Hospital private or shared room?

Andrewsgal

I was shocked to see some people in another post say they shared a room after giving birth. That is unheard of around here, all rooms are private with twin beds for partners. What was your experience?

meglew

My room was private.  I labored, delivered, and recovered for the duration of my stay in the same room.  It was awesome and huge!

notkateanymore

Private. Not even our teaching hospital has shared rooms I don't think.

JENandJEH

Private at the civilian hospital off post but the hospital on the Army post still does shared rooms unless you have a C-section and then you're assigned a private room.  I've delivered off post twice at two different hospitals in two different states and always had a private room.  The twin bed for the partner sounds nice though...we only had a fold out chair for DH.  

ariel06

All rooms are private around here too.  The hospital I deliver at has pull-out couches for spouses.  The room I was in both times was huge.   I think, at one point I had 12 people in there visiting and there was plenty of room.  

rosesandpetals

Private.
My hospital has a birth center in the hospital where labor, delivery, and recovery all take place. I had to transfer out of there because of complications but I still had a private delivery room. Apparently, there were a ton of babies born that day and we were in an overflow room for recovery and it was still private and had a sleeper couch for DH.

Cherryblossoms07

Private both times. That was the only thing the hospital offered, well private or private suite with birthing tub.

LoriLee14

Private. with pull out chairs for the support person to sleep in

zbeesma86

Private.

Arnegard

Private family rooms here.

sunnydays99

Private room with a fold out bed for dh. There were some shared rooms, but it was easy to request a private room.

MomIn2013

It was private with a pull-out bed for DH, but you only get a private room if they have one available. I can't imagine sharing, that would be just awful. Not to mention not having DH be able to stay with me.

jf198400

All rooms are private. One room for labor/delivery then move to a different room for remainder of stay. They have pullout chair for husbands.

raraavis28

Private also.....the twin bed sounds nice; DH had to sleep on this fold-out chair thing....did not look comfy!

jf198400

Gastro said:

Private. But we paid extra for a private room and it was on a lottery system and we got lucky.
I gave birth in London - universal healthcare gets you 8 moms with newborns in a room separated by curtains. And that was at the top rated neonatal hospital.

Wow that's insane. I wish people talked about these things more in the US whenever there are healthcare debates.

joyfullyfound

I had a double room. We had the option to pay more for a private, but it really wasn't important to me. The first day/night the bed next to me was empty anyways, and then the morning we left a lady arrived who was getting a c/s later. They kept the curtain drawn, so I never actually saw her, but she was really excited and it was so cute  

I'm totally not someone that minds sharing a room as long as I'm not forced to interact with my room mate. My experience was really positive. 

ASullivan1231

I don't know of any hospitals around here (Boston) where there are shared rooms. I'm so grateful, I can't imagine sharing, but you do what you gotta do I guess.

jillyjill1026sr

Private labor/delivery room and then a private recovery room. Both had full bathrooms and a pull-out for DH.

Andrewsgal

Michbot12 said:

Private.  I would not have been comfortable in a shared room and would have paid extra to get a private one if that were necessary.  I don't know of any hospitals in this area that do shared rooms.  Right now the hospitals here are all competing with one another for nicest maternity suites and offering all kinds of extras like big flat screen TVs and "man cave" areas for the husbands to sleep and hook in their laptops for work.  It is pretty ridiculous.

Lol ours are the same! Champagne, robes, massages. Plain ridiculous.

Andrewsgal

amy052006 said:

Does anyone get any sleep the first night? NEwborns aren't designed that way.

I mean, eight women in one rooms does not sound ideal, but I would hardly use that as the argument against a NHS.  "No healthcare for poor people so I can get a good night's sleep after my baby is born!"

Hell yes I got sleep that being said. I think we need to be honest on both sides of the universal healthcare argument.

caybeh

Private with a pull out couch/chair thing for DH.

If they aren't busy, one can stay in the same room through labor, deliver, and the rest of the stay. If they are busy, they'll move a person once you have the baby. Same floor, just across the hall. The L&D rooms are huge and nice. Although, the beds in the other rooms are way more comfortable.

LoriLee14

Andrewsgal said:

Does anyone get any sleep the first night? NEwborns aren't designed that way.

I mean, eight women in one rooms does not sound ideal, but I would hardly use that as the argument against a NHS.  "No healthcare for poor people so I can get a good night's sleep after my baby is born!"

Hell yes I got sleep that being said. I think we need to be honest on both sides of the universal healthcare argument.

My baby slept like a rock while at the hospital I had to wake him up to feed him. My husband was even worried because he "never cried" and that "just wasn't normal" I told him to zip his lips.

I needed the hospital staff around week 2. That was brutal. Week 3 was bad too

Andrewsgal

amy052006 said:

Andrewsgal said:

amy052006 said:

Does anyone get any sleep the first night? NEwborns aren't designed that way.

I mean, eight women in one rooms does not sound ideal, but I would hardly use that as the argument against a NHS.  "No healthcare for poor people so I can get a good night's sleep after my baby is born!"

Hell yes I got sleep that being said. I think we need to be honest on both sides of the universal healthcare argument.

Yeah -- I had a kid on my tit straight through.  Trust me we know everyone's opinion on this, but sending the kid to the nursery is one of the biggest booby traps out there.

If this was about health related issues, no mom would be sleeping long stretches those 24 hours really because an LC would have a kid on her boob every two hours..  A private room has nothing to do with healthcare.  

I'm guessing Adele and Princess Kate managed to find a way to use cold hard cash to secure a private room in London.  Using it as an argument against NHS is just dumb.

Eh my amazing nurser would
Not nurse for the first 12 hours and I was told it was completely normal. Anyway it is ridiculous to sit back and scream universal healthcare but then just automatically dismiss any negatives that go along with that. I think both sides need to be willing to acknowledge the positives and negatives of each side.

roxy_jj

I had a private room.  I think Stanford is the only hospital around here with some shared rooms.  

penguingrrl

With Julia and Drew I was in a private room. With Emma I delivered in a city hospital, so no private rooms. Honestly, sharing a room wasn't as awful as I feared it would be. I didn't love it and wouldn't jump to do it again, but it was just how it is in the city because there isn't room to expand hospitals in order to give anyone private rooms. I wasn't even on the mother baby unit because that was full and they had expanded to another unit.

penguingrrl

Gastro said:

Gastro said:

There are also private hospitals in London. You pay cash for the entire thing. It would have cost us $45,000 for birth and one night assuming nothing was wrong with mom or baby when you are liable to pay more. Adele has that cash. Princess Kate has to do NHS but gets a private room because of security issues. But she also gets and OB, not every Londoner does.

BUt again -- having a midwife is actually considered a luxury in lots of circles in America!

AG -- I get it.  But the truth is you aren't talking about healthcare issues -- you are talking about additional amenities.  Unless you want to did up some info about how sharing a room impacts mother and child mortality rates or something.

You also pay a shitton in taxes to the NHS. So it's not free by any means. I don't have an old paystub on me but we paid over 40% in taxes and a huge portion of that went to NHS.F

From what I've read if you add taxes plus healthcare costs (insurance premium, coinsurance, copays, deductibles, etc) most Americans are paying far more than Canada or England). And I think arguing that NHS means getting 8 to a room is ridiculous. Americans get private rooms because healthcare is considered a consumer good and they're trying to milk as much cash out as possible. It has nothing to do with quality of care. 

And at NYU there were no private rooms and a single shower per floor. And that's a state of the art medical facility with world-renowned physicians and one of the top NICUs in the country. Amenities aren't the most important part of birth, the safety and health of mom and baby are.

JeffandLeslie

I had a private room for the whole of labor, delivery, and recovery. It had a pullout couch for DH. DD had to be in the special care nursery for almost 48 hours but if she hadn't she would have roomed in with us.

chardonnay24

Private, I didn't even know that hospitals did shared rooms anymore.

fancefpp

I've given birth at two hospitals and both had private rooms

Andrewsgal

The thought of a shared shower makes me want to vomit. Seriously I was so ready for a shower after birth and the amount of stuff literally pouring out of me while taking that shower was gross.

Chapter79

Back when I had DD 8 years ago, the hospital I had her in was not private.  You labored and birthed in one room, and then you moved to the PP room and it was shared with one other woman.

I was supposed to actually have her a different hospital that was around the corner, but when I developed complications and they had to pull her out a month early, they switched hospitals on me because mine didn't have a NICU.  The hospital I was supposed to be at was all private rooms. A few years later, that hospital actually got rid of their mother/baby unit and they don't even deliver anymore.

Anyway, the one I was at was shared rooms.  BUT apparently I gave birth at a good time because 3/4 of the rooms weren't taken.  So they always put you in an empty one.   Mine was empty the whole time, and they actually allowed DH to sleep in the bed overnights. I got lucky.

I THINK now the hospital was redone and the rooms are private.

bhuffman

Private with a little suite with nice pull out for DH.

mandymack

My hospital in Berkeley ONLY has private rooms with private en-suite bathrooms and roll away twin bed for guests.

rockyrollgirl

Mine was private with a full bathroom.

rockyrollgirl

CnAmom said:

Oh hell I couldn't imagine having to use a communal bathroom after giving birth.

Me either.

rosesandpetals

rockyrollgirl said:

Oh hell I couldn't imagine having to use a communal bathroom after giving birth.

Me either.

I can't even imagine how it would work. I needed DH to help me get dressed/undressed. And seriously, there was so much... stuff everywhere, I really don't want to think about someone being in there 5 minutes before me. Do they clean them after every use?

ASullivan1231

feffy11 said:

I did a lot of homework and actually started backward in my search. First I picked the hospital because it was very natural-birth friendly (as well as allowing water births), then I went with midwives that were associated with that hospital. I drove an hour to each appointment and to the birth, but I was willing to do that.

I also started by going with the hospital I wanted, and then found an OB I liked who was associated with the hospital.

There are so many hospitals in the Boston area that they are competing for us to birth there so it seems like one hospital is better then the next.  My hospital was like staying at a hotel - minus that I was exhausted.  

I had some crazy hormones in the first 48 hours, so I really appreciated having my own space.  It had nothing to do with sleeping.  Although by luck, the baby did sleep kind of well for a newborn, I certainly didn't expect much sleep in any type of room.  I just appreciated our private time together as a family.  I ended up with a c-section (another controversial topic, I know!) and was there for 4 nights.

Court0026

I was alone in a shared room for the first kid and quickly moved to a private room the 2nd time.  However, as I said in the other post, shockingly enough, DH wasn't allowed to stay over and had visiting hours. 

chickaboo1974

At the hospital I delivered at ALL the rooms are private.  I started on the L & D floor- In a private room (with its own full bathroom, and comfy bed for DH,TV and table/chairs) waiting to be taken to the OR where I had my c-section. I spent an hour in a "recovery area" then returned to my L&D room for overnight since I had to be on magnesium for 24 hours.  My boys were in the NICU for my entire stay (and then some).  I was taken to a new room- "Mother/Baby" floor.  It was HUGE with a full private bathroom, comfy bed for DH, table/chairs and flat screen TVs. I was placed in a room close to the elevator that went directly into the NICU and away from rooms where Mom with babies in the room were- it was a nice thing since I was really feeling crazy with guilt and hormones.

eaglesfan700

The city hospital I delivered the first two at was shared rooms. I just lucked out both times that I never had to share. With #3, I delivered at a suburban hospital with all private rooms

peaceinnature

I gave birth in an urban hospital in the most populous city in Canada and had to pay extra for a semi-private (double) room.  The "free" with provincial health care rooms were I think five to a room.  I shared with a woman who had gotten a c-section, but we each had our own curtain so I never saw her or her husband.  I could hear them talking quietly and occasionally their baby cried, but mine did too.  DH got to sleep on a reclining chair next to my bed and the bassinet.  Honestly it didn't bother me in the slightest to share the room.  I didn't sleep much that first night and was so happy to have the nurses there to help with everything.  Then we left the next morning.  

Normally I would've gotten to go home 3 hours after birth, but I had to stay the night because of DS's weight (10.5 lbs, they did 3 blood glucose checks on him) and his vacuum delivery meant we had to get another OB visit in the morning so we stayed in that room maybe 12 hours.