Recent Tsan Yuk/Queen Mary experiences

[MENTION=48657]slin[/MENTION]

Hope you don't mind me taking a stab at some your questions

1. You will need to ask for an Epidural - it may take a while for them to organize it but they will call for the Anesthetist

2. If you have a natural birth and you and baby are doing fine, you can ask to be discharged after 24 hours. Have heard of many second time mums who have left after 24 hours.

3. Yes you can breastfeed. There is a Lactation Consultant at Queen Mary and if you have any problems ask the ward nurse to call her for you.

4. The care if fine. And in case of an emergency, they have the knowledge and skills to handle the situation.

If you are really considering Queen Mary, maybe you can enlist the help of a doula. You can then labour at home peacefully, and only head to the hospital when you're in active labour. Both Annerley and A Mother's Touch offer this service and they do a Free Session every week where you can meet their staff and learn about the different packages they offer.
 
Hi slin

1. I had a c-section so cant tell you my personal experience about epidural but I know for sure there are often delays in administering epidural. This fact is politely conveyed in all prenatal classes by the hospital staff.

2. They are not very strict on the 3D2N rule. The mother next to me was discharged the following day after delivery because she had a toddler to look after. Her baby was in the neonatal unit but still she was allowed to leave.

3. I did manage to bf the baby in the hospital but that is no thanks to QM staff. In theory they support bf but in practise little support was given. The nurse/midwife would come every now and then to check how many times I had bf but had no inputs to give. Rather it seemed they came to check on me just to tick boxes and were very eager to leave me to it. I was very disappointed at the kind of bf support given specially since they really promote it in theory.

4. Stay was a little frustrating. As you wrote the the doctors and nurses at Tsan Yuk are really nice, and that was my experience too but the hospital staff is not that helpful. But they are certainly not rude-just unconcerned. Also as one would expect in a public hospital there is lots of noise - babies crying all night. I have wrote somewhere before as well that the staff will not inform you of anything eg when will the paediatrician arrive, where are they taking you baby ( it was for a bath and the baby wasnt returned for 2 hours). I had a c - section and no one told me I was not to eat the entire day. I had to ask again and again and again... . The answer was - " wait for the doctor"

In general I had a very tiring experience. But medically you are in the best hands. Also if I do not have maternity insurance next time around, I probably will still choose QMH and save tons of money. Next time I'll know what to expect and wont be easily bothered. It is only a short stay so you can bare the inconvenience.
 
[MENTION=54973]revesi[/MENTION] Thanks for sharing your experience. Most Gov't hospitals in Hong Kong are short staffed and the nurses don't have time to spend with each patient. Unfortunately its not something the gov't can fix anytime soon. Glad you and baby are ok, and are home resting.
 
Sounds exactly the same as when I had my daughter in 2012... I had been told epidural takes a long time so I started asking for it straight away even though I wasn't sure (you can always say you changed your mind later)... It did take long and by the time they were ready I was sure and went ahead... As others have said, the ward is not great... Very noisy, terrible food, not much input from the nurses and no one tells you anything... I wanted an early discharge and got myself discharged early in the morning when the doctors did the rounds. I kept asking the whole day when the Paed was coming so that my daughter could be discharged. They kept telling me just wait, still coming... Only very late afternoon did one of the nurses tell me the Paed had been already when they took the baby to bath in the morning... They called the Paed back when I insisted but that took a few hours. We only managed to leave late that night when it could have been late morning/early afternoon if I had of caught them on their rounds... So just make sure to follow through on everything, don't just ask 1 nurse, keep asking and be persistent... Overall we had a pretty good experience, no frills obviously but can't really fault anything... Will have my second baby there in Nov
 
My doctor has told me that as I am under 35 (I'm nearly 32) I will not be offered the Down syndrome testing or a 12 week ultrasound at Tsan Yuk - is that correct? He said likely to just have one ultrasound around 18-20 weeks. If anyone can confirm tho would be great, I may consider a private ultrasound if this is the case for peace of mond
 
That's incorrect. In the past the 12 week downs screening was only for mothers 35 years and over but they have changed it and it is now for everyone. I am 33 and had mine done yesterday.
 
My recent overall experience with Tsan Yuk/Queen Mary (I gave birth at QM on Jan. 31):

Tsan Yuk -Overall, long wait times for appointments, even though I had been booked and had had appointments. The only time I did not have to wait long was for GBS and additional scanning since I had gained less weight than most average expectant women. GBS was horrible. Performed by an inexperienced nurse who made swabbing very painful. She then attempted to re-swab me using the same swab. At that point I called her on it and made her use a new, clean sterile swab. Her response "ok, but stop flinching and pulling back." My response: "If you made it less painful, then I would see no need to flinch and pull back." My results were not even given to me (which only should happen if you test negative), and only when I was about to deliver I found out I had GBS.

Queen Mary: Overall, very professional, efficient staff. The only exception was when I entered the maternity ward (they make you wait 30-minutes to an hour) being assessed and monitored . This was at 3 A.M. An intern attempted to take insert an IV. For some odd reason she did not try the crook of my elbow, rather, on the back of my left palm and missed, making it very painful. She attempted again on the back of my palm and again missed. At that point I was screaming with blood all over the place (I screamed so loudly that two nurse midwives came running over to see what the commotion was about). I then had to instruct her where she should be attempting to insert and finally on the third try (as by my instruction) she successfully got the IV in.

Surgeon, while young, was very professional , possessed a calm demeanor and had my baby delivered safely.

So overall, my experience with Queen Mary would make me deem it a good hospital to deliver at if going the public route. I am mixed on Tsan Yuk but you have no choice with Tsan Yuk if you decide to deliver at Queen Mary.
 
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