Any experience of NICU (at City Hospital)?

Hello, I had my third premmie baby in July at City Hospital. She was born at 35+5 My twins were born at 30+5 (In the UK) so a lot more premature. My littlest girl needed 8 nights in the NICU and my twins had a whole month. In July, the NICU facilities were being upgraded at City so we were in a temporary room. The doctors and specialists were all great. The facilities were excellent too. I'd say the hospital in the UK I had my twins in was at least as good but it was designed to take on very premature babies like my twins were. The breastfeeding support at city was excellent. Ask for the lactation consultant if you need any help, she was great. Also ask to borrow a pump for your room, they will give you the kit to go with it then you can hire the hospital grade machine to use with the kit (Medela Lactina). The only thing I found with City was that my almost 36 weeker had more intensive care than my 31 week twins who had much worse conditions for breathing. I think with the whole private medical insurance thing in Dubai, they tend to do more than they need to iygwim? Nothing to worry about though, they were professional, very knowledgable and helpful. You have chosen a fantastic hospital.

Hi My baby stayed in the NICU for 3 months she was a 26 week preemie and as crazy days said the docs and nurses are fabulous. We are still in touch with most of them and some have become as close as family. i was initially given a lodger room in the hospital after my discharge as my baby was quite critical and I needed to be close to her at all times I think this has recently changed as the NICU has expanded and they can't really give a room to all parents. You will however be allowed to room in a night or two before discharge so that they can monitor the baby and you are comfortable taking care of your little one. They are also very pro breastfeeding which I really liked as far as the consultants there are two main ones Dr. Abdulazeim and Dr. Zaheruddin both are amazing and they switch shifts every week so it depends when your baby will be born and whoever the consultant will be on duty. We had Dr. Azeem and he means the world to us I never thought my baby would survive but he believed in her and never gave up. Both have practiced in the UK and are very easy to talk to and have positive personalities which is such a must in NICU. We are following up with our paed now who is also based in city but I do pop into NICU to speak to the consultant if I ever need extra assurance and he is always very happy to do so. I hope your baby doesn't spend too long in there I ended up renting a hospital grade pump to use as it was very efficient and the store bought Medela is not very good when you have to pump ever three hours. If you need any extra info or looking for someone to speak with while in NICU feel free to contact me. Best of luck and hope your baby doesn't need the NCU.

Forgot to mention, check your insurance cover! Once you are discharged your baby will then be charged for their care separately. Some insurance companies don't cover this once you have been discharged. Luckily ours did. We had to quickly get him an insurance card through my husbands company. It was around 8,000 aed a day for his care, which after I had been discharged, wouldn't have been covered by some insurers.

I had a c-section with Dr Azizunnisa who was really good. The facilities and medical care for me were also great. Private room, sofa bed for the husband to stay on, ensuite, wifi to skype the grandparents etc. I was in for 5 days and then discharged - the hardest part was leaving the baby there and also then not having the comfort of a bed in the hospital. Traveling to the hospital to see baby/feed baby/expressing at night was really hard when you should be resting up, but once there is no medical reason to keep you in, they discharge you, which is fair enough, although I was napping in the car in the basement parking at the hospital - in hindsight it would have been better to book into a hotel nearby. The cafe food is pretty dire, but there is a costa nearby and a few other fast food places, we were totally unprepared so were just eating what we could, but you will be able to put things in place beforehand. The midwives on the labour ward were really good with the breast feeding. I didn't hold him until 5 days after delivery and they helped with breast massaging to start the milk flowing etc, they also have lactation consultants there to help. I was expressing what I could with a pump on the ward and then at home and they topped up with formula until I the milk fully came in, maybe a week or so after delivery. Again, everything was talked over and formula was only used to top up once I had given consent. He is purely bf now so those first few days didn't hinder that and the use of a bottle didn't confuse him. I had an electric pump at home which was great and just took milk onto the ward for them to store and give. Once he was getting better I bf him on the ward when I could. The NICU has it's own set of pediatric doctors/consultants from what I could tell who are dedicated to that unit. They all saw him at various points and the consultant oversees everything. I can't remember the names of the doctors or consultants we saw though, sorry. Our follow up appointments were with one of the general pediatric doctors after we had got the all clear from NICU, we didn't need any other specialist follow up. If you have any other questions feel free to ask, it was a crazy time and if you can be even a little prepared it will help. Hope this helps, good luck with it all x

Hi, my baby spent an unexpected 8 days in the NICU at City after he was born in December and I can't speak highly enough of the care that he received. The nurses were fantastic, he had one allocated for the day shift and one for the night and they were each with him for 2 days in a row so that they got to know what he needed and this rotated over the week. The nurses were amazing at helping him improve and genuinely strived to help him progress - one of the things before coming home was weaning him off of the oxygen once his lungs had improved, which they monitored meticulously, and also helping me (a first time mum) bond with him. Each day they tried to let us do something new with him, touch, hold, change the nappy, feed etc. All of the staff were open and honest about his progress. The doctors and consultants were also fantastic, going out of their way to visit me on my ward and explain what was happening and why. At all times we felt fully informed and that the doctors shared as much information with us as they could. During the daily ward round the consultant sat with us for as long as we needed while he explained things and answered our questions. In the NICU there is a breastfeeding room for you to feed or express in and you can visit at any time, apart from around 12.30-2.30pm when they have quiet time for the babies. We even had new years eve on the ward! You and your husband can sit quietly by the incubator for as long as you want to, we took photos and visited 2 or 3 times a day. They are not so keen on additional visitors - to minimise germs and disruption on the ward. There is a waiting room nearby you can use and the cafe downstairs. I had complete faith that the standard of care would be as good as they could possibly provide and I trusted the doctors completely. I am from the UK and having worked on a children's ward back home, the service was above and beyond what you would expect from the NHS back home. This is purely from my personal experience, but I though they were fantastic and my little man is fast asleep on my lap as I type this!