Detroit Babies
j32444
member
Hospitals...
j32444
member
OK ladies! I am not sure what hospital I should look into. I am considering three at the moment; Beaumont Royal Oak, Henry Ford Macomb, and St. John Main. What hospital did you give birth at and would you recommend it? If so or not, please share why.
Re: Hospitals...
My baby spent the first three days of his life in their "special care" unit tied to a glucose drip in an incubator (No NICU there). They let me go for 28+ hours of labor and completely disregarded the risks of my pregnancy:
-I had "borderline" gestational diabetes which went completely unmonitored by my midwife.
-I had 5 ultrasounds, all of which indicated my baby was LGA (large for gestational age). All the midwives insisted I was having a 7 pound baby when my husband and I repeatedly brought up this to my midwife. I had a 9 pound baby.
-I had a dating scan at 5 wks gestation. My due date was accurate. My water spontaneously broke two weeks before my due date.
Due to all these reasons, and my very long labor, my baby was born with low blood sugar which required him to be in their special care unit (there is no NICU at HFWB) for 3 days and some trouble breathing when he was born. I remain convinced that these signs should have been recognized and could have possibly been prevented with a c-section. In addition:
-Every 10ish hours, my attending midwife's shift ended, and a new one came on. The first 2 were at least supportive in the emotional way which I had been seeking. The third and final delivering midwife had a horrible attitude. She treated me with great disrespect, as if the long labor was somehow my fault.
-We were told we could recover in our delivery room. After less than four hours of recovering from a very long and difficult labor, a rude nurse came in and demanded that we pack up our belongings and move to a different room in a different wing of the hospital. I had to ask her how she expected my husband to carry all of our things (flowers, overnight bags for each of us, baby supplies, stuffed animals) and how I was going to get there. She grudgingly found us a cart and a wheelchair.
After my experiences, it is my belief that midwives believe there is one "right" way to deliver your baby. They will put you and your infant in danger to protect their agenda.
I'll never be able to get those first three days back, for which I place the blame squarely on the hands of the midwives. My greatest regret is that my child was torn away from me in his first hours and that he was delivered by "that woman".
Also if you felt your "borderline" gd was not being monitored why didn't you speak up? Also I just wanted to add that it's very common that someone with diabetes will have a baby born with very low blood sugar. I dont feel it's right to blame all of your terrible experience on the midwife team. I also had to switch rooms but I understood why. Your room was needed by an another mother who was in labor, that's not anyone's fault. I am sure you were aware of the size of the unit before you gave birth there. I can't comment on the attitudes you felt toward you, but I can say that I am a nurse myself and if my patients treat me with respect then I am willing to bend over backwards for them. If they are rude to me then no.... I am wondering if your bad experience had anything to do with how you treated the staff. "How do you expect me to carry this stuff"...doesn't sound very nice.