Need hospital help!

T

Tasha2303

Registered User
Hi
I am moving to HK on Saturday and have registered with an ob that was going to get me in to Matilda. As I'm due in may this has now become a big problem and looks like I can't.
Has any mums had experience with queen Mary? I read so much that they don't let husbands in with you and there's only 2 hours visiting a day and also they take your baby away from you. For me that is hell.

Any experience and advice would be great.

A very worried mum
 
my son was born at Queen Mary last year. my husband was allowed in with no problems and baby could room in if you are staying in a private room. if you are in the ward, the babies are on the same floor and you can feed them anytime. in fact, they encourage breastfeeding.
 
What about visiting hours? The thought of my husband and two other girls only coming 2 hours a day is horrible. If you have a private room is there no limit? Also if you want to leave before 3 days can you? I had my last baby in the uk and was home within 8 hrs : )
Thanks for your help
 
- Visiting hours are short (2 hrs) but actually, that's what you want because the wards are cramped and the last thing you want is entire Chinese families x 11 on your ward 24/7 when you're trying to rest
- My friend had a baby there a few weeks ago and the baby stayed in a cot by her bed the whole time (she was just on the ward)
- The private rooms cant be pre-booked- it's a bit like the NHS ones. You have to just find out if there's one available when you arrive
- You'll probably have to stay overnight but if you have a vaginal delivery, you can often persuade them to discharge you the next day.

- Have you asked your Obs to look at the Adventist or the Sanatorium as alternatives?

HTH
 
Hi

I had both my children at QMH, vaginal delivery (late evening- 9pm ish) and I was discharged the following morning. The second time around I was insistent of this as the visiting hours were 12-1 and 6-8 and only children 12+ can go onto the ward and babys cannot be taken out of the ward (they wear bracelets that set off an alarm at the door!). My 2 year old couldn't understand why her brother wasn't allowed out and she couldn't see him!

As private rooms are within the ward area I am pretty sure under 12s would still not be allowed to visit.

Other than the visiting hours/policies I dont have too many complaints.....
 
Hi Lojitt I have my ob appointment on fri 10th and they said they could then try adventist once I'd had that. Fingers crossed.
Hi Nic I do t think my 11 year old would ever forgive me if she couldn't be there straight away. We also have an 11month old and our eldest came straight in the room after I'd had her.
It's so hard and very worrying, I wish I'd known the problems getting a space the minute I found out I was pregnant but now 6 months gone I'm running out of options : (
 
I would recommend trying to go to Pamela Youde in the Eastern district (Chai Wan), or getting a private room at QMH if your insurance will cover it. If you're in a private room, the visiting hours are relaxed AND older children are allowed in. If you are in the ward (in any public hospital), there are only 3 hrs of visiting per day, and children are pretty strictly not allowed in. The reason why I suggest Pamela Youde is that they have a "special accommodation ward" which is a 4 bed room which has 12 hrs of visiting a day and allows children - but it only costs ~$7000 (as opposed to ~$100,000 for fully private).

I've had two babies at QMH and it has its pros and cons - but I would definitely choose Pamela Youde over QM if possible. Technically, you should go to the hospital that is your district hospital. QM is the half of Hong Kong island west of Causeway Bay, and PY is from around Tin Hau and east.

With my 2nd daughter, she was in NICU and I knew I'd be leaving home without her, so they allowed me early discharge around 15 hours after she was born. But that was for just me, not the baby. I've heard of some people getting early discharge after the first day, but I've also had friends who they rejected it for various reasons. I wouldn't count on getting early discharge, but you could always ask.

When you are in labour, hubby can only be with you in the delivery room. You only go to delivery after you are 3cm dilated, so if you are progressing slowly, you may be admitted to the hospital but not to delivery - in which case, you could either a) leave the ward and walk around the hospital grounds, or b) stay in the ward, and your hubby is only allowed in for those specific 3 hours. If you labour at home and get to the hospital after you are 3cm dilated, you will be with your husband for the rest of the labour/delivery. EXCEPT if it's an emergency C-section.
 
Our insurance will cover so that not a prob. We will be living in discovery bay so would that be the best hospital?. Thanks for the info Nicole really helpful.
 
For Discovery Bay, the catchment hospital, I believe, is Queen Mary - but I could be wrong about that. You would have a long travel time to get to Pamela Youde. If your insurance covers it, you can go private at Queen Mary and that definitely solves the visiting hours problem (although not sure if there is a "private ward" for when you are labouring but less than 3cm dilated). It SHOULD solve the children problem as well - but I'm not 100% sure about that. QMH can be a bit of a stickler for rules - more so than the other public hospitals as it is in high demand and busier than the others... (the good thing about that is it has the best medical care - but in my opinion, for the average Joe, it's more of a pain in the butt than a benefit).
 
Thanks for the help Nicole. I think I'm just going to talk to my ob next fri and maybe go and visit QM. Blimey who'd have thought it would be so stressful, I only want somewhere to pop my baby out !ha ha :)
 
I know - that's HK... my younger daughter has lots of medical needs and we are at Queen Mary (and also PY and Duchess of Kent Children's hospital) aaalllllll the time. There are things I love, things I hate, and things that are so 1970's about the whole hospital system here... but it is what it is.
 
i had a good experience at queen mary - didn't get to hospital until around 8cm dialated (which suited me fine!), so straight into the delivery room. the only time my husband and i were separated was the first 15 mins or so, when they were checking me & he was filling out the admission stuff. they were very thorough about reading my birth plan, and i (from hazy memory...) got pretty much everything i asked for. the only thing i didn't like was being strapped to the monitor so that I wasn't free to move around, but they even unhooked me from that after a while. when they were satisfied that everything was progressing smoothly, they left my hubby & i alone in the delivery room, & even dimmed the lights for us (something that was on my birth plan, but i had completely forgotten about!). on the downside, they prefer the feet up in stirrups method of delivery & although they were willing for me to try different positions, they weren't very encouraging of it & in the end i just went with their way.

someone earlier mentioned that babies only room in in the private rooms, but when i was there babies roomed in on the public ward, too (or i should say cubicled-in!). this was three years ago, so maybe it's changed.

from what i understand, your experience at qmh is very dependent on the staff that happen to be there at the time..& possibly how prepared you are (and how prepared you are to insist on what you want).
 
Tasha2303, there are many private hospital options. So even if you didn't get into Adventist or Sanatorium, try Canossa too. There's also St. Paul's. Baptist, St. Theresa, Tsuen Wan Adventist and private wards at public hospitals not yet mentioned also includes Queen Elizabeth.

Otherwise, you can insist that you get discharged as soon as the doctor has given you the 'all clear' sign and hire a private midwife (which always assists with the doctor's decision at a public hospital).

Good Luck!
 
Tasha - IF you want the baby to room in, then you either a) need to get into Matilda, or b) get a private room at some of those other private hospitals. Some of the private hospitals have VERY strict policies on the baby not being able to room in and refuse to allow the baby to stay with the mother, particularly overnight. From my understanding, if you have a private room, they will allow it, but in a shared room they will not in case your baby wakes someone else. At the public hospitals, they allow the baby to room in 24/7. If rooming in is important to you, be careful to check those policies before booking a hospital so to avoid disappointment.
 
At QM, if you go private, you can book the private room in advance, do private antenatal appointments and have the baby rooming in and hubby stay over. Cost is not an issue with you but it would work out cheaper than a private room in a private hospital but on par with a ward stay in some of the less expensive private hospitals. This is according to a mum who delivered there last year.

My understanding is that at Pamela Youde you can only get a private room if it's available when you go there once labour starts and cannot book private in advance.

At Baptist (private), you can only have the baby bedside if you're in a private room. So yeah, check the policies of the private hospitals.
 
I delivered at the private clinic of QMH last year and was very satisfied with it. You book in advance and you don't have to live in their catchment area. I registered at 32 weeks gestation, they still had a spot available, but it really depends on if their private doctors accept you. Make sure you go to J1 to enquire/register.
 
Hi, I am also thinking about QMH for our first baby as i've heard the medical service is the best in HK. But my concern is i am not able to see one good doctor throughout my pregency check up. Any suggestions who is good in QMH?
 
That's correct, you don't get to choose your Dr when giving birth in the public system. My friend who gave birth at QMH said that midwives will deliver your baby and the Dr will attend only in an emergency.
 
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