tell me your experience...

Hi there

It depends on your birth choice - if you are planning to go natural avoid both of them... Then i would rather recommend Femina Clinic - also a Netcare hospital with one of the highest natural birth rates...

I hope Hasie (also on this forum - have a look at her various posts on the Forum around this very question and hospitals...) also comments here...

All the best with your choice!

Hi Esva,

I had my daughter at Pretoria East Feb 2010 and I am definitely planning on going there again next year when this one is born. I also had an emergency C-Sec - and i must say the staff and nurses are all SO friendly!

There are a few irritations when you share a room (double room) if you have noisy visitors with your neighbor during v hours - but in my case - as soon as visiting hours are over - the staff normally do their rounds & asks visitors to leave.

But - what I loved - my mom had to fly in from Australia.. and she was allowed to come & say hi - even if it was after visiting hours...

My hubby is French and is English was not so good at that stage - and they took their absolute time explaining everything to him.

I had no probs with the catheter or epidural - my gynea is an absolute darling (Dr Pantazis) and the rest of the scrub nurses, anesthesiologist etc was just wonderfull. I battled to get a proper latch with breastfeeding in the beginning and they were beside my bed every 40 minutes to help!


I have also been at Kloof a couple of times (for laps etc) - not in the maternity ward, but also was very happy with them

Personally - I prefer Pta East!

Good luck in your descision!

Hi Esva

I had my first girl at Kloof and my second at Pta East and both are good hospitals. I guess it all depends on your needs. Here are my two stories; I hope it can help you decide which hospital to choose.
With my first pregnancy, I develop high blood pressure at 13 weeks of pregnancy. When I was 32 weeks pregnant, I started to feel period like pain, I went to Kloof and it was contractions. I was submitted to hospital and stayed the whole weekend. Everyone was very friendly and even helped my friend to organize my baby shower in hospital, because my sudden hospital visit, messed with her plans.
Anyway, when I was 37 weeks, my blood pressure suddenly “spiked” to 150 over 100. I was submitted to hospital again and booked for a C-sec that evening. But when the Doctor came to check on me my blood pressure was almost back to normal again, so they rescheduled and booked me for the following morning. Again the staff at the labor ward was excellent. The next morning my blood pressure was back to normal and my doctor decided to send me home. 39 weeks, my doctor did an internal and said that my cervix is very hard and that he wants to schedule me for a c-sec. Apparently it is not healthy for the baby if the mom has high BP. So I was booked into hospital the next morning again. This time for real. But that day I didn’t have a very good experience. First they struggled almost an hour to get the catheter in. In theatre everything was fine again. But I had a lot of pain later that afternoon and the nurse that came to give me an injection for the pain was not very sympathetic. I struggle to turn on my side, so she injected me in my front leg, in the muscle. It was sore for almost 3 weeks after I left the hospital. The next morning when I had to get up for the first time, they also were not very sympathetic. I felt so nauseas and just wanted to faint, I told them that, I they just said that this is not the time to faint. I must just get myself together.
Here are a few facts about Kloof
1.You get a baby bag filled with all the stuff that you will need for baby the first few days, except for clothes.
2.There are only double rooms, so you will have to share with someone, unless there are not a lot of girls, and then they will try and move you to a room of your own.
3.You get a romantic dinner for you and your partner, the night before you go home
4.The maternity ward and labor wards feels like hospital There is nothing special about it that makes it different from other hospitals.

Ok, now for Pta East
When I fell pregnant again last year I wanted to make an appointment with my previous gyne and found out that he moved to Australia. So I made an appointment with the gyne that bought his practice. When I told her that I want to try for a V-bac, she immediately said NO. So I decided to get myself another gyne. Because we’ve moved from Centurion to Pta East, we decided to go to a gyne at Pta East hospital. So we chose dr Trouw. I know that people say that he doesn’t have very good bedside manners, but he is an excellent doctor. When I told him that I want to try for a V-bac, he said it is ok, but we will have to monitor my blood pressure very good. Well everything was fine for my whole pregnancy, but then Mia decided not to come earlier. Dr Trouw said that he will give me time for natural birth until 40 weeks, but then we must to a c-sec again. Well, 40 weeks exactly I started to get contractions. We went to hospital and everyone at hospital was very friendly. They monitored me every hour. But the hours went by and nothing happened. 4h that afternoon I was only 1cm and the doctor said he think we must rather do a C-sec. 6h30 Mia was born. When they took me to my room, they gave me a sleeping pill, because I didn’t breastfed, so I could get some rest. They also gave me a morphine pump for the pain. So no turning on my side for injections. The next morning they helped me to the bathroom. The nurses was very sympathetic and even when I fainted in bathroom, they was more worried about me that the fact that I fainted. The nurses took me to a chair, went to get a cold cloth and waited till I felt better before taking me to the bathroom again. So my experience of my c-sec was so much better in Pta east.

Facts about pta east.
1.You must pack your own bags for you and baby.
2.You do get a bag when you go for your 4d scan, but there is only a bag of nappies and wipes in.
3.You get double and private rooms at Pta east. You have to pay extra for a private room, but it is worth it. When I was in Kloof there was a lady next to me, she struggled with the breast feeding, so her baby cried the whole night.
4.The maternity ward does not feel like a hospital, but more like a hotel.

Just remember, this is my experience, and someone else may feel differently about it. Like I said, both are very good hospitals, so rather go to the gyne you feel happy with.

Hi Esva

I had my 3 kids at Kloof. I really don't have any complaints - except that the rooms are small with no cupboard space .
But other that that I was really happy. What I loved was that some of the nurses were there with my firstborn 5 years ago, and still there with my youngest in January.
What I also loved is that they put people with the same experience in the same room, for example my second boy was born at 35 weeks, and in NICU. The lady next to me the same, so I loved it that we shared the same experience. We would both wake up at 12 in the night and walk to NICU to feed our babies! (I know some hospitals let a mommy with a full term healthy baby share a room with a mommy who's baby is in ICU etc).
They are very strict with visiting hours as well - which I love - gives you time to rest and bond with baby. I know my sister-in-law had a terrible time in Pretoria-East, because her roommate got visitors the WHOLE day, they didn't have any peaceful time to rest.
Overall I was really happy, experienced NICU and was impressed, and with last pregnancy I was in ICU myself, and they really looked after my liitle girl well!

Good luck with your choice!

...at Pretoria East Hospital and at Kloof?
i have two options for gynae and now i wanna make a hospital choice