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Photographer & Hospital?
pnwmama11
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in Texas Babies
I'm looking for a professional photographer to do some One year and family pictures. I did a quick Google search and there are so many in the area, I'm looking for recommendations.
Also, I need to choose a hospital to deliver my second at. Either St. Lukes or Methodist. Does anyone have any experiences with either?
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Re: Photographer & Hospital?
I delivered at Methodist in the medical center. The actual birth was great, everyone was great and I had a really good experience.
There were some things that I didn't like postpartum. First, they had students there for one of the days and the student that was "assigned" to me kept checking on us and would not stay out of our room! She was nice and all, but it's bad enough having nurses come in and out constantly when you're trying to nurse or sleep.
Part of the time, we (DD and myself) had the same nurse which was great because she could come in once to check on both of us. Most of the time, we had separate nurses though so one nurse would come check me then another nurse would come check DD. Apparently, they have a limited number of nurses that are trained for the postpartum floor so they bring in other nurses who are only trained for mom or baby, not both.
I felt very strongly about keeping DD with me as much as possible while we were there. DD was jaundice and one night, the nurse came and took DD to the nursery to go under the uv light. I cried the whole time and we actually stood outside the nursery watching for a good part of the night. I got zero sleep because I was so upset, but the nurse said it had to be done. At the shift change, my new nurse (who was much nicer) came rolling DD and the uv light into our room. She asked if we had asked her to go to the nursery because I was crying (happy this time) again. My husband told her what happened and she said there was no reason for that to happen at all which was clear since at this point since the light was in my room. We didn't realize they were movable or we would not have let that happen.
Other than these few things, it was great. I will deliver there again, but be more prepared to fight for what I want. I would decline having a student come in at all and I would do everything in my power to keep my LO with me. The nurses were very attentive and were usually quick to bring me anything I asked for. The food wasn't that good, usually the second option (that they don't tell you about unless you ask) was better.
One other thing...my doctor loves Methodist because it is a level 3 hospital. In fact it's the only one she will deliver at. If something were to go wrong with you or the baby, a lot more is available to you at that hospital. If something goes wrong at a lower level hospital, you would most likely (depending on what's wrong) have to be transfered to Methodist. My doctor explained the different levels really well, maybe you should just ask yours but that was what made me choose Methodist. I don't know much about St. Lukes.
Sorry this is so long, but I hope it helps.
I had my son at St. Lukes and overall it was a great experience. I also had the choice between Methodist and St. Lukes and toured both. In the end I choose to deliver at St. Lukes because my Ob's office is in the same complex and it made me feel better.
The labor/delivery room at St. Lukes is nice and big, though the bathrooms seemed to be on the older side. I had my husband and a doula with me, I think St. Lukes has a policy of allowing three guests per patient in the delivery room. Overall the nursing staff was very nice but left me alone for the most part, which I wanted. It was also probably because I had a doula with me. I was able to walk the halls and be up and about until the doctor started my on pitocin which requires continous monitoring. The nurse was amendable to lengthening the time between upping the dosage of pitocin from every 15 minutes to 30 minutes. When it came time to push I was allowed to push on my own and given the ablility to push in a position the felt comfortable. The nurse helping us did not know how to set up the squating bar but I knew which direction it went based on my birthing classes. My only real complaint with the delivery team was after my son was born he needed to be suctioned due to meconium, however instead of giving him to me once the nicu team left the room the nurse held onto and cleaned him up despite requests from my husband and myself to give him to us. This was a nurse issue and not a hospital issue in my mind. Once I got him we were given plenty of time together to establish nursing and bond about two hours.
Couplet care was fine for the most part. The rooms in St. Lukes are tiny though. The bassinet could only be on oneside of the room and there wasn't much room between the bed and the bassinet once it was in there. I did ask for my son to be bathed in the room with me, which depending on how busy some nurses will do, but my nurse was unwilling to do so, nurse issue again. On the first and third days I had a trainee nurse and her supervisor assigned to my, on my second day I only had 1 nurse assigned to me. My son did have jaundice and needed to be under the lights from the second day on, however unlike the PP the nurse brought the set up to my room and showed me what to do and made sure the night nurse knew he was to remain with me. I saw the lactation consultant everyday I was in the hospital and she was very helpful.
The lactation consultants at St. Luke's are wonderful. I had an on call Pedi tell me to formula feed only for 24 hours on our second day home. When I called up the Lataction center the consultant ther was so nice, helping me figure out how much formula to give him, explained how to know if the horns fitted properly and then she gave me her home phone number in case when we went back in to nursing in 24 hours there were issues. I ended up calling her at home on Easter the next day because he wouldn't latch and she was so kind and helpful. I truly believe she's the reason I was able to nurse my son and I am so thankful to her.
Overall I would go with St. Lukes again as long as my OB is practicing there.
ETA: I don't know if she was just loud or the walls are thin but while I was pushing I could here the woman next to me screaming everytime she had a contraction.
I highly recommend the Methodist hopsitals. I delivered at Stone Oak Methodist and it was amazing.
For pictures, Urth Studio.
I've delivered and will be doing so again at Central Baptist in Stone Oak. I just love it and have never had any issues with them. The complimentary massage and dinner with my husband was an added bonus.
I'd also recommend Melissa from Melissa Chodosh Photography www.melissacphotography.com She's an awesome photographer and works really well with children.
I'm a photographer and a mommy to be! (well, i'm 5 1/2 months now
. I'm delivering at Methodist in the Medical Center, and I have photographed a few births there which all had a great experience (which is partly why we chose them).
Check out my website if you'd like! www.photosbynatalierose.com. I also have a link to my facebook with more images.
Good luck with your search and with the rest of your pregnancy!