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Giving Birth In Public Hospitals

  1. #9
    nicolejoy's Avatar
    nicolejoy is offline Registered User
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    I've had two children at Queen Mary and overall had a positive experience. My first pregnancy was completely normal, my waters broke and I still had no regular contractions 24 hours later so their policy is to induce at that point. Due to the induction, the contractions were extremely painful so I requested an epidural and it was administered promptly. Also their policy is that if the baby is born more than 24 hours after waters breaking, the baby needs to be monitored in Special Care in case of infection - so she was up there for the first day which was rough since I wasn't expecting it, but the next day she was down in the ward with me and rooming in. The hardest part was her being in special care, but I know that IF she DID have an infection (she didn't), them catching it early would have helped her to get over it quicker and easier.

    My second pregnancy was going well until I was 17 weeks and we discovered on ultrasound that my daughter had a form of dwarfism that at the time, they were not certain that she would be able to survive. They offered an abortion but we didn't want one and they didn't pressure us which I'm thankful for. I was monitored very closely throughout my pregnancy and before the baby was born, I'd already met with the NICU team and a geneticist who ended up diagnosing my daughter's condition. Their care was very good and I even stopped going to the private doctors because they weren't adding anything that I wasn't getting in the public system. My delivery with her was induced at my request at 41 weeks - they would have allowed me to go another week if I wanted, but my mum was here and I wanted the baby born before she went back! Again, I cannot fault my delivery (although I had an annoying nurse who, I think, was wanting a routine day and didn't like the complexity of my case falling on her - thankfully her shift was over half way through my delivery and she was replaced with a MUCH nicer nurse!). I knew when my daughter was born that I would be leaving the hospital before her, so I requested an early discharge and I was discharged when she was only about 15 hours old. She was in NICU for four months and overall, we had a good (but sometimes frustrating) experience there.

    In both my pregnancies, my main frustration with QMH was that they were overcautious. I don't really think that my first daughter needed to be separated from me and taken to Special Care, I think she could have been monitored from the regular ward and taken up there if she had shown signs of infection. My second daughter, I think, could have been home at two or three weeks old rather than four months old. But ultimately, it's a MUCH bigger problem when doctors are not cautious ENOUGH compared to when they are too cautious, so I'm thankful that through it all, I've got two healthy daughters :)

    If I was going to a private hospital, the ONLY hospital that I would consider is Matilda because to me, rooming in with my baby is MUCH more important than how comfortable the beds are, who actually does the delivery (even in private hospitals, the "doctor" is only there for maybe the last 15 minutes or so anyway) or even what the visiting hours are. And most of the private hospitals here have policies that I really don't agree with. So for me, it's a choice between Matilda and public.

    And I agree with Carang - you aren't generally forced to room in with your baby, at least at QMH - many babies are in the nursery at various times. I put my first baby in there a couple of times to go and eat outside the ward, and they made it clear that I was welcome to use the nursery any time I wanted. I wanted her to room in though and she did pretty much the entire time I was there.


  2. #10
    cathryn is offline Registered User
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    Thanks for all the info Nicole. I was going to look into the Adventist Private Hospital, can you tell me why you would particularly go for Matilda? Do you know anything about Adventist?

    Thanks


  3. #11
    taysty is offline Registered User
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    @ cathryn

    I remembered that one of my director's boss whom is a mainlander came to stay at QM before. As she does not hold a HKID she need to pay $100K as refundable deposit also the room rates are very high. I remember she said it's equalivent to shangri-la HK per night or even more than that.


  4. #12
    carang's Avatar
    carang is offline Registered User
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    yes, mainlanders have to pay that fee. it's because they were coming over the border in droves to give birth, many times without any pre-natal care and were costing the hk gov't so much money. they had to stem the flow somehow.


  5. #13
    rani's Avatar
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    The Gov't now has a package for non-local Mums. Packages start at $39K

    http://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/conjoint/131030e.pdf


  6. #14
    charade is offline Registered User
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    I delivered at United Christian in Kwun Tong and did not have the baby with me round the clock for the first two nights. I have to say i was grateful because I was zapped after the delivery and maybe because my milk hadn't come in or something my baby would gnaw away at my nipples for TWO HOURS! The practice there seemed to be to take the baby away adn bring him in for scheduled feeding times for the first couple of days, and for the third day encourage mums to keep the baby with them. I guess it depends which hospital...but I have to say they are very pro-breastfeeding. After two hours (which really I think was a stretch) the nurses would come and ask if I wanted to feed the baby formula. If I said yes, they would cup feed him so there is no nipple confusion. The first time I said no, and they accepted that.


  7. #15
    nicolejoy's Avatar
    nicolejoy is offline Registered User
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    Quote Originally Posted by cathryn View Post
    Thanks for all the info Nicole. I was going to look into the Adventist Private Hospital, can you tell me why you would particularly go for Matilda? Do you know anything about Adventist?

    Thanks
    It's mostly because Adventist is not significantly cheaper than Matilda but I've heard overall MUCH better things about Matilda. I'm not 100% sure if the baby is able to room in in a shared room at Adventist, but the baby is definitely allowed to room in in a shared room at Matilda. To me, that is a "make or break" issue though. I think probably Adventist is the "next best" to Matilda from what I've heard though.

    I know someone who had a poor experience at Adventist though. She delivered by C section but the maternity ward was full so she had to be in the surgical ward and was therefore separated from her baby. I know that is an unusual situation and it's not the norm for Adventist, but still it puts me off.

    For me personally, rooming in is THE main issue in what I look for in a hospital, particularly over here, and it is practically guaranteed at Matilda and public hospitals (except for medical issues, which public hospitals tend to be more cautious about, putting the baby in special care over some relatively minor things in my opinion), but not so much in most of the private hospitals (although if you get a private room in a private hospital, I think many places will allow you to room in - just not in shared rooms...)
    Last edited by nicolejoy; 02-08-2011 at 03:49 PM.

  8. #16
    thanka2 is offline Registered User
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    Quote Originally Posted by nicolejoy View Post
    It's mostly because Adventist is not significantly cheaper than Matilda but I've heard overall MUCH better things about Matilda. I'm not 100% sure if the baby is able to room in in a shared room at Adventist, but the baby is definitely allowed to room in in a shared room at Matilda. To me, that is a "make or break" issue though. I think probably Adventist is the "next best" to Matilda from what I've heard though.
    I am registered at Tsuen Wan Adventist and the baby is taken away from you and placed in the nursery. This is their protocol to avoid cross-contamination as the wards are public wards. To avoid this you can book a private room and pay a lot more for it but then the baby is only allowed to stay with you and can't go back to the nursery. I don't know about the other Adventist hospital--possibly the same.
    “Many women have described their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a
    spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware …
    To such a woman childbirth is a monument of joy within her memory.
    She turns to it in thought to seek again an ecstasy which passed too soon.”

    ~ Grantly Dick-Read (Childbirth Without Fear)

    Mother of Two
    JMW, boy, born November 29, 2007, 9:43 pm, USA
    MJW, girl, born March 17, 2011, 4:14 pm, HK

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