Public Hospital

[Stella]

I gave birth at a public hospital for #1, but will definitely be going to The Matilda for #2.
I received minimal support from hospital staff, was not allowed to move and was on my back the entire 30 hrs, i was in an 8 bay ward during labour, gave birth without my husband with me, and my baby was taken away and i couldn't see him until 9 hrs later.
The poor delivery resulted in unecessary complications which eventually resolved themselves, thankfully.
Nine months after the birth, i was diagnosed with Post Natal Depression (as high as 50% in ex-pats).
If you have thoughts about being active during labour, having your husband/.partner there to help you, and doing your best to guarantee you can be with your baby after the birth, definitely consider private. Ex-pats have enough to deal with not having family and friends from home with you. And yes, i agree it was like an assembly line.

[JennyB]

Re Stella's experience, I think she must have been unlucky because it is very uncommon to have such a negative experience at public hospitals - I have many friends who have given birth happily at QMH or PY. I am sure there are some private patients who have had negative birth experiences too - many private patients have unnecessary Cesareans or forceps for the convenience of their doctor's appointments. So I don't think you can conclude that it's better to go private.

[Graham]

My wife and I have chosen Queen Elizabeth (QE) hospital for our firstborn, who is due in early June.

QE has individual (private) labour rooms and they actively encourage the husband to be present during labour and childbirth. We visited the hospital a few days ago and were impressed by the facilities.

We were originally going to use Prince of Wales as it is closest to where we live. However, they do not allow husbands to be present during labour and only have one large labour ward separated by curtains.

Graham

[hkkm]

Graham, how was your experience at QE? I also live in Tai Po and have just found out I'm pregnant. Lots of things to work out, but I am tossing up between QE and PoW. At the moment QE looks nicer, but I'd welcome hearing about how you found it.

Also, did you see a private O/G or go to one at the hospital? I don't know how this works yet as I literally only did the test yesterday.

[rani]

Congratulations Hkkm!

Have a read through this thread on QE


http://forum.geobaby.com/showthread.php?threadid=104705

[keri]

Well, there seem to be a lot of divided opinions on this, and I think there's a very good reason for that. I gave birth in a public hospital (Queen Mary) in March and I thought it was brilliant. However, you have to do your research! Be very clear about what kind of birth you want. I wanted my partner to be with me for the entire time, I wanted to keep upright, I wanted to use water for pain relief and have no medical intervention. I also wanted my boyfriend to cut the cord, and to take pictures of my newborn straight away. Well, the public hospitals offer none of these, but with a bit of careful planning we got everything we wanted.
First of all, we hired a private midwife to come to our flat when I went into labour so I could stay at home in the bath for as long as possible (I managed until I was almost fully dilated). There are all sorts of packages available so it doesn't have to be expensive - check out www.amidwife.com for details.
Secondly I made a birth plan and I got it signed by a senior doctor and had copies put in my medical notes. It's usual for all first-time mums to have an episiotomy, and you are expected to sign a consent form when you arrive at hospital, which I did. But when the time came and I was having trouble pushing the baby out, because I'd already got consent on my birth plan they let me stay on my feet for this bit. Gravity did the trick and I didn't need any intervention.
Lastly, you have to be a bit cheeky. My boyfriend was told to go to the waiting room and he flatly refused. He only had to say no once, there was no argument, and they let him stay with me.
The staff were lovely and were happy for my boyfriend to cut the cord. They even took photos for us.
The wards are busy, but then so are the public wards at the private hospitals. I was only there for two nights and I slept easily as I'm sure most people do after giving birth. My baby stayed by my bed the whole time and there was 24 hour breastfeeding support.
Plus the whole bill came to less than $300.
My only complaint was the visiting hours (limited to three hours a day, two people at a time) and the food - the food was dreadful. Luckily I had packed loads of snacks in my hospital bag.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is do your research. If you want to go to hospital as soon as labour starts then you will have to put up with being separated from your partner and going onto a general labour ward, which I imagine is rather like a production line. It all depends on what you want.
Good luck, Kerys x
ps, if you want any more info i'm on [email protected]

[Graham]

Originally posted by hkkm
Graham, how was your experience at QE? I also live in Tai Po and have just found out I'm pregnant. Lots of things to work out, but I am tossing up between QE and PoW. At the moment QE looks nicer, but I'd welcome hearing about how you found it.

Also, did you see a private O/G or go to one at the hospital? I don't know how this works yet as I literally only did the test yesterday.

We had a very positive experience at QE. The staff were very friendly and helpful and the delivery rooms and second-class (semi-private) maternity rooms are very modern and comfortable. both my wife and I would choose QE again, if we ever decided to have a second child.

I was able to stay with my wife throughout the whole labour and cut the cord when Jeffrey came out, which is a fantastic experience that I highly recommend to all dads or would-be dads.

My wife did have to spend 1 day in the general maternity ward after giving birth, as all the semi-private rooms were full. That was a bit crowded and noisy and the nurses were not quite so friendly. But anyway, I do like that they let the babies stay with their moms 24/7 and encourage breastfeeding.

My wife's older sister just gave birth at PoW and she found it was OK. Just to me it seems a bit older and more run-down than QE. Also, I understand that husbands are not always allowed to stay with their wives during the birth as the delivery rooms are just divided by curtains. Luckily when my wife's sister gave birth there were not too many other women giving birth at the same time, so her husband was allowed to stay.

And yes, we just saw the O/G at the hospital.

Graham