Going Public
When I found myself pregnant again, one of the big decisions I had to make was where to have the baby. I had heard many horror stories about ‘going public’, and being a non-national, I chose to go to the private hospital, Bayview to deliver my first son. In Barbados, the choices are limited to Bayview Hospital or the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) which has both a public and a private Ward. I’ve also heard of a birthing centre someplace but I don’t know much about it. Bayview was alright. After experiencing Andrews Memorial Hospital in Jamaica for my sister’s delivery, I wasn’t impressed. And our family income had been reduced, so cost was a bigger factor this time around. QEH’s public ward is free for citizens (which I am not), but the cost to me would be a fraction of the private ward’s fee. I decided to give QEH a try. It would be good for me to learn some patience if the nurses really were as horrible as I’ve been told. And I was convinced that they couldn’t be so negli