because she kept badgering me to sign a consent form for an episitomy.
    But, after I threw it across the room she got the message and was OK after that! ( by the way I didn't need one and I didn't tear).
    Hi Matty, I think it's wonderful that you were able to give birth without drugs in the public system but I also know from what you have written previously that your birth was quite remarkable in the fact that you were able to stay at home for so long before going to the hospital and that your labor was not extremely long. And that you didn't tear--well, that is wonderful too! I think that if your labor goes really smoothly in general (relatively quickly--not 2 days long) it may be easier to fit in with the public system. And good for you for "getting your point across"--I would probably throw things too if I was in your situation. :0)

  8. #32
    Matty is offline Registered User
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    MLBW- I know that I laboured at home for the early parts of my labour, which definatley eliminated a lot of inconvienience. But at the end of the day, I've still given birth to 2 babies in the HK public system. I feel that it is very helpful to other women who may be concerned about doing so, to know that generally that their experiences won't necessarily be negative.

    I know that you chose to return to your home country to give birth, rather than deliver here, but that wasn't an option for me, nor is it for many others.
    I'm not really sure what it is you gain by being negative about something that you haven't experienced for yourself.


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