Maternity tour

We took a tour of the maternity ward at our hospital last night. We were very happy with what we saw. It seems to be a state-of-the-art facility. We were expecting a very small tour of a wing of the hospital and got quite a bit more. There were about 40 people there and they served refreshments, showed a video with the history and practices of the hospital, answered questions, pre-registered patients, gave out all kinds of literature and then split into smaller groups and gave a very detailed tour. We got an added bonus, as we saw one of our doctors giving delivery news to a family in the waiting room. He smiled and waved, but I appreciated the close attention he was giving to the family he was speaking with so we didn't interrupt.

Most maternity patients there are assigned to LDRP (Labor, Delivery, Recovery, Postpartum) private rooms where you are assigned to the same room throughout the entire process. There is only one patient assigned to each of these rooms and they're very large (the rooms, not the patients... wait... actually both). They each include a large bathroom with a shower, as well. They're big believers in maintaining the parent-child bond as much as possible after the delivery, so the baby stays in the parents' room as much as possible unless the parents ask for them to be taken to the nursery. I had asked my doctor previously about the odds of getting one of these rooms and he told me that about 80% of patients are able to be placed there. The other option is a semi-private room where delivery would happen in one room and then recovery and post-partum in a room with two beds. There is the slight possibility of another patient being assigned to those rooms, but they told us that is very rare and only happens in extreme cases where they're over-loaded with deliveries. Otherwise, the dad is allowed to sleep in the second bed. If a C-Section is necessary, the private rooms are not an option, for obvious reasons - the semi-private rooms are closer to the nurse's station and the surgery has to take place in an operating room. So anyways.... come one, LDRP room!! Be available!!

There were some details about the tour and the hospitals practices that I found very interesting. Did you know that they lo-jack the babies after they're born?? An alarm will sound if anyone gets too close to an exit with one of the infants - even if Dad is taking the baby for a walk around the halls in the bassinet. They also put ID bracelets on Mom, Dad & Baby and they make the parents read the numbers on their bracelet every time they bring a baby back from the nursery. The poor infants have bracelets on every limb - four separate ones if they have to have any lab work done! To be honest, all of the security measures were making me a little bit nervous at first. I asked Andy "Did something happen here to make them lo-jack the babies??" The tour guide answered my question almost immediately without even hearing it (which makes me think it's a common one at that point in the speech!). She said that they have never had an incident, they are just taking every precaution to make sure that everyone remains safe and secure. They showed us the "lo-jack" in the nursery on a brand new baby (only 5 lbs!). It wasn't too bad - just a little anklet with a tiny little box on it. Still - it's crazy that we live in a world where things like that need to exist.

Another detail that I really like and appreciate is that they pre-admit patients. They give us the opportunity to fill out the check-in form months ahead of time so that when we're ready for delivery, we don't have to be bothered with it. There is a special driveway for maternity patients and when we're ready, we by-pass the check in counter and pull right up to the maternity ward. Dad is allowed to park the car in this little driveway (kind of like a hotel entryway) and keep it there until Mom is all settled into her room. It's a really nice set-up.

Overall we really enjoyed the tour. It was a good intro into our hospital experience and made us feel a lot more secure about how the process will flow. We also got all kinds of goodies to take home and read, as well as some freebies - a pacifier, a bottle, outlet plugs... a random assortment of little things. :)

In three and a half weeks we start our prepared childbirth (lamaze) classes. It's hard to believe we're this far along already. It seems to be going faster and faster as we go. Just a couple more weeks before we're in the third trimester! Crazy...