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Anyone birthing at Shap Mary Birch?
That's where i'm supposed to have my LO. Just trying to gather some opinions and info. I am due January 2011
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Re: Anyone birthing at Shap Mary Birch?
What sort of opinions & info are you looking for? I am delivering at SMB in December. They offer some great classes. We had our Childbirth Prep class this past weekend (which includes a hospital tour). There is a lot of useful information in that class if you (or DH) really have no clue what to expect. The hospital staff seems nice. The labor & delivery rooms are a really nice size but the recovery rooms are a lot smaller than I thought they would be.
Anything else? Happy to help.
I had my daughter there on October 1st. The nurses were great. I had a wonderful nurse during the entire day of my delivery - the shifts are 12 hours (7 to 7) So you can get to know your nurse pretty well. All nurses were very accommodating and supportive though. The LDR room was nice and big as well. They will bring you an excercise/birthing ball if you ask them which I recommend because it really helped me with back labor.
The nurses for the postpartum rooms were great too. They helped me with some different breastfeeding positions and latching on. If nobody thinks to do it, ask a nurse to help you with this because they will be able to spot any problems with your latch before you get home and it becomes a problem. The first 24 hours I was there, the nurse did pretty much everything even diaper changing which was really nice because I was wiped out! If you need help or have questions about baby care, they will also help you with that. The only downside was that the postpartum room I got was a semi-private room. They are first come first serve for the fully private postpartum rooms. However, the semi-private are not too bad, they are more separated than one of those shared rooms with the hangings between.
Overall, I had a great experience. Just don't be shy. Now is not the time to be timid. If you need help, ask. If for some reason, you don't mesh well with the nurse you have, ask for another one. There's tons of them! They are there for the sole purpose of taking care of you and your baby and they know it and want to make you feel as comfortable as possible, use that!
You can tour the facility but I recommend taking the basic birthing prep class they offer which includes a tour. It is basic stuff but it really helped me know what to expect and just eased my nerves about this being my first baby and not knowing what the heck I was doing.