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Giving Birth in Singapore:
How to select your doctor and clinic
Maternity CarePregnancy and delivery of babies is safe and many expatriate mothers confess to have felt better taken care of than in their home countries. Pre- and ante natal classes are offered and private hospitals arrange for a tour of the maternity ward and delivery room.
Medical intervention in childbirth is widely practiced by administering epidurals and pain relief drugs. Singaporean women like to have caesarian births enabling them to plan their maternity leave. If you want to have a drug-free birth you should talk to your obstetrician.
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Generally, there are two styles of management, active versus expectant management.
An active management caregiver will probably have a higher episiotomy rate, have time limits for labor after which he/she will want to break waters and/or use drugs to speed up labor, and have clients birthing on the bed (mostly in semi reclining position or with her lying on her back). Those things fit with the point of view of the ObGyn needing to have control to manage the process and using routines to guide that process.
An expectant
management caregiver would probably have a lower episiotomy rate and
perhaps be familiar with the idea of upright positioning. He/she would probably
be comfortable allowing the mother to labor as long as is needed in any stage
of labor, as long as the mother and baby are doing well.
He/she would probably be comfortable with women staying at home for some period
of time after premature rupture of membranes. These things fit with the point
of view of each labor being different, and interventions being used when there
is a specific medical indication particular to *this* mother, rather than on a
routine basis.
The mother/parents must decide what style of practice she feels comfortable with. If she is wants an expectant management birth, she is not going to get this with an active management ObGyn. If she wants her ObGyn to make her feel safe and to make the decisions for her, then she may feel very comfortable with an active management caregiver.
So how do you find out what style of practice the ObGyn you are seeing practices? Try asking open ended rather than closed questions, questions that does not require yes or no answers but rather, enables you to hear what the ObGyn feels about the question you have put forth to him/her and how receptive he/she is to answering your questions. Some questions you could ask are:
How
often do you find the need to do an episiotomy?
How
do you feel about women labouring and birthing off the bed in any position they
feel comfortable?
When
and under what circumstances do you feel that an induction is necessary?
How
do you feel about women eating and drinking during labor?
How
do you feel about women having additional support during labor such as Doulas?
From the answers of the ObGyn, it will give the parents an idea of what style the ObGyn practices and if he/she is open to communication. It doesn't matter what style of practice the ObGyn is geared towards. What matters is if the style the ObGyn practices matches the expectations of the parents. If there is a mismatch, the parents can either lower their expectations to match their ObGyn or change caregivers.
This article is courtesy of Ginny Phang of Four Trimester. See website below.
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Birth Registration
You must register the birth of your child in Singapore within 14 days of the date of birth, (including Sundays and public holidays). You can register on the spot in the hospitals below. Immigration charges SGD 18 for issuing the birth certificate. For documents required see the web site on Birth Registration below.
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