Thoughts on Unity Hospital, Fridey

sheilakk

Hi Ladies, I am searching for a hospital to give birth to my LO and was wondering if anyone has comments/experience/ thoughts on Unity Hospital?

 

 

KERJF

I will be delivering there. I wanted to as well, I was not just "stuck" there. I really like it and have only had wonderful with all of the employees there.
It has been my "home" hospital since I was born. If you need an OB rec-I have a super one.

ilovebijou

I have a friend who had a very bad experience there with the birth of her child and if it weren't for her father being a respiratory therapist the baby probably would have died. The events surrounding that delivery kind overshadow my thoughts of Unity so if it were me I probably wouldn't deliver there. 

 Things that I would definitely want in a hospital I was delivering at:

- What are the birthing rooms like? Do you labor and recover in the same room? I wouldn't want to have to switch to a different room after delivery.

- Is there an OB on staff 24 hours a day? Do they have an anesthesiologist (MD) at the hospital 24 hours a day? Or is it a nurse anestetist? I would want an anesthesiologist.

- Do you want the option of a water birth? 

- What level is their NICU? For me, I would choose a hospital that had a Level 3 NICU, especially if it is your first. You would have a more experienced staff available during delivery if there was a need and then after delivery your baby would be able to stay at the same hospital rather than being transfered to another hospital for a higher level of care.

We were deciding between St. Johns and St. Joes for our baby's delivery and St. Johns having a Level 3 NICU was probably the biggest deciding factor.

For your first, you are probably going to have a lot of time to get to the hospital so I wouldn't use proximity to the hospital as the only deciding factor. Good luck!

furbyone

I delivered baby #1 at St John's hospital and baby #2 at Unity. In my honest opinion I had a better experience at Unity! The nurses were so much more knowledgable during labor, one of the labor nurses at St Johns didn't even know how to do an internal to check my dialation! Very unnerving while in labor with your first child! Unity was great! Even though I had to switch rooms, the labor nurses rocked and my mom and baby nurse was amazing!

So, in a nutshell, I believe that everyone has a different experience and each labor is different. But I would highly suggest Unity.

KERJF

ilovebijou:

I have a friend who had a very bad experience there with the birth of her child and if it weren't for her father being a respiratory therapist the baby probably would have died. The events surrounding that delivery kind overshadow my thoughts of Unity so if it were me I probably wouldn't deliver there. 

 

Even if I didnt like Unity for whatever reason I think i would comment the same - I think stuff like this can happen anywhere. Most times we are just lucky not to hear about it.

 

I did like the rest of your post with things to think about. Had I not been so sure on where I wanted to deliver, and confident about it, those would have been great things to research in other hospitals! 

christyp80

I was in the maternity ward of Unity for 3 days/2 nights at 17 weeks because I had meningitis.  I really liked it.  The food was good, the bed was comfortable, the nurses were great, and the doctors were professional and knowledgeable.  I asked lots of questions while I was there like "what if I want a natural birth?" (A: that's fine, I'd have full support of the staff), "how long will I be allowed to labor naturally before intervention?" (A: first babies take awhile, they're not going to rush me), "What if I want to give birth in a non-traditional position?" (A: they have birthing bars and other tools available for this), "Can the baby sleep and be bathed in my room?" (A: yes, it's up to the parents), "How much will I be bothered by nurses/doctors/etc after I give birth?" (A: They try to leave new parents alone as much as possible after the birth so they can sleep), etc.  I'm not interested in a water birth so I didn't ask about that.

I don't have much experience comparing hospitals, but Unity seemed to fit all the things I am looking for in a birthing experience.  Hope this helps!

sheilakk

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Thanks ladies, this has been really helpful.