U.B.'s hospital birth
U.B. will be born here. It is less than 15 minutes from our house and our insurance will cover absolutely everything. Everyone I have talked to says it is a great place to have a baby, with fancy L&D suites with jacuzzis and practitioners who will follow even the most granola of requests.
Other than the above information, I have pretty much neglected to find out anything about more minute details regarding this hospital and its policies. Now, trying to be a good girl, I am going over the birth plan form they want me to fill out and once more I feel spoiled by my experience having Isaac at the UW Medical Center. A few troublesome, if not completely stupid and mystifying items discussed therein:
*My primary support person (i.e. Dada) is considered a visitor. Because they apparently don't have anywhere in my fancy room for him to sleep, they will boot his butt out of the hospital between the hours of 10 p.m. and 9 a.m. They don't make a distinction to say if he is allowed to stay during these hours while I'm in labor. Thankfully, Dada seconds my incredulous reaction to this; his response was something like "They'll be prying my cold, dead corpse from my wife and new baby to get me to leave."
*Because of their visiting hours where I am allegedly to be alone for goodly portions of the day, they say they will put U.B. in a nursery should I need to sleep or shower. Umm, I will be echoing Dada on this one. U.B. can sleep with me, in my hospital bed, just like Isaac did. And who needs showers?
*The birth plan suggests I will be staying in the hospital for two days following a normal, uncomplicated, non-C-section birth. And what, exactly, is my toddler to think about that? I was in the hospital for exactly 34 hours after I had Isaac, and that was plenty.
I'm thinking my next prenatal visit, next Tuesday, will be an ideal time to get a few of these issues straightened out with my practitioner. Or perhaps it may be time to switch hospitals, even this late in the game. Grrr.
Other than the above information, I have pretty much neglected to find out anything about more minute details regarding this hospital and its policies. Now, trying to be a good girl, I am going over the birth plan form they want me to fill out and once more I feel spoiled by my experience having Isaac at the UW Medical Center. A few troublesome, if not completely stupid and mystifying items discussed therein:
*My primary support person (i.e. Dada) is considered a visitor. Because they apparently don't have anywhere in my fancy room for him to sleep, they will boot his butt out of the hospital between the hours of 10 p.m. and 9 a.m. They don't make a distinction to say if he is allowed to stay during these hours while I'm in labor. Thankfully, Dada seconds my incredulous reaction to this; his response was something like "They'll be prying my cold, dead corpse from my wife and new baby to get me to leave."
*Because of their visiting hours where I am allegedly to be alone for goodly portions of the day, they say they will put U.B. in a nursery should I need to sleep or shower. Umm, I will be echoing Dada on this one. U.B. can sleep with me, in my hospital bed, just like Isaac did. And who needs showers?
*The birth plan suggests I will be staying in the hospital for two days following a normal, uncomplicated, non-C-section birth. And what, exactly, is my toddler to think about that? I was in the hospital for exactly 34 hours after I had Isaac, and that was plenty.
I'm thinking my next prenatal visit, next Tuesday, will be an ideal time to get a few of these issues straightened out with my practitioner. Or perhaps it may be time to switch hospitals, even this late in the game. Grrr.
posted by Claire at 7:29 PM
6 Comments:
My hospital seemed to have a bunch of weirdo rules too, but it turned out when we got there, no one really cared WHAT we did. They claimed I was only allowed two people at a time in the room whiel I was laboring... my whole darn family was in and out ALL damn day (definitely more than two at a time).... they DID have a bed for Tom (and he was allowed to stay the night), but it was more like a window seat. Poor guy. No rules about sending the baby to the nursery though... that was all pretty much up to me. And um let me tell you, I will be taking much more advantage of that next time around. LOL!
Thank you, Erin. Your comment helped calm me down a bit. Mike's "bed" where we had Isaac sounds exactly the same as Tom's, leading me to believe these super-fabulous L&D "suites" I've heard so much about at our hospital might have a similar set-up. Unfortunately, I think I have a bit of a phobia when it comes to the nursery. I remember being freaked out at the UWMC that I was forced to room-in with Isaac, but when he actually arrived and I realized there was no way I could possibly pick him out of a room of babies... I became completely terrified that we would leave the hospital with the wrong guy!
I think most hospitals will allow you to check out early. You just have to sign a thingie that you are doing so against recommendation. The visiting hours crap is completely insane. I hope you have a simple non-c-section experience because those suck. 4 days in the hospital - SUCKED.
They can't possibly be serious about not letting the spouse stay at night. I think Erin's right... when you get there, it'll be completely different.
Claire, my SIL had both of her kids at Christiana...the second one was just last August so pretty recently. I'm going to ask her for the real scoop on this stuff and I'll let you know!
Wowee, Carolyn! That would be so super of you. If you like, you (or she) can email me at claire.oneal@gmail.com.
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