Please share your wonderful hospital experience

[Moxie]

Sometimes I feel like, on this board and in the homeschool community, hospitals, doctors and nurses get a bad rap.

 

I've had 4 hosptial births and am planning my 5th in 2 short weeks. I've delivered at 2 different hospitals with 3 different doctors and probably 100 different nurses and they have all been wonderful. Three of my births have been drug-free. It hasn't always been perfect and I have given in on some small things to put my doctor at ease but I've never felt challenged to make different choices.

 

That's all.

[WishboneDawn]

I started a thread some time back that has lots of good hospital experiences shared in it.

 

From that thread:

My experience has been big birthing rooms with cable TV, a recliner, rocking chair and private bath. Kind nurses who encouraged me to get up and walk around. Lots of help with nursing when I needed it. My babies sleeping in hospital bassinets right beside me from the get-go. They never left the room I was in if I wasn't right with them. When my son was born the anesthesiologist even bought the kids stuffed toys because my son was going to have the same name as him! There was no cold, sterile, stress-filled experience.

 

My latest one was a little different because I was in a different hospital, a general hospital rather then a maternity one and there were some severe complications for me but it was still wonderful considering the circumstances. I have absolutely no complaint about the facilities and nothing but praise for the nurses, doctors, cleaning staff and even the cooks. Everyone I encountered was caring and helpful.

 

I think people tend to equate hospital births with an experience that's cold and out of the mom's control. My experiences have been pretty much the opposite of that.

[lmrich]

I had wonderful hospital births and something unexpected happened in all of them. The staff was kind, the nurses (all but one) super sweet and helpful. The babies stayed in the room with me 24/7. Very happy to be in the maternity ward.

 

Don't ask me to share stories about the orthopedic wing.

[Heidi]

I have had 5 great hospital birth experiences :D

[Remudamom]

I was at KU Med Center for about three months waiting for the trips to be born. The nurses spoiled me, the students hid in my room and ate food I saved for them because they were so busy, the nutritionist arranged for me to have grits for breakfast.

 

I went into labor time and time again and while I had to be in L&D they kept my room for me. I had decorative pillows, company candy, and a wall covered with cards. They guarded it for me even though I should have had to take it all down while in L&D.

 

They let my oldest son, five at the time, come and spend a night, brought in special movies for him to watch and let us order in pizza.

 

I had a birthday party.

 

The only bad part was being away from family, only saw them on weekends. (except when ds got to stay overnight)

 

They were wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

[MrsBasil]

I had a wonderful experience with DS, even though I ended up with an emergency c-section. The care was fantastic, the Dr was compassionate, the food was good, the room was private, and I had DS roomed with me whenever I wanted, but if I needed sleep the staff was happy to let him hang out in the nursery. I had a lactation consultant on call for any nursing issues.

 

I had DD at the same hospital and there were some policy changes, like rooming in being the only option and much more testing/prodding done at night, but I think that if I had advocated for myself I could have gotten the staff to let me sleep. I was just worn out from pregnancy/c-section.

 

I firmly believe that the Drs, nurses, and staff had my child's and my best interests at heart. I was treated with respect and my children were well cared for.

[Wolfmeis]

My OB freaking rocked, and the hospital where I delivered my first two was kind of a boutique hospital. My first child was delivered by the letter, mainstream interventions galore, but because of the medical team I still nursed right away and even got the endorphins one gets from the natural childbirth I had both subsequent births. I think of that situation with goodwill.

[Rivka]

I had two natural births in the hospital, including a waterbirth. Both times my birth plan was fully respected. The hospital and my midwives were fully on board with my desire to try for a vaginal birth after multiple pelvic surgeries. (And yay, it worked!)

 

My experience on the mother-baby unit wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good. My baby never left my sight either time. It was easy to refuse the standard "take the baby to the nursery for a couple of hours" protocol. There was no pressure to give my baby a bottle. The second time around, lactation support was great.

 

When we did go by the nursery (for vax/PKU test), the babies in there were swaddled and sleeping peacefully. One baby was being cuddled by a nurse working on her paperwork, because he didn't want to be put down. The nurses were totally affectionate towards him.

 

My son had an abnormality on a prenatal brain scan, and needed an ultrasound and neurology consult when he was one day old. (He's fine.) All of the care we got for that, prenatally at the hospital for testing and also after birth, was excellent, sensitive, supportive, and very very clear. They could not have been kinder, yet they were also respectful of my intelligence.

 

I miscarried at 14 weeks and had an emergency D&C. The care I got in the hospital at that time was also outstandingly sensitive, kind, and helpful.

[A.Balaban]

Both of my children were born in the hospital. If I have another child, it will be in the hospital. My DS was born about 15 minutes after I got to the hospital... I was already 10cm. My DD was an induction because there was extremely low fluid and she was very tiny. I was hospitalized once during each pregnancy for pre-term labor. Oh, and I have to take blood thinners so yeah. Hospital.

 

I just did the math. With DD, I had over 25 ultrasounds. LOL. $$$$!

[momma2three]

I loved my hospital births. Everyone was so attentive and respectful. All of the nurses were certified lactation consultants, and each baby was on the boob within a 1/2 hour of being born (all 3 were c sections, so that's pretty quick). To a one, they were all very friendly and supportive and helpful, and taught me everything I know about newborns! Some of them even remembered me when I went back for future births. They encouraged rooming in, but were also happy to take the baby back to the nursery so I could rest or shower (sorry, guys: I lack some sort of maternal instinct where I insisted the baby be kept with me every minute! I had it a little with my first, but with the other two I knew this was my chance for some R&R).

 

With the exception of my 3rd, who had some issues (which, again, were handled with so much sensitivity and care), the only doctors who saw us were the ones from my OB/GYN practice for me, and my pediatrician's practice: both always have someone on duty at the hospital.

 

We made a few non-mainstream choices about circ and vaccinating, and no one so much as blinked. Certain parenting boards on the internet had me all worried that I would have CPS called on me, or "accidental" de-foreskinning by some nursing cabal behind the curtain, but there seriously was not even a pause when I told the nurses and doctors who asked my decisions.

 

My hospital rooms were large and private and as nice as you could reasonably expect a hospital room to be: on the tour I took, I heard one guy say "this place is nicer than our apartment." Even the food was good! They had room service at meal times, and then they had a fridge and freezer full of goodie 24/7 that you could access whenever.

 

I refer to it as my 4 star resort hospital... I would totally go back there for a vacation. Can't beat the free babysitting!

Edited March 29, 2012 by momma2three

[mommymilkies]

I have not had a good hospital birth experience. I also worked at 2 different hospitals. One was fabulous, but I was never a patient there. I did have a great hospital once in Cincinnati that was wonderful and caring and fabulous-but not for birth. I have friends who have had good hospital births. Good luck!

[chepyl]

With my son, we both reacted badly to the epidural I decided I wanted at the last minute. My room filled with people, they called for a surgeon, and they came at me with an oxygen mask and iv fluids. The head nurse saw the panic on my face, she pulled up next to me and sat holding my hand and expkaining everything. She was amazing! We improved and all was going well until time to push, then they went back to emergency mode and had me in a c-section in minutes.

 

They file me I could go back to my room when I could move my leg, they said it was the fastest they have every had anyone out of recovery :)

 

I swelled horribly from all the meds and fluids. DS had a hard time nursing the second day. One nurse stayed with me for 3 hours that night to try every hold and anything else to help me. She never once suggested a bottle. I will always remember that nurse :)

 

With DD I did not want another c-section, the doctors and nurses, really worked with me, they were great!

[Stayseeliz]

All my experiences have been good for the most part. My youngest was in the NICU for a week and I had some issues with some of the nurses there but that is another situation. My birth experience with her was amazing even though we knew she would be early and it was stressful. Everything went smoothly and the nurses were wonderful. My nurse even helped me drag myself into the NICU 4 hours after having a c-section to see my sweet baby. That was wonderful!! Hospital births can be good. Be kind but be firm! You will do fine!

[Wheres Toto]

All three of mine were delivered at the same hospital - a large teaching hospital with private rooms, babies stay with moms, all nurses were lactation consultants, very attentive. I was given the option of getting the HepB or waiting for the first well visit without any pushing. If I was against it completely, I would have just waited for that visit and discussed it with my ped. Dh was able to stay overnight when my son was born and meals for the dad were included in the (extra) cost of the private room.

 

My first was a long time ago so I barely remember although I know I had a bad reaction to the epidural.

 

My second I had a emergency c-section. I kept passing out and couldn't hold my son for a while after but dh was able to take him to be checked out and weighed and brought him to me a couple times. I didn't get to nurse him for a few hours but we had no problems when I did. It took me a while to be able to get up after his delivery but things went fine.

 

My youngest was supposed to be a scheduled c-section but instead I went into labor on my own for the first time ever. Other than that, it was completely smooth sailing. I nursed her right away, was up walking around within a couple hours and went home the next day with no problem, although I did have to wait for the ped to check her out and release her.

 

I do remember with one of my last two, a nurse coming in to say that the baby had lost over 10% of body weight and that they would need to give him/her a bottle. It was the middle of the night and she was pretty pushy about it. They leave the chart in the room at this hospital so I grabbed it and looked myself. She had done the math wrong, which I pointed out to her. I then complained to a nurse who called in the nurse supervisor and pointed out that if I had been a new, young mother that would have scared the crap out of me and it was completely unnecessary.

 

I don't know if my experience was better because I've had the same Ob/Gyn practice for 20+ years and the same pediatrician for almost 18 years.

[butterflymommy]

My most beautiful births were planned inductions with epidurals. It seemed like a miracle and privilege to be able to give birth without pain or rushing to the hospital. I've done it 4 times without any pain meds, including a homebirth with "the best midwife around." I can't believe I put myself through that and I feel sad that there is "status" or "rep" attributed to not getting pain meds during birth, or staying out of the hospital, as if those women who do have epidurals care less about the welfare of their infants.

[prairiebird]

I had four awesome hospital experiences and two that were bad. One of the bad ones though was of no fault of their own because a tornado had touched down nearby and knocked out power. They were on emergency power the entire time. (I drove there IN the tornado warning, so it was an entire evening of fun times. It was kind of like giving birth on the Enterprise during a red-alert :tongue_smilie:)

 

For this baby, I am at a hospital I delivered with about 10 years ago, and they have apparently remodeled since then.

 

Actually, when I first started out on this journey of babymaking, I was very gung-ho about keeping baby in the room every second with me. By the time I got to #6, I was asking the nurse to wheel baby into the nursery for a few hours so I could sleep :lol: and haul her back when she was showing hunger signs!

[BigMamaBird]

I've had three hospital births and all of the hospital experiences have been positive. My SIL on the other hand has had two very traumatic births and had she not been at the hospital there would have been deaths. I support those who choose to have homebirths, but I appreciate having the technology and education there should I need it. After each of my deliveries I've stayed two nights and I plan on doing it again. Never had a bad experience.

[nukeswife]

We're a military family I've had all 3 of my kids in a hospital, always a different one, actually none of my kid were born within 1000 miles of each other.

 

I've always had a great experience.

 

My first was a Naval Hospital on base and other than the fact that after giving birth all the patient rooms were shared it was great. I wouldn't have mind sharing a room if my roommate had been different. She must have had a rough go of it during the birth, because she wouldn't pick up the baby when it cried, she'd just wait until one of the nurses finally came to get the baby. There was no nursery other than the NICU, so the babies had to room in with the moms. I couldn't wait to leave, but I was that way with all my kids.

 

My 2nd and 3rd were in civilian hospitals (no military ones near where we were stationed so they contracted out with civilian hospitals) in the big birthing suites with the whirlpool tubs in each one and cable tv, a stereo set up for music, the whole nine yards.

 

If I were to ever have more children I would go with a hospital birth every time. Having a natural birth just isn't in the cards for me with a spinal fusion, without the epidural, my body kind of clamps down and won't relax to allow for dilation etc.

[Scuff]

For my first three, I had wonderful nurses. They let me move when i wanted, took great care of me, even let me use a heating pad, even though it was against policy. The hospital was beautiful- they had just redone the rooms before #1. I won't talk about #4. :)

[SailorMom]

Both of my deliveries were very good experiences. I had no problems, an excellent anesthesiologist (epidurals), and I love the nurse I had. I actually had the same nurse and anesthesiologist for both kids :)

[Julie in Austin]

After a very bad experience, I was quite nervous about birth #2.

 

Then the OB and the anesthesiologist spent the entire birth excitedly discussing a shoe sale at Nordstrom's with each other. I can't really explain why this made me so happy, but it did. :001_smile:

[stripe]

I have had generally okay experiences, with many of the nurses being exceptional. I changed the hospital I went to the last time I had a baby and I was so glad I did! I had been afraid of the big, teaching hospital but they were FANTASTIC!

[jennsmile]

I had an awesome L&D nurse that stayed past her shift to see my son born. She was also the LC the next day.

 

Overall it was awesome we had rooming in and my son stayed with us. It was not my first choice and that no doubt jaded part of my issues with my stay that I didn't like.

 

I also loved the awesome doctors that cared for my brother during the week he was on life support. They were compassionate and understanding as they let my family make decisions and spend time with him.

[fairfarmhand]

4 great hospital births with the exception of one night nurse who was awful.

 

Everyone else I got was great! One nurse would smuggle ice cream to my dh.

 

The best experience was with my first. I delivered at a tiny hole in the wall middle of noplace hospital. They were so sweet to me, I guess since they didn't have too many babies there. Also I was healthy and my baby was very healthy, no smoking or drinking during the pregnancy, which was pretty uncommon for that area. My family was polite and considerate and I think that must have been uncommon too.

 

Anyway, I liked my hospital experiences. I liked being able to put the baby in the nursery for a few hours to sleep at night, but they would always bring them to me to nurse.