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IHO Poll Below - Labor and Delivery Poll for the Moms
1. Where did you deliver your baby(ies)?
2. How was your experience? Would you rec them to others?
3. Anything else you'd like to add?
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Re: IHO Poll Below - Labor and Delivery Poll for the Moms
1. Carlisle Regional Medical Center, Women's Center.
2. It was amazing and I would absolutely recommend them.
3. I'm excited to go back for this new baby. They have a fantastic new mom and baby group and a breastfeeding group (the LC there is fantastic!). Both groups were a great support and fun to attend. One of my biggest suggestions to new moms would be to go to groups like that offered at their hospital.
TTC since Jan 07. Dx with PCOS Jan 08
1) Harrisburg Hospital
2) It was fine - I was a long-term resident of the 8th floor because of pregnancy issues, so a few of my favorite nurses stopped in to say hi when I was in labor and when I was upstairs recovering.
3) I hear a lot of complaints about bad care on the recovery floor, but I didn't see that. It wasn't the Hilton, but we found a few nurses to lean on and they really helped us. We found that the help is there when you ask, but you do have to ask. You also have to remember to ask for your own pain meds - they don't show up volunteering to give them to you (important with a c-section!)
1. Where did you deliver your baby(ies)? Mia was born in Denver, so it's sort of n/a. Nick was born at Ephrata Community Hospital.
2. How was your experience? Would you rec them to others? My experience at the hospital was a DREAM. I'm so so so glad that I went there. It is not even remotely fancy or beautiful or spa-like, but I am fine with that because the care I got was just what we needed. The nurses were beyond incredible and supportive - down to letting me stay on their postpartum floor(taking me on as an additional patient load when they didn't have to) when I was in their ER at 5 days PP with an infection so that I could keep Nick with me overnight to feed him if I needed to. I have issues with going back to the practice that did my delivery, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to deliver with there again, but if I do I know that I'll be happy - it was well worth the extra drive from where we live to get there.
3. Anything else you'd like to add? In case anyone in Lancaster and surrounding is contemplating different hospitals, I especially wanted to deliver at Ephrata because of their high rate of successful vbacs and lower rate of c/s's than the other local hospitals. I knew that they have a larger percentage of Amish and Mennonite patients that deliver there due to their billing options that allow for a shorter stay and a flat rate, which meant that the nurses see more natural births than some of the other local hospitals and since I knew I'd be up against a lot of push back with having a vbac, I wanted to know that I had as many odds stacked up in my favor as possible. I'm so so so glad that I chose there because I didn't end up delivering with the practice that I originally thought I would because of complications and the nurses were 100% the support and help that I needed.
1. Hershey Med.
2. Great experience, although admittedly I was lucky enough to have a short, sweet and complication-free delivery.
3. I agree with Christina -- my favorite part about Hershey came after I left the hospital: the new mom's group and breastfeeding support group were so, so good for me as a first-time mom. When all the other well-meaning supporters just didn't get it, those women did and were wonderfully willing to share their experiences and advice. Mary the LC is just a special kind of wonderful.
1. Where did you deliver your baby(ies)? I delivered at Hershey Med
2. How was your experience? Would you rec them to others? My experience with L&D was wonderful even though my L&D experience was quite exciting. I delivered at 34 weeks. I was at my appt for a NST and they sent me to maternal-fetal health for an U/S and while there the tech discovered the blood-flow through the umbilical cord was almost non-existant. I was then sent to L&D and they started the pitocin, my DS did not tolerate the contractions and I never started dialating because they had to keep shutting off the pitocin, the next morning, my doctor (Dr. Botti - loved him) told me we were going to do a c-section. Gunnar was born without complications except one bout of sleep apnea in the NICU. I on the other hand had a bad reaction to the morphin and was in/out of conscienceness and my blood pressure bottomed out for about 18 hours. I finally got to see my son the next afternoon (or 24 hours) after he was born. He spent 11 days in the NICU.
I would recommend HMC to everyone and everybody.
3. Anything else you'd like to add? The NICU is outstanding and I would never want to deliver any place else than Hershey if I were to have anymore children, but we are one and done due to my complications and my age (I delivered at 39).
1. Where did you deliver your baby(ies)? I delivered at Hershey Medical Center.
2. How was your experience? Would you rec them to others? I loved my experience at Hershey and would absolutely recommend it to others. My delivery nurse was the most caring individual I've ever come across. She even visited Jack, Joe and I each night when she came in to work to see how we were doing. She made my birthing experience everything I hoped it would be without me throwing a birth plan in her face. I had some complications (internal tearing that needed surgery) and my nurse and doctors made me feel so calm that at the time it felt like no big deal to be wheeled into the OR post delivery. The hour or so I was in there felt like ten minutes.
3. Anything else you'd like to add? Two things I'd like to add. First off I was disappointing that there wasn't a LC on staff during the weekend. I did fine but felt I could have used that extra support system the very first day. The maternity floor nurses were helpful but they weren't really an LC ya know? I was able to see an LC on Monday before I was discharged but she left A LOT to be desired. I didn't find her to be overly helpful and didn't appreciate her remarks when I showed her how I was placing the nipple shield the nurse recommended ("Well I wouldn't quite throw it on there like a top hat" - uhhm thanks!). That was the one thing I was let down by because I remember meeting Mary the LC at our child birth classes and was really looking forward all weekend to hopefully getting her advice on Monday before leaving. I wish I could remember this LC's name. Its no thanks to her we're still BFing at 7+ months.
Secondly - One thing I hugely regret was not making time for the Breastfeeding group or the new Mom's group. It just seemed to fall at a difficult time in our schedule back in those days. I think it would have been nice to make some new friends and have that support system in place.
Penny -- was it Barb? She doesn't quite have the same calming, understanding, friendly demeanor as Mary, does she?
FYI, Mary very, very rarely does rounds as an LC on the L&D floor. That's kind of Barb's realm. Mary does a lot of the classes and groups, and personal ante-partum appointments.
I think you may be right . . Barb sounds familiar. And you're correct she def does not have the same personality as Mary. That's a shame Mary (or someone as nice as her) doesn't do rounds on the L&D floor. I'm sure Barb probably means well but she could probably stand to work on her people skills a little.
1. Heart of Lancaster (only baby born in PA... other two were in NJ).
2. Great except for the lack of nursery. I would not deliver there again because of it but if you will be rooming in with baby and have help I'd definitely rec them.
3. Rooms are amazing!!
1. Heart of Lancaster (only baby born in PA... other two were in NJ).
2. Great except for the lack of nursery. I would not deliver there again because of it but if you will be rooming in with baby and have help I'd definitely rec them.
3. Rooms are amazing!!
1. Women and Babies
2. Yes. It was a great experience.
3. I expect it to be a different experience this time. A lot of the rooms have been redone - nicer, bigger) and they are doing rooming in, too. This is the current standard of care across the country - to keep couplets together rather than babies in the nursery - so we should all expect it to be going this way across the board.
Even though I had a natural delivery, it is super important to me to have a NICU team in the hospital where I deliverand and a 24 hour in-house anesthesiologist for emergencies. I believe having babies is a totally natural thing, but I like the backup of modern miracles close at hand!