35 wks pregnant and urgently looking for OB in HK area

Y

yca

Registered User
I'm 35 weeks pregnant already and my husband and I have decided to come back to HK to have our first baby. We used to be living in New Zealand and have been very satisfied with the antenatal service there. However after I got back to HK, I went to see two local OBs and noticed that they are very rigid on following "standard procedures" here. Things such as episiotomy has become a must just because I am an Asian whereas in NZ, we are told that episiotomy is not necessary. When we tried to discuss our birth plan with the local OBs, they both look at us with shock and wonder why we want to have so much control on the birthing of our baby. Besides, it seems like private OBs are more conservative and they tend to have higher C-section rate.

We would like to have our first baby born naturally and would like to know if there is anyone who can recommend us a reliable/good OB in HK area. We understand that things can be very different between HK and NZ but would still like to look for someone who can listen to our requests better. Appreciate anyone can give us the contact of the OB and possibily share your experience with us. Thank you very much.

Cheers,
angie
 
I can thoroughly recommend my OB/GYN Dr Milton Leong. Hes at the Womens Clinic in Central. Fabulous!! I had a natural delivery both times my last one being 5 mths ago. Let me know if u wud like his number!
Good Luck!

K.
 
Thanks for your recommendation

Hi Karishma,

Thank you very much for your recommendation. Could you please give me the contact details of your OB? I hope it is not too late for me to change to another OB. Besides, may I ask you which hospital did you deliver your two babies? It will be great if you can let me know how much your OB charges for natural vaginal delivery. Thank you.
 
If you prefer a female obstetrician/gynaecologist try Doctor Choy in the same clinic tel 2523 3007. She is wonderfully caring.. Good luck
 
dr milton leong is very good. one thing: his partner, dr andrew doo is also very good and his charges are a bit less. dr leong's first appointment is $1000 then $800, dr doo's is $800 for first apptmnt and $500 for subsequent. i know you don't need many more appointments, but his is to give you an idea of the difference. i am dr doo's patient, but have also met dr leong. didn't find much difference, both very nice, professional, with modern approach.
 
hi there! i see the womens clinic number has been posted! hes v v good! i have also seen his partner when he has been travelling who is Dr Doo. Also top notch! Yes Dr Doo is a little cheaper. Hes fabulous too! If you want someone a bit younger and he gvs alot alot more time than Dr Leong! i had my baby at the Adventist and he charged abt 58000 for his del plus the 3 day hosp pkg was abt 30000 something...cant rem exact figures but my total was over a 100 K after the Paed visits and all the other tests!
 
In my line of work (I?m a la Leche League Leader ? breastfeeding support) I meet lots of mothers. I have known pregnant women change doctors as late as 39 weeks.

I think the most important thing about your doctor is that you trust him or her.

If you are uncomfortable with your doctor don?t let the late stage of your pregnancy stop you from finding someone that you will be happier with.

It is important that your birth be as good as you can get ? it is a day that you will never forget.

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
Hi all,

Thank you for your recommendations and share of your experience. I will try to contact those OBs and see how we feel about them. I guess what we are looking for is someone who has an opened mind which let us have a little more control of our birthing experience instead of following thru the "standard procedure". We trust that many of the OBs in HK are very experienced so they tend to make decision without thinking about how we feel. As I said, things like episiotomy is not a must in many western countries but here, I have been threaten that natural tearing is far more worse and I HAVE to have one no matter what. :bawling: Besides, we would really like to find an OB who is patient enough to wait for a natural birth to happen instead of rushing into a c-section. Someone who encourages a natural vaginal birth will be nice.

I have taken an alternative birthing class called HypnoBirthing and things like having a peaceful birth is something we are after. When I demand to have direct skin to skin contact with my baby after born, my current OBs all said that I will be too tired and exhausted to do so and sort of laughing at me. Maybe in HK, people tend to let their OBs to make the best decision for them so when we request for something extra, it sounds too weird to them... (my current OBs said that there probably will not be any other OBs in HK can honor our requests)

We will keep looking and hope that we will be able to find an OB that we can be comfortable with. And of course, hope that our baby won't choose to come to this world too early...
 
It is not true that there are no OBs in Hong Kong who will be willing to let you have skin-to-skin contact after your baby is born. Indeed my doctor, Dr Dawkins, was very happy to let me have skin-to-skin contact and I was allowed me to sleep with my baby while in hospital.

In fact the United Christian Hospital in Kwun Tong has a policy of giving every mother at least 20 minutes of skin-to-skin contact with their just born baby. One of the nurses there told me that they changed their policy in Feb 2004. Before that only mothers wanting to breastfeed had the skin-to-skin contact but now everyone does.

The main result of the policy change is that mothers who weren?t thinking of breastfeeding changed their minds when they saw how easy it is to breastfeed if you start right at the beginning. This is because the baby can latch-on by itself if you start early enough.

I saw a film at a La Leche League meeting once where the baby crawled up and latched on by itself. It was amazing. When I had my last child I asked my doctor to allow this and he had no problem with it. His only concern was whether the baby get cold in the air conditioning and so he arranged to turn the temperature up once the baby was born.

You can get what you want - good luck,
Barb
 
Hi Barb,

Thank you for your message. I have read about Dr. Dawkins from other threads and it seems like he is a very good OB. Do you think he will be flexible enough on things like usage of different labor position and not having a episiotomy unless for necessary? Besides, I wonder if you could give me a brief idea on the cost of having a natural vaginal birth as I know he only delivers at Matilda Hospital.

About the video you mentioned in your message, I watched that when I took the antenatal class in New Zealand as well. It is truly amazing and I think it will be wonderful for the baby to bond with the mother right after he/she is born. Imagine the baby has also been thru hours of labor in order to come to this world and he/she must be in shocked to leave the womb so nothing is better than putting the baby next to the mother to calm the baby.
 
My baby is now four and a half years old so all my cost information is out of date now. I suggest that you ring up the receptionist at his clinic and ask. They will be used to people asking such question so don?t be shy.

When I asked Dr Dawkins about his views on episiotomies he turned the question back on me. He said, "You?ve had both," (which was true my little daughter is my fourth child) "Which did you find more comfortable?" I told him that the tear seemed to heal more easily than the cut. He said that nearly all women say that and for that reason he didn?t routinely do episiotomies.

Best wishes,
Barb
 
Hi VCA,

A friend who is a natural healer (!) chose Dr Dawkins to deliver her child. Not suprisingly, her list of alternative treatments extended far beyond a few homeopathy remedies and hypnobirthing. Dr Dawkins was extremely respectful of all her wishes and at the end of it all she was delighted with his care throughout pregnancy and labour and is using him again for No. 2.

What is extraodinary about this is that she actually spent 48 hours in labour from when her waters broke without hardly dilating before having an emergency c-section. This was obviously her worst case scenario but afterwards she knew that he'd done everything possible to support her wish for a completely natural birth. She absolutely raves about him!!! Imagine the ultimate new ager being happy with a C-section outcome...
 
Another thing that you might like to consider is having a doula. All the research I?ve read indicates mothers are much happier with the outcome of their labour if a doula is there.

The only person in Hong Kong I know that offers this service is Hulda at Annerley Mid-wives.(Tel: 2983-1558 or 6290-1445).

Barb
 
Hi I'm 18 wks pregnant and my OB is a highly regarded doc by hospital staff and patients alike. Dr. Philip Ho 2899 2293. His staff , esp Kelly his Assistant, is also very friendly and efficient. He is known to be one of top docs in HK. He explains in great details, and answers all my questions with patience. Also one of top Fertility Specialist in HK. He delivers mostly at Mathilda and Adventist and works also at Queen Mary.
 
Hi Slee and Barb,

Thank you both for your useful information. I have made an appointment to see Dr Dawkins this Saturday (as my husband will be in HK this weekend). I also checked the price for him to deliver a baby born naturally and by scheduled c-section. Hopefully, we will feel comfortable with Dr Dawkins so we don't have to change to another OB again. Again, thank you very much for your help and support. :burnout:
 
I also wanted similar stuff - no drugs if possible, no episiotomy, freedom to try different positions for pushing, use birth balls, lots of bath / water. Tried Philip Ho (but he likes doing lots of ultrasound scans - every time I saw him!) and in the end changed to Sally Ferguson (at Owens Trodd & Partners) who was very open and supportive. I also had Hulda Thorey as doula - she was excellent, and I highly recommend her. I had a long labour and her presence was well worth it, giving lots of support. Don't forget the ob turns up for only the last hour of birth.

I've heard from many that Dawkins is very good, but I wanted a woman ob. If his schedule doesn't work for you, perhaps you could try Sally.
 
Episiotomies - about

hi

just read this conversation - and thought you might want to check out this link:

http://www.babycenter.com/news/?id=101007&scid=dadspreg:20050509:2123:14012:5140#story

it is one of the nicest sites i have visited - and i was also very concerned about the tearing and healing process - it seems that, as someone else also said in this conversation, tears heal a whole lot easier than episiotomies.

take care and good luck
ginger
 
Doctor's Charges

Moooi said:
Hi I'm 18 wks pregnant and my OB is a highly regarded doc by hospital staff and patients alike. Dr. Philip Ho 2899 2293. His staff , esp Kelly his Assistant, is also very friendly and efficient. He is known to be one of top docs in HK. He explains in great details, and answers all my questions with patience. Also one of top Fertility Specialist in HK. He delivers mostly at Mathilda and Adventist and works also at Queen Mary.
Click to expand...




hi ,

could you tell me how much Dr. Ho charges? Is it per vist? Or do you have a full package?

thanks,
Ginger
 
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