I just wanted to share my experience giving birth at Union Hospital in Tai Wai for others who may be looking into a private hospital.
I was a private room patient, so I had my own room which allowed baby to stay with me. Overall, I would rate my experience at Union extremely positively - they certainly exceeded my expectations and none of the trepidations I had going in came to fruition. I gave birth to my first in a private Sydney hospital and this was definitely a better experience.
They took my birth plan very seriously and it was followed to the letter. It also helped that my OB was completely on board with my plan. I had a natural unmedicated birth with my husband and doula both present. I was placed in a comfortable side room to labour privately for about 5 hours with my husband and doula before I transfered to delivery. They attached me to a wireless monitoring machine so that I could walk around and go to the bathroom while in labour, which was a huge help for pain management. They left me alone and didn't disturb me much during this period (they could see the monitor results at the nurses station). The delivery room would not have been a very comfortable place to labour so I did not transfer there until I was fully dilated. The baby was born 15 mins after transfer to delivery.
After baby was born I got her immediately and they honoured our wishes to keep her to do the first breast feeding and skin-to-skin contact and delay the weighing/measuring/checking part. They did not administer any vaccinations according to our wishes. After everything was done they transfered me to my private room, which was very large and comfortable. The private room ward looks like a 5 star hotel! My room was the cheapest/smallest and it was still very nice. Baby roomed in 24/7, in fact she even slept in my bed which was plenty large enough for the both of us.
The nursing staff were excellent - very attentive and kind. They always came immediately when I called and they were very vigilant in the first 24 hours to make sure everything was OK with me and baby.
The only major downside I can think of is that there didn't seem to be any breast feeding support provided, however I was doing well with feeding, this being my second baby, so I think they just left me alone to get on with it. But it is easy enough to hire a private LC to help you out if need be because there are no visitor restrictions.
Overall, the total bill came to about $85K, including OB fees (my OB is not a resident Union OB). That doesn't include antenatal visits and associated expenses before birth which would have been at least another $10K. We paid out of pocket but it was worth every cent to me to have such a great birth experience. My alternative was Prince of Wales and I was not happy with a number of their policies so Union was my best alternative.
Happy to answer any questions if you are considering giving birth at Union.
I was a private room patient, so I had my own room which allowed baby to stay with me. Overall, I would rate my experience at Union extremely positively - they certainly exceeded my expectations and none of the trepidations I had going in came to fruition. I gave birth to my first in a private Sydney hospital and this was definitely a better experience.
They took my birth plan very seriously and it was followed to the letter. It also helped that my OB was completely on board with my plan. I had a natural unmedicated birth with my husband and doula both present. I was placed in a comfortable side room to labour privately for about 5 hours with my husband and doula before I transfered to delivery. They attached me to a wireless monitoring machine so that I could walk around and go to the bathroom while in labour, which was a huge help for pain management. They left me alone and didn't disturb me much during this period (they could see the monitor results at the nurses station). The delivery room would not have been a very comfortable place to labour so I did not transfer there until I was fully dilated. The baby was born 15 mins after transfer to delivery.
After baby was born I got her immediately and they honoured our wishes to keep her to do the first breast feeding and skin-to-skin contact and delay the weighing/measuring/checking part. They did not administer any vaccinations according to our wishes. After everything was done they transfered me to my private room, which was very large and comfortable. The private room ward looks like a 5 star hotel! My room was the cheapest/smallest and it was still very nice. Baby roomed in 24/7, in fact she even slept in my bed which was plenty large enough for the both of us.
The nursing staff were excellent - very attentive and kind. They always came immediately when I called and they were very vigilant in the first 24 hours to make sure everything was OK with me and baby.
The only major downside I can think of is that there didn't seem to be any breast feeding support provided, however I was doing well with feeding, this being my second baby, so I think they just left me alone to get on with it. But it is easy enough to hire a private LC to help you out if need be because there are no visitor restrictions.
Overall, the total bill came to about $85K, including OB fees (my OB is not a resident Union OB). That doesn't include antenatal visits and associated expenses before birth which would have been at least another $10K. We paid out of pocket but it was worth every cent to me to have such a great birth experience. My alternative was Prince of Wales and I was not happy with a number of their policies so Union was my best alternative.
Happy to answer any questions if you are considering giving birth at Union.