7th April 2026. This is the day my first child was born. I had previously done postings in obstetrics and gynaecology but was still amazed by the process of childbirth. It was a long journey here, 39+6 weeks. I was doing a rotation at KKH at the time, and was first hand witness to the complexity of pregnancy across all stages. From conception, to the different stages of pregnancy, to the peripartum and delivery period, and postpartum state. Childbirth can be a very complicated process.
We had several considerations in mind when we were choosing where to book our pregnancy at, namely;
Proximity
Competency
Subspeciality coverage
Cost
Public and private healthcare surprisingly offered similar rates based on anecdotal evidence. Private hospital offered potentially better food, more lax visitation policies, but perhaps lacked in comprehensive subspecialty coverage.We also didn't have any significant named clinicians recommended to us. Public hospitals are familiar to us and we know that there are multidisciplinary teams ready to tackle all aspects of the pregnancy and delivery process. This was to me a significant factor in choosing public healthcare. With its close proximity and some named recommendations, we decided to book with NUH.
Then came a secondary consideration. With public healthcare you could go either full private, full subsidised, or make the initial booking as a subsidised patient and then move over as a private patient once the pregnancy progresses (around 20 week onward where there is a package). Not sure how much can be saved this way, as the price difference for the antenatal workup isn't readily available even to us. Any savings may actually not be too significant when considering the time spent queuing at a polyclinic for a referral, and then waiting for the subsidised appointment. The gynae we chose also didn't accept patients beyond a certain number of weeks, so this wasn't really an option for us. With that in mind, we booked ourselves to NUH as a private patient.
Each antenatal investigation brought along with them some low level trepidation as we awaited the results. So many potential possible outcomes, many of which I have been seeing in KKH. Thankfully things were fairly smooth sailing. The first trimester brought about some nausea, fairly mild. Our standby supply of Bonjesta never needed to be used ($2.5 SGD per tablet). Second trimester was relatively symptom free, and we even spent 2 weeks on a holiday at New Zealand. We were careful with the long flights and took precaution with TED stockings and some mobilising during the flight. Third trimester had some GERD/reflux symptoms and difficulty finding a comfortable sleeping position. Otherwise we managed to do plenty of walks, as advised by gynae - I quote "no limit" to the walking. This was intended to try and induce spontaneous labor. We ended up walking about twice a day if time permitted, up to 5 km a time. We were more than happy to walk, and enjoyed birdwatching etc along the way.
We eventually had to undergo induction of labor as the baby was >90th centile and we didn't want to wait till the baby got even bigger. The date chosen was at 39+5w, after a public holiday. The detailed process of induction of labor and eventual delivery is probably too personal and lengthy to be posted here. It was an eye-opening experience as it was my first time witnessing a vacuum assisted delivery. We were glad to have chosen our gynae, as her quick decision making and authority probably made the difference between a vaginal delivery and an LSCS.
We didn't take up any maternity insurance, as we felt the coverage was poor. What we will probably do is a proper hospitalisation plan after 14 days of birth.
It was through this process that we realiesd that not all credit cards included hospitalisation fees as part of the cashback program. I ended up paying mostly with Trust cashback card at a rate of 1%, and with AMEX True Cashback card at 1.5% return.
Here begins a new chapter of our lives, a novel and maturing experience for the both of us.