Giving Birth at KKH

My ward while staying at KKH post-delivery

When I found out that I was pregnant again, I already knew my go-to-hospital for giving birth to my baby. It’s Kandang Kerbau Hospital or, in short, KKH. I gave birth to my son here and I really like how things are handled over there, the nurse hospitality, the doctor’s professionalism, to name a few.

Without any hesitation, I booked my first antenatal check up there. Unfortunately, Dr Marianne Hendricks, who delivered my son, has moved to Thomson. So I was referred to Dr Suzanna Sulaiman.

Dr Suzanna is a warm and loving lady. She is very approachable, so I was able to discuss anything that I had in my mind. Nearing my due date, she informed me way before that she would be away for 2-week overseas trip. She has chosen for me a covering doctor that suits me the most, a pro-natural gynae, so that in case I gave birth before she came back, I would be on safe hands.

The actual birth itself lasted pretty fast. My EDD is 11 January, but it seems the baby  wanted to see mommy way sooner.

It was a lovely day on 1^st January. We spent the day visiting our new friend. In the evening, I started feeling contraction, but I brushed it off since it’s not so prominent. Nearing 9 pm, the contraction is getting intense and regular. Still, I could not accept that it was actually the beginning of labor. No, the contraction is not that painful yet.

At 10 pm, I started wondering, “Could this be my actual labor..?” I sent message to my sister, whereby she suggested me to note down the timing. To my surprise, it’s already at 7-minute interval. Still, I was in denial, thinking that perhaps it’s because I was too tired that day.  I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t bear the pain and start to groaned such that my husband woke up right at midnight. It turned out that the mucous plug has come out.  He got panicked, and urged me to go to hospital right away. I finally agreed, and off we went.

We were admitted around 00.30 am in KKH delivery suite. The nurse installed CTG and after being monitored for about 15minutes I was sent to labor ward. Senior nurse came in and checked the dilation. I was already 5-cm dilated. She called dr Suzanna right away. I was lucky that the doctor has been back from her trip, eventhough she’s officially still on leave.

After the doctor came in, everything went so fast. The water bag was broken, I started pushing, and finally baby Khadijah was born on 2^nd January, 02.28 am.

After the baby has been weighed and cleaned and doctor was done with the stitching, three of us were left to enjoy skin-to-skin contact with the baby. It was really a memorable experience to have your baby with you right after delivery. Around 4 am, I was wheeled to my ward, together with my baby since I opted to room-in.

The ward nurses and midwifes have been very helpful throughout my stay there. This is something that I really love in KKH. Whether it is going to the toilet, asking help to get my baby, asking for more water, asking a question, they are all ready to help with smile. When there’s time of shift change, the new team will go to each patient introducing themselves and made sure the patient is well-taken care of. All nurses are lactation-certified, so by default you won’t need to see a lactation consultant. You can ask them just about anything. I really made use this opportunity asking them to teach me how to breastfeed in different positions, how to take care a newborn, and many more.

There were two special ladies that really made my day over there. One senior midwife, who’s willing to serve my breakfast by herself and asked for additional Milo since it was served a little bit late. The other one is a young nurse who always monitored how my breastfeeding has been, cheered me up that baby will get enough milk, and taught me how to fill the baby log book. Unfortunately I couldn’t remember their names.

One thing that I forgot to mention, I was signed up for a free antenatal breastfeeding class during my antenatal visit. And this class is really really useful, not only for me but especially my husband. It gives so much information and since it is a private class (i.e. there are only you and the instructor), you can ask her anything you want to know about breastfeeding. We actually had a pretty detailed discussion about what to do if breastfed baby had jaundice, as what happened to my first child.

And one more thing, KKH is now on its way to achieve its BFHI (baby-friendly hospital initiative) accreditation. Be it an antenatal breastfeeding class, skin-to-skin contact post-delivery, rooming-in, and lactation support, KKH strives to implement them on its routine procedure. So if you plan to exclusively breastfeed your baby, giving birth in KKH is really a good option that you must consider.

Where did you give birth to your baby? Did you have a pleasant experience like I did?