There will be numerous hospitals in your city of residence which support maternity and childcare. Picking one among those varied options is quite challenging and very important decision to make in the journey of pregnancy. For better clarity and understanding, do read my post on "How to choose a maternity hospital - in my experience " if you haven't seen it yet.
My gynae was affiliated only to three of the maternity hospitals in Singapore, namely Mount Elizabeth, Mount Alvernia and Thomson Medical Centre. We had to look into the different criteria as mentioned in my earlier post, to pick the most suitable one for us. We chose Mount Alvernia from among the three. Below are the key pointers that helped us to arrive at a clear and quick decision.
- Mount Elizabeth was never in the picture as we felt it was quite expensive compared to all other hospitals, although it had one of the best facilities, care & attention and provided sophisticated accommodation.
- The debate was between Mt.A or TMC. The second wave was going on that time so the hospitals no longer had any personal maternity tours. There were only virtual sessions. Mt.A had a free zoom session for which you can register in advance and you will get the meeting invite to your email. Thomson Medical only had a detailed video online and for doubts/clarifications we had a helpline number to contact.
- We attended the Mt.A's zoom session and it was quite helpful, the host was very polite and patient in answering all our queries. They shared a video showing the delivery suite, different types of maternity rooms (double sharing, single, suite, etc). They also shared a detailed package matrix which gave a clear picture of the pricing for each type of room for each type of delivery (normal, normal with epidural, C-sec, C-sec with epidural etc). We were also briefed on the allied facilities like delivery counselling, lactation consultation, parenting counselling, etc.
- We saw TMC's detailed video and called up the helpline to clarify our doubts. Their replies were polite and clear too. Package and pricing was available online.
- One of the key differentiators were the location, proximity to our residence, availability of other specialists and facilities within the same hospital, permission to bring home cooked or ordered food and finally my gynae's preference.
- TMC was slightly better in terms of price but not much of a difference. Mt.A offered ladies card to be purchased for $60 which meant 10% discount on final bill and discounts in their pharmacies and other shops in the premises. We even got free AVIVA accidental insurance covered for a year for baby and mother, complimentary prenatal massage, free Medela single breast pump upon availing the Ladies card.
- TMC back then didnt allow home cooked food or ordered food from outside while Mt.A was open about that. Since we preferred vegetarian food we wanted to consider this factor just in case hospital food doesn't suit we can always order from outside
- Mount Alvernia is a multi speciality hospital so in case of emergency during delivery, the other specialists will be available for immediate assistance. My gynae preferred Mt.A for this major reason. In fact in my experience they managed to arrange for the epidural immediately after I requested for it. The anesthetist came in no time although I didn't choose epidural in advance.
- The rooms and delivery suite also looked better in Mount Alvernia after comparing the videos shared.
- Another important reason was that there was construction going on near TMC during that time for the TEL I suppose, because of which there was traffic jam while heading to the hospital. And there will be noise too. So we decided on Mt.A, although some internal construction was going on we didn't hear much of a sound during our stay or in the delivery suite. Mt.A is positioned in a locality where there is no much of a traffic jam or rush to head to the hospital. There was a shuttle bus from Bishan MRT to Mt.A every 30 mins (if I am correct).
With all these factors and criteria in mind, we decided on Mount Alvernia and we are quite sure that we made a wise decision as the delivery went smooth and the stay was very very comfortable. I received good care and attention during labour and during the hospital stay as well. I will definitely write a detailed post on our experience in Mount Alvernia which will give you sufficient information to supplement. Best wishes to all expecting mommies out there to have a safe smooth delivery and happy parenting henceforth.