I’ve been trying to avoid sharing my final hospital bill because many people don’t understand that bills can vary by A LOT (like thousands), depending on your gynae charges, delivery/room type and whether you take up all the optional tests or decide on none. You really must know what you’re comparing. It’s better to understand what makes up the bill and how much you can claim from medisave (it differs based on delivery procedure) so you can do your own calculations. But I’ve got toooo many requests, so I think you’d be interested in this. Please treat this as a sample only. If you do take this bill as reference, please read the details below as to what extras I paid for.

#ChuaBeeBee and I were discharged on 15 May 2016. We opted for express checkout so we didn’t have to spend time at the business office before we left – the final bill was sent to us about 1-2 weeks after we went home.

This bill is for C-section with epidural – 4D3N stay in a single ward. But take note that as I tried for inducement but failed, I was also charged for the usage of labour ward/CTG monitoring before I underwent c-section in the operating theatre. If yours is a straightforward c-section, you won’t be charged these components.

Your bill will differ depending on consumables and your own doctor’s charges.

Mummy’s bill: $10630.11 (hospital charges + gynae + anesthetist charges)
Baby’s bill: $1456.98 (hospital charges + paediatrician charges)
Total bill: $12087.09

Claimable medisave (mummy): $4400 (check your claim amount here, according to your delivery procedure and number of days stayed)
Claimable medisave (baby): $1339.48

Total cash component: $6347.61

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Note: Apart from Mount A’s maternity package prices (refer to table in blog link), we also paid extra for things like baby’s hearing test, jaundice blood test and metabolic test, plus my CTG monitoring charges, physiotherapy compression socks, abdominal binder, painkillers and companion fee. Note: the two ‘Doctor Operation Fee’ entries are for my gynae and the anaesthetist who administered my epidural.

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Catch up on my other pregnancy posts:

Pregnancy: The big reveal!
Pregnancy: The first trimester scans… I saw an empty womb on my first scan
Pregnancy: The second trimester – harmony test and gender reveal!
Pregnancy: The second trimester – 20-week anomaly scan + gestational diabetes scare
Pregnancy: The third trimester 4D scan – I saw Chua Bee Bee’s cute little face!
Pregnancy: Mount Alvernia Hospital – Maternity Tour & Estimated Bill Size 2016
Pregnancy: Bellybuds! Playing music for your baby in the womb
FY2016 Budget: Is the government giving us an extra $3K into the Child Development Account?
Pregnancy: Why I’m choosing GAIA Natural Baby Organic Skincare for #ChuaBeeBee
Pregnancy: Tips for changing your gynae at Week 35
Pregnancy: When you wrist hurts like nobody’s business (All about De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis)
How to bake your own chunky chocolate lactation cookies
Pregnancy: Week 39 – Low amniotic fluid and an eviction notice!
[Baby] Chua Bee Bee’s birth story: Failed inducement and a c-section :)
Baby: 30-Day DIY Confinement Herbs with Lao Ban Niang

Plus, 10% off all GAIA Natural Baby products + free gift still ongoing. Click here for details. Use my code at checkout:

The post Baby: Mount Alvernia Hospital Actual Bill 2016 appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Hello! I never thought I would get around to posting this. Being a new parent is exhausting. There’s so much to learn and my breast feeding experience hasn’t been all cotton candy and marshmallows, but more on that later. This post is all about CBB’s birth!

12 May midnight

We check in at Mount Alvernia’s delivery suite where I was to undergo inducement (I see the term ‘induction’ being used and accepted every where, but I refuse to use it LOL). There were 4-5 couples who arrived at about the same time. The nurse later told us that a total of 15 couples checked in that day to induce (not spontaneous) because the next day was FRIDAY THE 13TH can you believe that. I was strapped to a CTG machine to monitor baby’s heartbeat and movement, along with my contractions. Still in the mood for some selfies.

1am

The nurse inserts the first pill, hopefully to dilate my cervix, which was still a stubborn 0.5cm at 39+4 weeks. For the clueless, the cervix has to be opened to 10cm before we can start pushing the baby out. I spend the rest of the night watching breastfeeding videos on channel 17 and SBC’s 奇缘 re-run at 3am. Haha.

4am

I was taken off the CTG machine and told to sleep, and then put on it again around 6am.

7am

My doctor arrived to check on my dilation and contractions. He asked me how I felt, to which I answered, ok leh. He was quite disappointed and said he was hoping I would say I was in a lot of pain cos it would mean the contractions were starting. He then glanced at the CTG machine and was surprised that I was having strong contractions every 5 minutes. ‘You don’t feel anything?’ ‘Erm, just normal period cramps lor.’ He checked my dilation and it was still 0.5cm. He was supposed to insert a second pill, but because the cervical dilation and contractions didn’t happen concurrently (I only had contractions but no dilation), he was worried that doing so might place more stress on my baby. He wanted to monitor me for 3-4 hours to see if I would go into labour on my own. If that fails, we were given the option to wait till night to insert the second pill (which I didn’t want, as cbb’s water level was already low), or decide to go for c-section that afternoon.

11am

No luck! My cervix wouldn’t budge – it was still at 0.5cm. We decided to go for c-sect with epidural. We’ll see our princess soon!

12pm

Wheeled to the operating theatre where I was given epidural. The process was a pain but it wasn’t the needle that was painful. The anesthetist had me curl up and bend towards him so he could feel my spine, and that was the most painful part. After the injection, he immediately asked (shouted at) me, ‘Your left leg feels funny now right?’ ‘Err, no, it still feels the same.’ ‘It feels numb right!! Now, now!” ‘I can still move my toes…..’ Super buay tahan him. Overall epi pain scale: 2/10

12.40pm

My gynae begins preparing me for the c-sect. Before I knew it, like literally less than 2 minutes later, he popped his head over and said, ‘I’m done! Waiting for your hubby to come in only.’ ‘WHAT? That’s like 2 minutes! Or less!’ Super incredible! I didn’t feel anything, maybe a light tug. The hubby was ushered in. (p.s: husbands can only go into the OT if you opt for epi, not GA, and mine was only allowed in the moment baby is ready to be tugged out from the uterus. And the c-sect recovery was ONLY bad on the first and second day. I was already walking on the second day morning (although I was cursing and swearing), but by the third day, the pain is nothing.

12.50pm

CBB is here! HELLOOOOO!

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When Jason showed me the photos when I was lying there while my doc stitched me up in 5 minutes, my first thought, apart from being relieved that cbb is well, was OMG WHAT HAVE I GIVEN BIRTH TO?! SHE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE HIM, RIGHT DOWN TO THE HAIRSTYLE WTF:

Luckily, in a matter of hours she has turned into a beautiful little baby GIRL who actually still morphs into Jasonette sometimes (my team mate gave her this incredible name):

We spent the next 4D3N in the hospital – we chose single ward as we didn’t want to disturb others, and so we could have more privacy. Best decision ever. Oh, and if you’re going to have your baby soon, treasure your hospital stay. I assure you, there’s not going to be days like these anymore, not till in the faraway future. And here I share two photos that I sneakily took of my husband admiring his baby girl :) The sweetest photos yet.

On 15 May, cbb’s actual estimated date of delivery, we were discharged and could go home! CBB’s first photo at home:

Thanks for being with me throughout my pregnancy journey. More posts to come soon, I hope! As soon as I try to figure out my way through this whole new mom business. And breast feeding, especially breast feeding! I update more often on my Facebook page, so like me there if you haven’t!

The post [Baby] Chua Bee Bee’s birth story: Failed inducement and a c-section :) appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.