Delivering at Tripler Army Hospital

Rakaiya

Hey all, my husband and I are stationed in Hawaii and plan on having our first child within the year (if all goes well of course). Well I'm an avid googler and have been looking up where I'd be delivering and have heard crazy stories about tripler hospital which is where I'd have to deliver if we stay on Tricare Prime. Anyone have a baby there or know someone who did in the last few years that would like to share their experience?

 Or should I save the time and switch to standard and birth at the hospital I've grown to like instead? Thanks everyone! 

GeorgiaGirl1230

Hey fellow islander! I have heard the stories too, sadly. I think that it's probably a lot of hearsay (so many of the military hospitals have all of the same horror stories said about them, whether or not that's the majority), but honestly, I didn't take the chance of finding out. I don't know anyone who has personally gone through any of those situations, but I knew I also wouldn't be getting much attention from them either. They have so many births a day that you're just a number.

 I am almost 20 weeks and when I found out I was pregnant I switch to Standard and am seeing Dr. Susan Chapman at Pali Women's Health/Castle Medical Center in Kailua. My experience has been wonderful so far! They are an in-network provider and I know we'll owe a deductible, but they do it where you don't pay until after you deliver. To me, it's worth it.

If it's worth anything, I DID have surgery at Tripler in July 2011 and it went perfect. No problems and the doctors were great. It was a really routine operation and they do them all the time, just like they deliver babies all the time. It was a clean, nice place. I just knew that I wanted a more specialized place for my first child.

Good luck making your decision!

tammi!!

Hi! I just had my daughter at Tripler in October. Though I had a C-Section, the whole thing was amazing. The ONLY issue I had was that I wasn't able to eat before going in, and then after the c-section I had just missed breakfast and had to wait even longer for lunch. Not their issue but I was STARVING. Thank goodness my husband thought to bring snacks because I definitely did not!

That being said, if you are already comfortable with a hospital, you can always switch to standard and birth there. I know Tripler had some really bad things happen in the past, but from what I saw everything has been fixed to not allow those things to happen again.

Rakaiya

Hello back at you! Castle Medical is actually the place I was hoping to go, I'm glad to know they're in-network, and that I now have a firsthand opinion haha. Thanks for helping me, and good luck!

ladybugpjb

I read those stories when I was pregnant, and they scared me. Every hospital has stories.

I had DS at Tripler in Aug 2011 and had a pretty good experience. I had issues, but would have had them anywhere. I don't have any experience with any other hospitals, so I can't compare, but I wouldn't hesitate to have my next LO there if we weren't PCSing this week.

I did have issues with the OB department. I worked with the midwife team, and scheduling appointments was hard. Parking can be aggravating. They sometimes leave you waiting a long time, even if you're on time. Not major things, though.

shimabruck

I'm seeing the midwife (Joan) at Dr Battacharyya (sp??)'s office - they are part of Castle. My cousin also used him and LOVED him (and she is very, very picky). Office is really nice, low key and calm and the staff is great. Not sure where you live, but for us Trippler would be harder to get to in the event of traffic so I am more comfortable with going to Castle anyway. 

Rakaiya

shimabruck:

I'm seeing the midwife (Joan) at Dr Battacharyya (sp??)'s office - they are part of Castle. My cousin also used him and LOVED him (and she is very, very picky). Office is really nice, low key and calm and the staff is great. Not sure where you live, but for us Trippler would be harder to get to in the event of traffic so I am more comfortable with going to Castle anyway. 

 

That was my biggest concern, we live pretty far from Tripler too and I want to labor at home as long as possible and Castle would literally be right around the corner from us haha. Can I ask if you use Prime or Standard?  

shimabruck

Rakaiya - you have to be Standard...if you have Prime, you have to go to Tripler. 

kweeng

Hello, I had my baby in Feb and went with Castle hospital because of all the horror stories I'd heard even though we were in Schofield and tripler was closer. I am infinitely grateful that I did so. I had a very rough pregnancy with a couple ER trips and actually went to tripler one of those times. Worst.decision.ever. I showed up at noon with horrible pain, it took the doctor two hours to show up in my room and when he did it was only to ask me why I wasn't delivering at tripler and leave the room immediately. I was strapped to the bed with the fetal monitor. I was 34 weeks pregnant and they sent me to LD. I was in so much pain that I vomited on the floor and bed when a nurse was there. She walked away and it was almost four hours before someone came in and cleaned up the vomit. Meantime I really had to pee and was buzzing asking for a nurse to help me since even without the monitors, the pain was so bad I could not get up without help. No one ever came and I ended up soiling myself and it was a good hour before someone came too clean it up. The few times I managed to get to speak with someone I asked where the doctor was and they just said "he's out back talking to the other doctors." They wouldn't even give me tylenol until the doctor approved it. they released me at 10:30pm with a script of pain meds. While I was there they never gave me any pain meds so as soon as I got those pills I took them without reading what it was. The next day when I spoke with my doctor I learned are not to be given to pregnant women AT ALL past the second trimester due to the chances of problems to baby. Imagine how horrible I felt never taking so much as an aspirin during the pregnancy finding out my child could be born addicted or with heart problems! They even treated my husband badly when he came back from having dropped off the other kids at the sitter. In contrast, the personalized care I received at Castle was outstanding even when I showed up bleeding so profusely that they initially thought my placenta had ruptured. I wonder if the way the birth presented itself was due to those painkillers they gave me that I took without knowing the horrible sideeffects.
Anyways, between the two er trips, labwork which you pay for on Standard, and various medicines I was on which I paid a copay for as well, we paid less than 300 total for the birth I had severe HG and was on different anti nausea pills. A normal pregnancy would pay less than what we did but I would not have it any other way. Dr. Susan Chapman was absolutely wonderful. I started with the midwife there but due to the complications ended up with the doctor.

bripratt2

This is super late so I hope you get to read it lol but I wouldn't worry too much I've heard things to I think everyone has but if you're well enough prepared things should be perfectly fine. I suggest taking Lamaze real Lamaze that is not the pseudo ones offered at hospitals. You'll get all the information you could possibly want if you take a proper Lamaze class

bripratt2

Castle is actually the best! Its the inky place i would suggest I had a wonderful experience there but mind you you still have keep on them about some things.