KKH vs PEH vs NUH

So we just had our third child. Three different child, three different hospitals!

Our first child was delivered at KKH, second at PEH and third at NUH. Below are the summary of the pros and cons of all of them. Take note that only the last one may be relevant as it was the most recent one. The earlier two are a few years back and things may have changed.

1st Child - KKH - 2011

Clinic

We had an experienced male gynae, Prof John Tee, whom we saw most of the time at their satellite clinic at AMK since it was nearer to us than KKH itself. To be honest, I prefer the satellite clinic to the private clinic at KKH anyday.

The appointments were a breeze. You hardly need to wait anything longer than 15 mins as the clinic is small hence do not cater to too many mums.

Experience - Positive

Delivery suites

The midwifes are all too 'old school' therefore they expect you to follow the routine which is to get you induced, jab you with pain killers, cervical check now and then and lastly get you to push.

You are also expected to lay on your back the whole time. No other positions allowed.

Experience - Negative

Maternity ward

We stayed at the A1 ward and it was a pleasant experience.  The nurses were kind and attentive and they really take good care of you. A lactation nurse will come by to help if you are having issues with breastfeeding.

Experience - Absolutely positive.

2nd Child - PEH - 2013

Clinic

As this is a private hospital, the gynaes are all private gynaes who owns their own clinic and we had Dr Heng from Heng Clinic as our gynae. She is an experienced gynae and appointments with her was always pleasant. She does cervical checks that was the least painful.

Her clinic is always packed and we do sometimes have to wait a while, especially when she has to attend to a delivery. However, I don't recall having to wait for hours.

Experience - Positive

Delivery Suite

This has got to be the biggest delivery suite. It was that spacious! For this 2nd delivery, we had a doula with us which the hospital allows then. They don't anymore now.

The midwifes are kind but also pretty old school. They don't even know what is a doula and what they do. As Dr Heng knows we are going for natural birth, the nurses were probably informed and pretty much offhand.

Experience - Positive

Maternity Ward

We didn't get the single bed suite as they are all fully booked therefore has to share with another mum in a 2 bedder. By right I was not allowed to stay the night but because they were not able to provide us a single bedder room, they made an exception. The other mum had her hubby stayed the night too, so they probably had no choice.

They provide Halal Chinese style confinement food which was delicious!

Experience - Neutral, as we were unable to get a single bedder.

3rd Child - NUH - 2016

Clinic

We had Prof Su Lin Lin as our gynae. To be honest, we would rather have a different gynae if we could but the gynae we wanted was fully booked. Prof Su is a little too cautious for our liking that she is the only gynae of all the 3 to cause us to worry that the pregnancy is not normal when it is. She even suggest a detailed scan when we are like a couple of weeks away from the delivery date, which I find unnecessary and redundant.

However, she was not the main problem but time wasted while waiting to see her was! We spend so more time on the walkway to the rooms then actually seeing her. The longest we waited was 4 hours!

Experience - Terrible.

Delivery Suite

NUH allows you to practically move about. This was the absolutely positive part. They also allow a doula which is another plus. The nurses were also very accommodating.

However, during our delivery, the standby gynae who was clearly inexperienced and probably unaware of what natural birth is was the biggest let down. At one point, she even cringed and she wants to be a gynae?!

Experience - Positive for the rooms and nurses. Absolutely negative for the in house doctor.

A tip to would be parents delivering at NUH and planning for a natural birth. You don't have to listen to the in house gynae. Consult your own doctor instead!

Maternity Ward

Pretty much similar to KKH. The nurses were kind and took real good care of us. The rooms were also pretty new and huge.

As single bedder, they also provide celebratory meal which basically means two upgraded meals for each spouse on a properly laid makeshift dinner table.

Experience - Absolutely positive.