Amazing Hospital Tour today!

mlrafiki

So Hubby and I just got back from our hospital tour and Oh. My. Gosh. This place is like a natural birth palace. I mean, don't get me wrong: they have everything that a hospital maternity ward should and plenty of mothers choose to get epidurals, etc. BUT the place is so welcoming and encouraging to mothers who want to birth naturally that this FTM is finally starting to really look forward to the birth!

The rooms all have showers (and some have tubs, which they reserve for mothers who plan to go med-free), birthing balls, highly flexible beds, refrigerators (they encourage eating unless you get an epi), TVs, big windows, rocking chairs, and a couch that becomes a twin bed. Best of all, there is no nursery: unless he/she requires NICU care, baby stays with mom in the room the entire time.

Most of the things that I was planning on requesting are actually standard procedure at this hospital: saline lock, intermittent monitoring, treating newborn right on mom's tummy, etc. Interventions like Pitocin and episiotomies have to be ordered by your doc/midwife, and even then, they do the absolute minimum required.

I wish all hospitals were like this! Do you think hospitals are finally catching up to the low-intervention birth trend?

mrshall10210

mlrafiki:

I wish all hospitals were like this! Do you think hospitals are finally catching up to the low-intervention birth trend?

I don't know.  I'm delivering in a hospital, and see CNM's and OB's for my appts (though mostly CNM's).  When I asked my midwife questions about what their policies were, I got all the answers I was hoping for.  She followed with the warning for me to make it VERY clear to anyone who was working with me what my wishes were. In her words, "They are NOT going to know what to do with you."   Yikes.  So they're ok with natural, but most people don't want natural?  I think that tells me that maybe we're starting to get the doctors/hospitals thinking correctly, but now maybe we need to be educating some pregnant ladies on the benefits of natural birth and the potential consequences of interventions.

Twirple

My hospital is a work in progress.  They used to have birthing tubs, but pulled them out 11 years ago (coincidentally, my friend was their last water birth.  Her son got stuck and freaked them out, though both mother and son were fine.)  They do have showers in all of the birthing rooms, they do not want you to eat in the hospital, but were upset with me for not eating before I went into the hospital because I was losing energy and shaking.  (I could not eat.)  They were great about me getting up and walking around to labor, they provided balls to labor on, and followed everything on my birthing plan.  The nurses even argued over who got to handle my delivery because they love hypnobirths.  I would say that there is some room for improvement, but all-in-all, they are moving in the right direction.