Not me, but friends have. It's an older building, definitely not new and shiny like some of the big ones around. When I visited, it was clean and quiet. Friends all had good experiences from what I know. Nice staff.
UTSW is building a new hospital in 2014... can you wait til then?
I delivered DS#1 at UTSW, & am delivering this LO there as well. The building may be older, but the L&D rooms are not old. They are extremely nice, roomy, & pretty. The recovery rooms are your typical hospital recovery rooms, but the L&D rooms are VERY nice.
As for my labor experience: It was extremely calm & enjoyable, although I was in labor forever. The only bad thing was that I had an internal scalp monitor inserted in me & screwed to my baby's head without me even knowing it until after delivery, which I truly believe is the reason DS contracted a virus at birth that could've possibly killed him. My Dr. said she never requested the scalp monitor, & suspects the nurse put it on baby to make monitoring easier for her. Even though that is a pretty big deal, I still love & trust my Dr., & am choosing to have this LO there again. This time around DH & I are just going to be much more cautious of every single thing that is being done to me & baby, & I have requested that a scalp monitor not be used unless there's a medical emergency causing it to be necessary.
Now, as for the care of baby: This was not such a great experience for me. I really felt like the whole time they were trying to jerk me around & do everything they could to make money off of me. I think I was an easy target because I was a young, 1st time mom. The doctor's & nurses didn't follow requests such as not giving my baby formula, & when I was having some difficulting BFing, they seemed to really push me towards FFing. Also, DS was slightly jaundice at birth, & they made a huge deal about it. They ended up putting him under these lights that could've burned his eyes out if he took the covers they put on him off, then would only bring him to me once every 3 hours to nurse for 30 minutes. My family & I ended up doing research on jaundice in newborns & discovered that my DS was nowhere near jaundice enough to have to be under those lights. Because the lights & restricted feedings were causing DS to become dehydrated & lose too much weight, I demanded that DS not be kept in the nursery under those lights anymore. DS was allowed to come back to my room, & I was told I had to keep him under those lights, but even the nurses checking on me knew that I was not going to do so (because it was more dangerous than it was helpful). There were so many back & forths with the dang nurses and doctors there, when I honestly think if they would've just left me alone & nurse my son as often as possible, then his bilirubin levels would've gone down easily without needing those stupid lights, or anything else. My family & I basically had to go toe- to- toe with the hospital staff there & tell them that we weren't going to let them do anymore unneccessary things to or for my baby, & that they could stop trying to soak up the insurance $ & just let us go home. DS was born at 4:24am Wed. morning, & a doctor had to go out of her way at 10pm Saturday to discharge my DS after we finally won the fight.
Surely enough, once we got DS home I nursed him & exposed him to some sunlight, & within days his bilirubin levels were perfectly fine. However, he did end up getting hospitalized at 9 days old for 15 days due to the infection he contracted at birth, most likely through the open wounds on his head from the scalp monitor.
So BASICALLY, I did have some rough experiences after delivering DS with the staff at UTSW, but I am still choosing to have this LO there anyways. For one thing, I wanted my same doctor. For another, I figure this time I am more experienced & informed, so 1) they probably won't try to yank my chains about anything, & 2) if they do try to, I am already experienced & won't let them.
Sorry for the length of this response, but I just thought I'd let you know my personal experience with delivering at UTSW. My L&D experience was great, the after L&D was rough. Because I don't have any other hospital experiences with pregnancy & labor, I cannot compare my birthing experience at UTSW with one anywhere else.
Re: UT Southwestern St. Paul
Not me, but friends have. It's an older building, definitely not new and shiny like some of the big ones around. When I visited, it was clean and quiet. Friends all had good experiences from what I know. Nice staff.
UTSW is building a new hospital in 2014... can you wait til then?
I delivered DS#1 at UTSW, & am delivering this LO there as well. The building may be older, but the L&D rooms are not old. They are extremely nice, roomy, & pretty. The recovery rooms are your typical hospital recovery rooms, but the L&D rooms are VERY nice.
As for my labor experience: It was extremely calm & enjoyable, although I was in labor forever. The only bad thing was that I had an internal scalp monitor inserted in me & screwed to my baby's head without me even knowing it until after delivery, which I truly believe is the reason DS contracted a virus at birth that could've possibly killed him. My Dr. said she never requested the scalp monitor, & suspects the nurse put it on baby to make monitoring easier for her. Even though that is a pretty big deal, I still love & trust my Dr., & am choosing to have this LO there again. This time around DH & I are just going to be much more cautious of every single thing that is being done to me & baby, & I have requested that a scalp monitor not be used unless there's a medical emergency causing it to be necessary.
Now, as for the care of baby: This was not such a great experience for me. I really felt like the whole time they were trying to jerk me around & do everything they could to make money off of me. I think I was an easy target because I was a young, 1st time mom. The doctor's & nurses didn't follow requests such as not giving my baby formula, & when I was having some difficulting BFing, they seemed to really push me towards FFing. Also, DS was slightly jaundice at birth, & they made a huge deal about it. They ended up putting him under these lights that could've burned his eyes out if he took the covers they put on him off, then would only bring him to me once every 3 hours to nurse for 30 minutes. My family & I ended up doing research on jaundice in newborns & discovered that my DS was nowhere near jaundice enough to have to be under those lights. Because the lights & restricted feedings were causing DS to become dehydrated & lose too much weight, I demanded that DS not be kept in the nursery under those lights anymore. DS was allowed to come back to my room, & I was told I had to keep him under those lights, but even the nurses checking on me knew that I was not going to do so (because it was more dangerous than it was helpful). There were so many back & forths with the dang nurses and doctors there, when I honestly think if they would've just left me alone & nurse my son as often as possible, then his bilirubin levels would've gone down easily without needing those stupid lights, or anything else. My family & I basically had to go toe- to- toe with the hospital staff there & tell them that we weren't going to let them do anymore unneccessary things to or for my baby, & that they could stop trying to soak up the insurance $ & just let us go home. DS was born at 4:24am Wed. morning, & a doctor had to go out of her way at 10pm Saturday to discharge my DS after we finally won the fight.
Surely enough, once we got DS home I nursed him & exposed him to some sunlight, & within days his bilirubin levels were perfectly fine. However, he did end up getting hospitalized at 9 days old for 15 days due to the infection he contracted at birth, most likely through the open wounds on his head from the scalp monitor.
So BASICALLY, I did have some rough experiences after delivering DS with the staff at UTSW, but I am still choosing to have this LO there anyways. For one thing, I wanted my same doctor. For another, I figure this time I am more experienced & informed, so 1) they probably won't try to yank my chains about anything, & 2) if they do try to, I am already experienced & won't let them.
Sorry for the length of this response, but I just thought I'd let you know my personal experience with delivering at UTSW. My L&D experience was great, the after L&D was rough. Because I don't have any other hospital experiences with pregnancy & labor, I cannot compare my birthing experience at UTSW with one anywhere else.