[bekyboo44]

Hi,

Would love to hear from anyone who has delivered at the Queen Mary Hospital.
My husband and I would appreciate any information on the hospital, the staff, the wards, the actual delivery proceedure, and anyones comments on it.

Thanks, RT

[susan wong]

RT

i gave birth to my first child in QM in august 2005. i had a C section as my baby was breech. the doctors and nurses were great, they were v. reassuring and helpful. they are attentive but they do tend to leave you to do yr own thing. there are courses to attend at the hospital after the birth, which were v. helpful esp the breastfeeding classes, i urge you to go to them as it was useful to have someone there to physically show you what to do.
the wards itself are generally quite clean, all in all i would go there again for my 2nd child. we decided against going private b/c of the high costs, and QM are more than equipped with complex deliveries. the only downside is, you are only allowed to stay 3 nights and 4 days (even with C section), which i thought was too soon, going private you can stay a min. of 5 days, plus the visiting hours are restrictive.

[rads]

Hi Beckyboo44,

I delivered at QMH end Jan this year.I had a plannned c-section.

On the positive note....

The nurses and doctors are great...they are willing to help you with everything...including breatfeeding...though I'm a second time mom and it was much easier this time around.They bathe the baby for you evry morning & on the first night even looked after my baby the entire night...except during feeds as I has Chossen to BF.

On the down side...

Food is really awful..it's basically simple chinese food.

The ward is very noisey as I was in the Breast feeding section and the babies were wailing thru the night.....

The ward is supposed to house 6 beds per sub section but when I was there they had added beds and all the sub sections had 8 beds so it was really stuffy.


BUT i guess compared to what it would have cost me in a private hospital...I just paid around HKD500..it was overall a positive exprience & would go back IF I ever plan another bby.


cheers

[heidypie]

Does anyone know what it costs to have a semi private room at the QM? I have heard mix responses. I am due in Oct and we have opted for a public hospital b/c of costs but wouldn't mind paying for a bit of privacy in the wards.
Thanks.

[JennyB]

As far as I know, if you want private or semi-private rooms at QMH (and other public hospitals standardised this policy a few years ago), you have to pay for everything as a private patient. This brings the costs up to not much less than a private hospital. You can check this with the hospital direct if you go and visit the labour ward on Saturdays at 12pm.

BTW there are loads of previous threads on QMH, some of which I have contributed to, so try using the search function!

I don't agree with everything above. I was the only one breastfeeding in my section and my baby was very quiet, whereas the formula-fed babies were the ones howling through the night. How busy or noisy the ward is can be highly variable: when I arrived it was full but by the time I was leaving there seemed to be nobody else left. Just luck of the draw. I also half-enjoyed the food, but do agree that it's a good idea to get your husband to bring in some treats from outside.

[heidypie]

In response to JennyB, thanks for that very useful info. I also read on this forum that if you were lucky and beds were available you could ask for a semi private room after delivery, and pay 13000HKD for 2 nights. But this was not bookable in advance at that price. I guess the regulations may have changed by now and the best thing to do is ask on one of those Saturday morning tours.

[jessieywl]

I delivered my baby at QMH in mid Feb. It was a pleasant experience for me. I think the main difference between a private and public hospital (my sister had her baby at a private hospital so I take her experience as a comparison) is that they make you take care of your baby after you rest for one day after delivery. To me it was a good thing, especially because I chose to breastfeed. Whereas in a private hospital they tend to let you rest throughout your stay.

I also thought about getting a semi-private room because of the visiting hours restriction. However, I later found out that they have the same visiting hours for the semi-private room so I saw no point of getting it. In fact, I was quite glad that they had a restriction on visiting hours because you'll be very tired feeding the baby and you'll want to get every chance to rest when the baby is asleep.

[carang]

dont' get me started on my experience there...
yes, nurses inthe WARDS were great. wonderful, friendly, and helpful....

the rest of my experience was dreadful! and i should know i was in 4-5 times throughout my pregnancy!

anyway, i won't go into the gory details, the last time i did, i got slammed...

good luck! in the end, it's the baby that matters adn not a couple of nights without sleep at the hospital... you get plenty more of those when you get home anyway!