Delivering at Scripps Encinitas
Has anyone delivered at Scripps Encinitas? I was all set to deliver there, even chose my Doctor based on being able to deliver there. I found out today though that the postpartum rooms are not private and while there is the chance of not having a roommate, most likely I would.
I worry that I would be the one to share a room with someone with 50 family members who all wanted to come visit. Also, when I called the maternity floor to inquire about the rooms, I asked about my husband being able to stay during the nights. The nurse seemed to be unsure if that would be ok if I was sharing a room with another mother.
Before going crazy and trying to switch everything to Scripps La Jolla, I would love to hear about someone's actual experience delivering at Scripps Encinitas.
Please share any info you have, even if you just know someone who delivered there. I'm 33 weeks along so it is crunch time.
Thanks
Re: Delivering at Scripps Encinitas
I'm planning to deliver at Scripps Encinitas. The environment and hospital policies there are WAY more important to me than the private rooms. I've heard that La Jolla is very posh, but they have very strict rules on support people (only one person is allowed). I am planning for a natural birth, and La Jolla has a very high C-Section and episiotomy rate - one of the highest in the area. To me it isn't worth risking the unnecessary interventions just for a private room.
I've had several friends that delivered at Scripps Encinitas, and they loved it. You may or may not get a private room, but the staff is much more willing to work with you for the birth experience that you choose. They have a great lactation team on hand, and it's a much more natural, mother and baby oriented birthing experience.
It all depends on what type of a birth experience you are looking for, but from everything I've heard, Encinitas gets better reviews, hands down!
I delivered at Scripps Encinitas (too bad the new hospital won't be done for a few years).
This is very tough for me to answer because the night that I delivered (Nov 11), the unit was totally full. I picked my OB before I got pregnant and knew I would be delivering there. I was originally excited about it because its so close to home. If I had to do it again, I would switch to La Jolla!!!!! ( I have no idea what I'll do for baby #2, because I really LOVE my ob (Pacific Coast Womens) but they only deliver at Encinitas. If I had a choice without switching doctors, I would for sure chose LJ.
So, my labor room was fine. Nice pull out sleeper for DH, large enough etc etc. I had my guy at 10:48am and was told that we would be moving to a shared recovery room later that evening. We were told we needed to move, but that if noone went into labor we might be able to stay. Our nurse urged us to just stay there because the chances were good that we could stay. It was perfect for night #1, but we got very lucky.
The next day I was going to stay a 2nd night, but was told that we for sure had to move. That is when we decided to check out of the hospital. DH took a shower in our delivery room and said the pressure sucked and I just wanted a nice shower...that is what made me leave in combination with sharing. We had to pack up and go to the room, even though we were leaving, because I had to stay at least 24 hours and they had to do the pediatrician visit, hearing test etc. The room I WOULD have shared was with a girl who had had a 12 1/2 pound baby!!! She had a major episiotomy and was in pain. I could hear her moaning and groaning. The sleep chair that DH was going to have to sleep on was just a recliner and looked very uncomfortable for a nights sleep (he may have gone home). There was hardly enough room for the bassinet, our luggage and the recliner. And, of course, there were 2 babies in the room with wacky schedules. So, needless to say, we checked out after being there for 26 hours and it was the BEST thing to be home. It's not like the nurses could help breastfeed at night...so nothing was different.
BUT, with that said, my neighbor delivered there last June and was able to NOT share and her DH slept in the other patient bed and had a good nights sleep.
We went on the tour in September and it was all full as well (I guess lots of Xmas/NYE babies they said). We conceived around Valentines Day, so who knows.
Sorry for the long email. I'm torn with what I'll do for #2, but given a choice....La Jolla for sure. I did LOOOVE all of the nurses at Encintas and had a VERY pleasant experience related to my care and delivery! GL
Sorry for the late response, but I delivered at Encinitas and if I had to do it over again I would have gone to La Jolla. I had a horrible, horrible experience and there was nothing the staff could do about it. First I was scheduled for a C-Section due to the size of LO. I'm small and he was soo big, there was no way I could have pushed him out. While I was waiting for my C-Section we were in one of the "new" rooms and construction was going on in the rooms next door. They promised me though that once I came back with LO the noise would stop. When we got back to the room they still had a little bit to finish up and continued banging for awhile. No big deal I thought, I can rest later ( they banged away until 6p.m. or soo). We had a few visitors and tried to get some rest. At 1a.m. they woke us up and moved us to a shared room. At this point we didn't have a roomate so DH was able to sleep on the other bed and we tried to go back to sleep. That was when the screaming started. They were soo busy that night (2/9 - 2/10) that they were having women laboring in the recovery rooms AND in the hall! So we basically heard all of them until we got our roomate at 5 a.m. on 2/10. As soon as visiting hours started everyone they knew came to visit and had their cell phones on full blast. At one point there were 10 ppl around their bed, two toddlers (which were running up and down the hall) and us squished onto the other side. There were soo many ppl that our friends couldn't even come in the room. I hadn't slept since LO was born and I was livid, plus LO couldn't get any rest. My mom was there and went and had a hissy at the nurses station and they came down and made some of their visitors leave. They were discharged later that day and I begged and pleaded with the nurse to hold off on bringing in another roomate as long as they could so I could get some rest. So for like 2 hours no one came in the room. Then they had to get the room ready for our next roomate and had to come in and clean up, etc.. So again, no rest really. Our next roomates arrived around 5p.m. and were much better than the other ones. My Dr. came to check in on me at this time and I was soo tired and exhausted and she was pissed because they hadn't had me up and around yet or removed my catheder. She told me that the only way to get things better was to get up out of the bed and walk around and get the catheder out. While she was attending to me my cousin who works in the ER came down to visit and he was pissed too that they hadn't gotten me up yet. He went and talked to the charge nurse and found out that because they had soo many ppl in labor that they had to bring in temp nurses to help out. He then came in on his breaks and walked me around, thank god for him. My Dr. got on them for basically not attending to me and they finally came and removed my catheder.. I was able to sleep for a few hours thru the night and on 2/11 my Dr. came back and discharged me a day early with an order for a home health care nurse under her arm for me for 24 - 48 hours. She was livid at the hospital staff for not getting me up and around earlier and leaving my catheder in for soo long and she wanted to makes sure I could get around at home and new I would get better rest there then at the hospital. She told me that when I have my next baby we are def delivering at La Jolla. So I was there for 2.5 days with a C-Section and had maybe 4-5 hours of sleep. I was exhausted when we got home and was soo thankful to be there.
I had a super bad experience from my point of view but there wasn't too much the staff could do about it. That being said I loved the fact that the hospital staff was soo BFing friendly. I never saw the same nurse twice but the LC's came in to check on us multiple times and thanks to them I had a great BFing experience.
I am delivering at Scripps LJ even though I live much closer to Encinitas. I looked into both and have a friend who is a L&D nurse. She lives 2 mins from Scripps Encinitas and said that she would never deliver there and would drive the extra distance to Scripss LJ based on the differences. Not sure if that helps but good luck.
p.s. I had the tour at Scripps LJ and everything is top notch. You can always put together a birthing plan if you feel strongly about meds, episiotomy, etc.
I just wanted to say that I work for Scripps and I would go with La Jolla all the way. I delivered my baby girl there in March and the staff and accomodations at Memorial were FABULOUS. The only complaint I (and my husband) had was his cot was very uncomfortable, I had a c-section and he stayed with me round the clock all 4 nights. I have never gotten such wonderful medical care. The nurses at La Jolla were all outstanding. I had a large private room with a huge bathroom, and the shower was nice and the pressure was good. The only reason for the limited visitors (one person plus spouse/partner) was due to the swine flu and I think the policy was revised in April to allow more visitors.
I have never been a patient at the Encinitas Hospital, but I can say that my stay at Sripps La Jolla was so great I would highly recommend it to anyone!