I was so excited to get the lay of the land of the place (Sandton Mediclinic) where I will be birthing my precious little baby, especially after sitting through the home birth / birth centre brigade on Sunday.
We started off at the labour ward where if you are going the natural way, you will start off there. Looks very nice and each person has a room with bathroom as well. On the same floor is the theatre where I will be having the cesarean.
We then went to the maternity ward. (I would start off there and then go to the theatre and then back) There is a nursery but it only had one baby in it with a doctor and the parents. They encourage mothers to have the babies with them (yay!) and the nursery is just if you need a break. I saw quite a few moms wheeling the babies around on those cots on wheels type things.
You are only allowed a certain number of visitors (12) and you have to make a list and they have to sign in.
They showed us the general ward where you share three in a room and one bathroom (which isn’t bad). You can have curtains that will close around you if you want as well. They also showed us the private room too. The medical aid covers the general ward so that is where I will probably be.
The private room costs around R2200 per night. They even have executive suites which are around R5000 a night but then you can have a huge room with place for dad to sleep too. And a full time nurse at your disposal.
Apparently on the day you leave you can stay as late as you want (the medical aid charges from midnight to midnight) so you don’t have to rush. Also you need to be discharged by both the gynae and the pediatrician before you can go. They apparently also give vaccines to the baby on your last day too.
Dads apparently have 3 jobs: 1) Attend the 1pm demo of how to bath your baby esp. if mom is not up to it. 2) Control the visitors esp. if mom is tired to chase them away 3) Get organized to have green id books for birth registration; you can also have Photostats of them as well.
What was super cool was seeing other pregnant ladies, and it looked (by looking at the register) that about half were having Cesar’s. So it was cool not to feel so alone in this boat again.
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