[Avi]

I'll be visiting the hospitals I will deliver in this weekend. Can anyone give me any insights, personal experiences, or things to be aware of for the following hospitals: Matilda, Adventist, and Hong Kong Sanatorium. Also I am also not sure whether i should get a private, semi-private, or general ward (4 beds).

[AC1234]

Hi Avi!

I am also thinking of doing the same thing in a couple of weeks. Would appreciate if you could post your experiences. Iam thinking of the same hospitals and neither am I sure about the room categories. However I was told before that the doctors charges would depend on the room type. That is the Doctors fee for a fully private would be much higher than a ward room.

Good luck

AC

[rani]

We have a few reviews of hospitals posted here:

http://www.geobaby.com/resources/Hon...als/index.html

We gave birth at the Adventist and the care was excellent!
Unfortunately we don't have any reviews of HK Sanatorium, but it is very popular with HK's affluent families.

[Avi]

Hi AC,

Will let you know about the hospitals after i've finished visiting them. I've booked for Matilda and they have tours every Sat and sun at 3:30pm. As for the other two hospitals you just have to call them before 2 hours of showing up. anyhow will keep you posted.

[Michelle KH]

I give birth at the HK Sanatorium back in March and the after care is excellent. All the nurses are very friendly and helpful and they do encourge breastfeeding. They actually asked you whether you will breastfeed or not when you are admitted. If you don't want your baby to be bottle feed but you are not producing enough milk in the first day or so, you can ask them to top up your baby using cup feed rather than a bottle to avoid nipple confusion.

As for the room charge, they have a package for the general ward and semi-private ward. If you are having c-section, then the package cover a seven day stay at the hospital and for normal delivery the package cover a four day stay. As I don't have the cost of the package with me, if you need further information please let me know.

The general ward has eight beds separated into four cubicles. Each cubicle has two beds. When I was there, I actually occupied the whole cubicle to myself as the hospital was not crowded. Even in the general ward, they allow you to add in an extra bed at nighttime so your husband can accompany you. As for the semi-private room, it has two beds. Also, if the hospital is not crowded, they tend to give the whole room to yourself. But there are no guarantees.

Iain was a huge baby weighting 10.6 pounds at birth, I had a planned c-section, so I am not sure how supportive the nurses are when you are in labour.

Michelle

[Lia]

Hello - I too am very curious about Matilda vs Adventist and also the room options. One of my key questions is: Where do you spend your labour...? In your room or in a labour ward (if there is one) or in the delivery suite...? At what point are you moved from one to the other? This would influence my decision regarding room size and sharing.

Does anyone know the routine?

Good questions, Avi. I too would be very interested in your experiences this weekend... I'm not due until January, so will be visiting, but not yet.

Thanks

[jane01]

I had my daughter at Matilda and highly recommend it. The midwives were efficient and responsive, very supportive of breastfeeding. I had a private room and my husband was able to stay with us. We were given the choice of having our baby in the nursery or with us in our room. Of course I couldn't bear to be parted from her and we had her all the time.

At Matilda you labour and deliver in a delivery suite (ie just you) and are transferred to your room after the birth.

If I had to make one small criticism, it would be that different midwives told us to do different things. As a first time mum, I found this very confusing. For example, one midwife told us to make sure our baby fed every 1.5 hours. When she wouldn't even wake up for a feed every 1.5 hours, we asked another midwife, who told us on demand at night and only 3 hourly during the day. As you can imagine, there is a big difference between feeding every 1.5 and 3 hours, especially at night ! She was a big baby - nearly 4kgs, so there was no need to feed her so frequently.

But overall, the experience was very positive and I would recommend it.

[kayla]

i had my baby in the Adventist this year and it was a great experience. a couple of days before i gave birth, i had a show and called the baby unit at adventist to get advice on whether or not i should check in (at the hospital visit, they recommended this and gave us their no. 24hrs). it was very reassuring to be able to talk to the nurse whenever anxiety struck. on the day i was admitted, my doctor called ahead to make the arrangements for me and when we arrived, they took us straight to the delivery suite.
i had to be induced and spent almost 11 hours there, and the whole time, my husband was with me and we watched tv. the nurses came in and out frequently to check on everything and towards the end, one nurse/midwife stayed until the baby was born. they too asked if i was breastfeeding or not and wanted to know if i wanted to feed the baby in my room and whether i needed any help with breastfeeding.
i chose a semi-private room, but was the only occupant. the baby could stay with me in my room or stay in the baby room. as it was chilly in my room, he spent most of his time in the warm baby room and came for his feedings. during different times of the day, different nurses came with the baby and were all consistent in their advice. baby should be fed around every 3 hours but at most could last up to 5 if he didn't wake up. the nurses also helped me with going to the bathroom in the first few hours just in case i fell over or fainted.
for the room choices, they hv a general ward with max. occupation of 4 beds, semi-private, private and also a pearl suite which looked a lot like a hotel suite!
but during the time i was there and also the few days when our baby was in for phototherapy, we noticed that occupancy was not high and most of the ward rooms even were not fully occupied.
all in all, it was a very good experience for us. also, if you buy newborn pampers from their supplies dept, it's only $36 per pack of 36 pieces which is $20 less than retail price.