Delivery at Queen Mary

I will be having my baby at Queen Mary in July. I would like some advice from any mothers that have had their babies there.....

Once admitted, is my husband allowed to stay with me all the way through labour until after the birth?

When would he have to leave the hospital?

Am I allowed to have a birth plan of any sort (i.e. pain med choice, choice to/not to have episiotomy, IV drip etc. etc.) or are those decisions usually made without consultation of the mother?

I am curious to know if there is a standard proceed ure straight after birth - do they place the baby on the mother or take it away to clean it up!?

Can my husband cut the cord?

Do they encourage or allow the mother to breast feed straight away (in the delivery suite)?

Will they allow me to keep the baby next to me when I am back in the ward (24 hours or as long as I wish)?

If I have problems breastfeeding, do they have people that can help?

Is circumcision something that is done / rarely done in HK? (I am not considering this, just curious on the general status quo)

Lastly, assuming it is a low risk, straightforward birth (fingers and toes crossed!) would my baby be delivered by an obstetrician?

I am only 10 weeks along with a very happy but surprise pregnancy - so I am feeling a little out of my depth with processing all the information out there! Any advice would be most appreciated!

AFAIK circumcision is only common for religious reasons with the notable exception of the US. So it's probably fairly uncommon here. I may be wrong.

I am curious to know if there is a standard proceed ure straight after birth - do they place the baby on the mother or take it away to clean it up!?


YES, THEY WILL GIVE YOU THE BABY ONCE THE BABAY CLEAN.


Do they encourage or allow the mother to breast feed straight away (in the delivery suite)?


ONCE THE BABY CLEAN, THEY WILL ALLOW THE MOTHER TO BREASTFEED STRAIGTH AWAY.


When would he have to leave the hospital?

FOR NORMAL BIRTH WILL STAY TO HOSPITAL AROUND 3 DAYS BUT FOR CS WILL TAKE ABOUT 7 DAYS TO STAY IN THE HOSPITAL

HI,


I had both my boys delivered in Queen Mary. Both were natural birth. I just gave birth in November 07. They encourage breast feed. If you have any questions/problems on breast feeding, you can always attend their 1 hour course they offer in the ward itself. It is very useful course and I strongly suggest that you attend the course. They also provide other courses such as how to bath the baby etc. Try to attend, you will find them useful.


Take care and Good Luck!!


HL

HL,

Thanks for your advice.

Do you attend the courses before or after the birth?

Attended the courses before AND after birth.

Courses given after birth is good, for example, they will ask you to bring in your baby and teach you how to breast feed where else the courses before birth are normally conducted using a baby doll. I found it more practical and useful as the 'real' baby will cry if the position is wrong etc.


By the way, they are also conducting after birth exercise course twice a week. They will inform you during your stay in the hospital, if you don't want to join during that period of time, you can always call them and arrange another time after you have been discharged from the hospital.


:)


HL

Hi Cara,


They didn't mention to you regarding the after birth exercises? That's strange. I joint the course 6 years ago and last november, when I gave birth to my second bb, although I didn't get a chance to attend during my stay in the hospital, on the day I left, they passed me a leaflet asking to call the hospital IF i would like to join the class.


I found it useful.


Cheers.


HL

I second Cara's opinion - the nurses are great and do really well given how overworked they are. Do remember they are human after all therefore you will connect better with some than others (and this will depend on what kind of day they have had as well). This will happen whether you go private or public. At the end of the day you are in hospital for medical reasons it is not a hotel and if you want the best possible care with the most up to date equipment then the QM is the place to be (all private hospitals in HK "bounce" their patients down there in case of "real" emergency or problems). They will try to accomocate you in all that they can - cord cutting by partner / breastfeeding / birth plan (although hardly anyone I know has had their plan go as intended!). They will also bend the rules a little and look the other way for things like cord blood banking if you want to arrange that privately as well.


Cara I also was not given any info on the after birth classes and exercises ....but I believe this is because they only carry them out in Cantonese, whereas they do schedule some ante natal courses in English at the Tsan Yuk