St. Teresa's Hospital

[andychk]

We have moved around from doctor to doctor, hospital to hospital, private to public. Nightmares at Baptist, hygiene issues with Government, overcharging with private :blahblah - we appear to be fairly settled on St. Teresa's for an elective Cesarean in late March. Does anyone have any experience of St. Teresa's, either good or bad that they'd like to share with us?
We have three children already between us from previous marriages and this is our first baby together - so it's not as if we don't know what to expect - perhaps we're just choosy...
We'd love to hear from you.
Many thanks:crib

 

[Query]

Sorry I don't know anything about St.Teresa's. You mentioned that Baptist is a nightmare. I am planning to deliver at Baptist and am wondering what bad experiences you had there?

 

[esey]

I had operation (not give birth though) 4 years ago in St. Teresa. I like their environment also their staff too. I'm planning to give birth there next month as well.

For Baptist, I haven't been there but I visited my friend (who gives birth there) once 6 years ago. My impression is that rooms are quite packed.

 

[sky123]

I went to St. Teresa to look around before deciding. You can just pop by there. When I went, this nurse there seemed reluctant to show us around and then she only showed us one room. She didn't seem very helpful so in the end my husband and I decided to deliver at the Adventist instead.

 

[patti]

I just gave birth last month at St. Teresa. The facility is very clean and the staff are very professional. I was sharing my room with 2 other women, it was actually quite noisy. If you can afford it, I would recommend a private room.

 

[ggrizzy]

i haven't delivered at st theresa's before but i've visited a few friends there, both for c-sections, and natural deliveries. what i heard is you have to share a common "pre-delivery" room with others while in early labour and if you elect to breastfeed (diehard breastfeeding fan), you have to trudge all the way to the nursery even at wee hours at night! so i guess if you elect for formula feeding and c-section, then it would be ok. i would vouch for the adventist any time!

 

[cyberyoda]

St. Theresa's Father not allowed to see/hold baby until checkout???

Hi, We too are looking to deliver in St. Theresa's in late March. However, we understand that the father is not allowed to go into the baby room or hold the baby until check out time. Seems quite odd. Is this normal? For a c-section this could be 4 days!!!

We went and looked at the facilities and all seems well except for this one issue.

 

[Saisaiii]

I just gave birth to my baby last week at STH. I found the nurses very nice and professional, except the nurse who was present during my labour (actually I was in so much pain that I didnt notice at all but my husband told me afterwards that she stood a feet away from me most of the time and just called out "push" a few times).

It is true that dad can only hold the baby right after birth and then he'd have to wait until you leave the hospital. My husband was kind of jealous that I get to hold the baby when I go to feed her.

Also true that you must go to the nursery to feed the baby so if you cant get out of bed, you could express your milk. I was really concerned about this before birth and was deciding between STh and Adventist, then I heard that most people actually don't have enough milk to express yet 3 days after birth. If you do c-section, you might have enough milk by Day 4-5 but then by that time, you should be able to make your way to the nursery.

Hope this helps.

 

[barbwong_130]

I find this separation so sad. How can you begin to understand your baby if the two of two aren?t together? And how can you get breastfeeding, especially exclusive breastfeeding, off to a good start if you aren?t allowed to actually breastfeed?

The first day you have colostrum. This comes in very small quantities because the baby only needs very small quantities but lots of them. The baby needs to feed at least eight times in 24 hours. This means that you need to express at least eight times. It is much easier to breastfeed than it is to express. What a lot of extra work the hospital is asking you to do.

Often you will find that the medical staff insist on supplementing your baby. This probably wouldn?t have been necessary if you were directly feeding your baby. There is a world of difference to how the staff perceive feeding 2 mls to a baby from a syringe and a baby drinking 2 mls but being at the breast for 40 minutes.

Although the public hospital are very crowded these days their policies of letting the baby be with you and allowing you to breastfeed are far superior to some of the private hospitals.

 

[ggrizzy]

i also second barb's opinion about being separated from the baby so early on, especially if you are planning on exclusive breastfeeding. expressing milk during the early days will only hinder your progress, and in return, because you feel that the amount you expressed is always inadequate, you will give up!

in the early day, whatever you have to breastfeed the baby is enough for the baby's intake and your body will adjust accordingly to the needs of your newborn.

i have not had any experiences with public hospitals but i can say that at the adventist, they will NOT force you to supplement and having the baby brought to you for each feeds helps you get the much needed rest during those early days!

just a few thoughts from my own experience...:burnout: