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Recent Queen Mary Hospital delivery review

  1. #1
    workingmummyhk is offline Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
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    11

    Recent Queen Mary Hospital delivery review

    Hello all,

    I have delivered two babies at Queen Mary (in July 2016 and November 2014), so I thought I'd do a review of the overall experience.

    My first child was delivered at Thomson Medical in Singapore with Dr Paul Tseng in 2012. Dr Paul was a great doctor, very pro-natural birth and natural remedies. Epidural vaginal birth with small tear was fine. But I had major issues with the hospital (lack of midwife/nurse care during labour, zero breastfeeding support, general backward policies).

    Our insurance doesn't cover 100% of labour and complications, so we decided to go public for the 2nd and 3rd babies. Overall, we had great experiences at Queen Mary.

    I went to all checkups/ultrasounds offered in the public system, and supplemented with a private doctor (Michelle Tsui of Premier Medical).

    2014 birth:

    Went into labour on due date with mild contractions around midnight. Went to the hospital about 2 hours later (way too early). Was barely dilated so stayed in pre-labour ward. Husband stayed outside on the hard plastic chairs next to lifts. Reminded staff that I wanted epidural. Student doctor took my blood. Around 5am, asked nurse to check dilation. Contractions now very painful. She said I was only at 2 cm, but that I was 'squishy'. On call doctor checked as well and swept my membranes to hurry me along. I demanded air and gas for pain relief (available only in delivery suite), so they decided to send me there, even though not at 3cm. Reunited with hubby. Yay!

    Superstar midwife helps me try many options for labouring. Best was lying on side whilst she massaged me through contractions. I keep asking for epidural all the while. Around 11 am, superstar midwife asks husband to take over massage. He doesn't know what he's doing, and I lose the plot entirely. Start screaming for epidural. Midwife says I'm at 6cm. I know she ends her shift around noon, so demand epidural again as I can't bear the contractions without her. Consultant anasthetist comes in and gives me a great 'light' epidural as I had requested. Superstar midwife looks very dejected and tells me I was so close to a natural birth. She finishes her shift. Middle-age midwife takes over. Around 1300, midwife says my contractions have completely stalled due to epidural. They augment with pitocin. Around 1400, I turn down epidural to prepare for pushing. When I am 10cm around 1500, the on-call doctor comes in. She is there to 'help' in case I can't push out baby. She scares me, as I know she is talking about instrumental delivery. Luckily, pushing goes fine despite epidural. Baby is fine. I have no tear. We are given an hour in the delivery ward alone to cuddle with baby. They followed our entire birth plan. The ward is very noisy, so I leave the hospital the next day. Total bill: 150.

    2016 birth:

    I wanted a drug-free birth as I was afraid of a possible instrumental delivery after epidural, which tends to stop my contractions. We went to Hypnobirthing class at Annerlery. I also went to chiropractor for adjustment in 39 week to avoid awful back labour, which worked. I also had natural induction (membrane sweep and acupuncture) at 39 weeks. They worked. Went into labour around midnight the day before due date. Laboured at home for 19 hours. Contractions were painful but manageable, and not regular enough to go to hospital. Grew frustrated that I wasn't 'progressing' and decided to go to hospital around 1930. Oncall nurse in pre-labour ward really unhelpful. On call doctor says I must stay overnight because they were worried I would give birth in next few hours. Around 10pm, contractions become very strong and close. Husband stays with me in pre-labour ward the entire time, even though he was asked many times to leave. I am 2cm dilated and they move us to delivery ward because they thought I'd progress very quickly.

    Lovely midwife asks what position I want to labour in. Only bearable position is vertical. This time, husband is doing the massage (learned at Annerley). Baby comes within one hour, just before midnight. Great delivery, if painful and rather frenzied with lots of shouting at the end. Doctor comes in for the grand finale but no need for him to do anything as midwife handles everything. Pushing is much faster with no epidural. Again, no tear. And very minimal bleeding. The staff (and we) were very happy. We leave about 12 hours later. Total bill: 150.

    Summary:

    We loved Queen Mary for delivery, and would be more than happy to go back if we have any more children (unlikely). Hospital policy was very similar in 2014 and 2016: very pro-natural delivery by midwives with doctor support, pro-breastfeeding with great lactation consultant support, very thorough postnatal support in ward. Staff spoke very good English and many even had great sense of humour. Seems like a generally happy place to work. When we were there, the delivery wards didn't seem too busy, though this can, of course, change at any time.

    There were some downsides:

    -- Lack of support in the pre-labour ward
    -- No proper waiting room for partners or relatives
    -- Most doctors and midwives were caring and communicative, but some staff (maybe 10% of staff) brusque or abrupt
    -- Very noisy postnatal ward
    -- You don't get to pick your doctor or midwife (we had no issue with this as everyone seemed well trained and followed the hospital protocol, which we thought was quite progressive)
    -- Basic food

    If anyone has any questions, I'll do my best to answer.

    Scotthk, Jenn2, ManuK and 3 others like this.

  2. #2
    LLD
    LLD is offline Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Mid-Levels
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    Hi, this is a great review! Could I just ask a couple of things about Queen Mary. What are the visiting hours for husbands in the ward before and after labour? And I was told you have to stay for 3 days in the ward after birth but I see from your review you left much earlier? Thanks so much!


  3. #3
    Dadtobe is offline Registered User
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Posts
    1

    Thanks so much for your review working mummy. So thorough and helpful. We are expecting, and being our first child and being far away from our family we are considering Annerley just to make us more relaxed and help us out. Would you recommend them? Thanks so much in advance.


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