Stand and Deliver: My most recent birth experience
- Thread starter thanka2
- Start date
May I ask you a question about the laboring room? The one I saw at Baptist was so cramped. Each berth, separated by a curtain, was barely wide enough for a single bed and the TONS of equipment inside. The passageway was extremely narrow and right outside was a corridor filled with mainland men sitting around with giant suitcases.
My question is -- how can anyone move around in that space? All the things you described -- putting your hands on the wall, having your husband support you from behind -- they would have been impossible in the area I saw.
Any guidance is appreciated. And congrats again!
My question is -- how can anyone move around in that space? All the things you described -- putting your hands on the wall, having your husband support you from behind -- they would have been impossible in the area I saw.
Any guidance is appreciated. And congrats again!
carang
Registered User
labouring rooms and delivery rooms are not the same... you get moved to a delivery room when you get to a certain point in the labour. these are private rooms (at least the ones in QMH are). during the lead up, they have you in the regular ward, until you get to the point you need to move to the delivery room. you ARE allowed to walk around, but if you are not in a special ward, then your hubby can only come in during the visiting hours. you will see women walking down the halls with their husbands if they are in the begining stages and it's not visiting hours.
prone_to_wander
Registered User
Congratulations Thanka!!!!!
Thanks for sharing your birth experiences, Honkyblues. It seems that you had relatively short labors throughout! I was hoping for a 5-hour labor--to me that was the shortest I felt would be not totally freak-out, panicky. But, to me, man, a 12-hour labor was sooooo much shorter than a 43-hour labor that it felt quick!
See, that's what the books tell you and that's what I was trained in with my first birth--to relax and not yell--but actually, it's so true that every labor is so different. With my son, the thing that helped me the most was that I just started counting through contractions--no one taught me to count but to me at the time, counting meant that the contraction wouldn't go on forever so if I could count to 60 seconds, then I would know that the end was in sight.
But, this labor, although I was actually very relaxed (much moreso than with my son--hence my ability to dilate and get through labor in a much shorter period of time) vocalizing (controlled yelling, essentially) made my labor go by very quickly and next to counter-pressure it was the only thing that consistently helped me go through contractions. So, my theory is, whatever works, works. I know a friend in the States who has had at least 4 homebirths and she is SO QUIET during labor--she just says that for her internalizing is most effective. But, for me, and my personality, wow, praying at the top of my lungs was so effective in labor and even though maybe I wasn't "saving enough energy"--I just did what worked at the time--what my body told me to do. But, with this baby, I didn't ever have to even try to push--my uterus just did everything for me--so that's why the "pushing phase" was actually less than 2 minutes long! So, anyway, it was super annoying to have these nurses trying to tell me to "relax, be quiet etc." because I already read that book...been there, done that...I did it with my son but this baby wanted to make her entrance into the world with more "pizazz" I guess. He he he!
See, that's what the books tell you and that's what I was trained in with my first birth--to relax and not yell--but actually, it's so true that every labor is so different. With my son, the thing that helped me the most was that I just started counting through contractions--no one taught me to count but to me at the time, counting meant that the contraction wouldn't go on forever so if I could count to 60 seconds, then I would know that the end was in sight.
But, this labor, although I was actually very relaxed (much moreso than with my son--hence my ability to dilate and get through labor in a much shorter period of time) vocalizing (controlled yelling, essentially) made my labor go by very quickly and next to counter-pressure it was the only thing that consistently helped me go through contractions. So, my theory is, whatever works, works. I know a friend in the States who has had at least 4 homebirths and she is SO QUIET during labor--she just says that for her internalizing is most effective. But, for me, and my personality, wow, praying at the top of my lungs was so effective in labor and even though maybe I wasn't "saving enough energy"--I just did what worked at the time--what my body told me to do. But, with this baby, I didn't ever have to even try to push--my uterus just did everything for me--so that's why the "pushing phase" was actually less than 2 minutes long! So, anyway, it was super annoying to have these nurses trying to tell me to "relax, be quiet etc." because I already read that book...been there, done that...I did it with my son but this baby wanted to make her entrance into the world with more "pizazz" I guess. He he he!
The F8 ward is available on a first-come, first-serve basis and you cannot "book ahead." When you show up at the hospital in labor you ask them for the form--your husband (or whoever is with you) will need to fill it out and they will rush it off to the ward to see about availability. If there is a bed available when you give birth then you can have it but you have to pay the deposit ($14K) while you are giving birth. We actually had my father-in-law go do that for us because, well, we were busy having a baby at the point. It's a pretty rushed situation because of the high demand for those beds--so as soon as you arrive at the hospital, ask for the form for the Special Accomodation Ward and have someone quickly fill it out and be ready with cash or your credit card to go to the shroff office to pay the deposit. The charges are around $2,200/day for the ward I stayed in (not private, I had a roommate) and I stayed for 3 days because I needed to be observed for bleeding. Most women are there about 1-2 days. The charges are all-inclusive but if you go fully into the private ward your charges, including labor and delivery will be itemized so it is substantially more expensive (and probably not worth the extra charge, in my opinion).
At 36 weeks, unless you are in the catchment area (Hong Kong Island East) for Pamela Youde, I'm not sure you'll get in. Yes, you could show up on their doorstep in labor and they're not going to turn you away but it could make it more complicated for you because they won't have your files or data--unless you can get all your medical files from your private doctor and bring them with you. Someone here had suggested going to the Mother and Child Health Center in that catchment and asking that you be assigned to Pamela Youde. For PY, the MCHC is in Sai Wan Ho. They probably will ask you for proof of residence (a bill or other official document sent to your residence that shows you live in the catchment area) so you'll need to have this document with you when you go.
The labor room I was in was not huge but it wasn't a bed separated by a curtain either. It was a cubicle with a wall on three sides and a curtain in front. The space was approximately 12 feet X 12 feet. That was the "delivery" (birthing) room (I purposely don't use the word "delivery" when I talk about my birthing because I didn't feel I needed someone to come and "deliver" me or my baby of anything--to me, the word "birth" is sufficient to describe what is actually happening).
In most public hospitals, from what I understand, there is a labor room and a "delivery" room. Some people show up to the hospital quite early in their labor and they are in early labor and are thus put in the labor room but with Pamela Youde, at 4 cm you can go to the "delivery" room. Prior to this you're in the labor room and unless it's visiting hours your husband can't be in there with you. This is the reason why I avoided the hospital in early labor. And thankfully as this was my second birth, I knew when my body was at the point that I was going into active labor. I was able to time it so that I arrived at the hospital when my contractions were coming every 1 1/2 minutes and lasting 1 minute which indicates active labor.
Yes, I remember that your c-sections were totally a medical necessity. There are definitely cases in which c-sections must be performed. My best friend just this past week had to have a c-section even though she had planned and prepared for a natural, unmedicated childbirth because her baby was not doing well in the womb (the placenta wasn't nourishing the baby well) and he needed to be taken out almost 4 weeks early for his safety.
I think what I typed earlier was a bit unclear. What I meant about pain was not that c-sections are always (or ever?) painless. I've never had one but from listening to you and friends with similar experiences, I gather that c-sections often carry their own special type of discomfort (not to mention if the epidural doesn't actually take!--yikes!)
My remarks were more of a general response to a lot of the responses in this thread regarding the pain I went through in labor--I just wanted to point out so to other women who are thinking about childbirth that pain is often just a part of labor and it's nothing to be afraid of and probably the amount of pain I went through isn't really all that remarkable.
But, also that there is a difference between pain and suffering (I would say that a c-section without a properly done epidural would qualify for the "suffering" category--correct me if I'm wrong) and for me what made labor not "suffering" for me this time was the fact that I had some sort of way to deal with the pain (counter-pressure, vocalizing etc.) and also that my husband was continuously with me--so the environment/situation really affected me in a positive way which turned the pain into something I could move with and through--something that didn't overwhelm me or make me feel helpless. I couldn't really control the pain but I could remain somewhat in control of my response to it.
Uh...no, the hospital wards are not at all "open to the public." I guess what I described in my birth story was me entering the hospital. You have to check in and we were standing by the shroff office when I was having contractions and that's when the older Chinese guys sitting around were staring at me--but I wasn't in a hospital gown or anything like that.
I never went into the regular wards because I purposely showed up late in my labor so I wouldn't have to wait around in the ward going through labor by myself (without my husband). Not sure how things work during visiting hours in this ward. My advice is to stay away from the hospital until your contractions are at least less than 3 minutes apart--if you're willing to do that--so hopefully you can just go right into the "delivery" room without having to hang out in the general ward.
Once you're in the "delivery" room the only people coming in and out are doctors and nurses. There are other women in the same area going through labor but you won't see them and they won't see you--they are in different cubicles also separated by curtains and they and their husbands aren't wandering around the ward.
Even my husband had difficulty getting supplies (towels, tissue, napkins) from the nurses because they took off and rarely came back to check on us AND he also knew he couldn't be wandering around about the cubicles looking for someone as he might peep in on someone else in labor on accident.
I was completely naked throughout most of my labor and the only people who saw that were my husband and the nurses (and maybe a doctor--not sure) who came in and out.