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Maryland Babies
GBMC L&D Tour Canceled- Have ?'s
Hey ladies! Hope everyone's Labor Day weekend is going well!
So, the only tour that I could safely squeeze in to my schedule was canceled. So, not only will I be giving birth for the first time, I'll not know what anything looks like! Luckily, GBMC has a virtual tour, so I've checked that out a few times and it seems to ease my anxiety.
Since this is my 1st child, I was wondering if there was anything special I should know about giving birth at GBMC (for those who have delivered there)? Also, can my DH eat meals there too, or does he have to get his own food somehow?
TIA!
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Re: GBMC L&D Tour Canceled- Have ?'s
I didn't give birth @ GBMC, but the things I found helpful to know
(and stuff a friend of mine complained about because she didn't know) about my hospital (AAMC, but some might apply to GBMC) was the following-
1) after having the baby someone will be coming into your room at least every hour- between nurse checking you & baby, security doing photos, hearing test person, house-keeping, food, etc. To try and make the best of it and get as much sleep as you can but you will be interrupted.
2) take everything that you can- bring empty shopping bags if you can. We brought home diapers, pads, icepacks & numbing spray for you, the big "chuck" pads that you will be sitting on- they are super handy for doing diaper changes on the fly. I got a humidifier as well- they are usually single patient use, so they just toss them if you don't take it.
Re: the food- typically the meals are only provided for the patient (mom.) The L&D area might have a fridge where your DH could store some food (label it of course.) AAMC had this in a mini-kitchen area that also had drinks and snacks that were for the mom and her support partner- but not for all of her visitors.
GBMC is awesome! Call parent education and see if you can set up a tour. They might have one of their classes going through and you can tag along. The ladies at the parent education center (formaerly called the "lactation station") are awesome.
Here is the tour info, as best as I can recall:
Visitor Policy-
Labour- When you are in labour you can have up to 5 visitors (Spouse/Partner + 4) It must be the same 5 visitors the entire time. They will get wrist bands. Dad (or your VIP) is the only one that can let the other guests in and out and he must walk them in and out.
Delivery- You can have Dad + 2 visitors. If you have doula through GBMC your doula doesn't count as a visitor. If you have a private DOula then that counts as one of your visitors.
Post-Partum- You can have as many different people as you want but no more than Dad +2 people in the room at any one time. (I found that this wasn't terribly strictly enforced.)
Set-up
Paperwork- Your OB should give you a pre-registration form at about your 30th week. Fill it out an return it at your next OB appointment. That way the first time you get to the hospital you don't have to worry about giving them all your insurance info, etc.
Arriving- DON'T go to the emergency room! Follow the signs for Labor and Delivery Drop off. While technically they have valet, all the times DH and I went in and out of there the valet guy was NEVER around. Now it was cold out, but still. Your DH can drop you off and there is a parking garage close by. Walk inside and across the lobby to the desk that says "Maternity Check-in" or something like that. Just give them your name and they'll pull up all the info you gave on your pre-registration form. They'll print out something for you to sign. (It's the hospital's financial policy and totally standard.) Then they give you your bracelette and walk you to this dim quiet waiting area. After a few minutes one the the nurses or mid-wives will come out and walk you back to OB triage.
Labor and Delivery- Once admitted you will be put in a room in L&D. You will be in the sme room until about 1 hour after you deliver. (Unless you are having a c-section, which obviously happens in an OR.) Once you are settles in your L&D room you can have visitors. Visiting hours don't matter in L&D.
Epidural- If you think you want one, you'll have to have an entire bag of IV fluids before they can give you one. This is standard procedure because the medicine in an epidural can cause some people's blood pressure to drop. So if you are planning on an epi don't wait until the last minute to get your IV started or there may not be time! (It takes 45 min - 1 hr to get the bag of fluids.)
After (Vaginal) Delivery-
Moving to Post-Partum- You stay in your L&D room for about an hour after delivery and then you are wheeled over to post-partum. A nurse will wheel you and your husband will push the baby's crib. How long you are there depends on your insurance, but it is generally 48 hours after delivery.
Nursery- GBMC does have a nursery. You can have the baby room in with you pretty much the entire time, but it is helpful to be able to send the baby to the nursey so mom can get some sleep. Also, if you have a boy and you are circumcising (sp?) that will occur in the newborn nursery. (Your OB does it.)
Sleeping arrangements for Dad- There is a long window seat in each of the rooms. The back comes off and it is actually Dad's bed. I was my sister's labour coach and it was fine to sleep on. My husband had a tough time because he is 6 1/2 feet tall so his legs were longer than the bed.
Food-
The food for the patients and the cafeteria is all done by Aramark (the same people who do M&T stadium). The food was really good. They have a room service set up. Whenever you are hungry you just call and order whatever you want off the menu. You can order food for your husband too. (I think they called it a spouse tray???) Anyway it is the same set up, you just call and order whatever you want from the menu. We were billed after the fact. I think we paid a total of $28 for DH's food.
NICU-
I hope you won't need it, but if you do GMBC has an awesome level 3 NICU. If you want specifi information about that, please feel free to page me.
Weezie gave you lots of good info, and I agree GBMC is awesome. One thing that was different when I was there last September, I was allowed to have Dad (VIP)) + 4 visitors in my room. They changed their policy around flu season when H1N1 was a bigger threat, but I believe they have since changed it back to Dad + 4.
I had a scheduled c/s, so I didn't spend much time in the normal birthing rooms, but they seemed very nice when I took the tour. The Operating Room is pretty plain and clean, as an OR should be, and if you end up having a c/s they will keep you in the recovery room for 1-2 hours before moving you to your room.
One thing that bummed me out was that I was not allowed to have the baby in my room when no other adultrs were present for the first day, because I had extra sedatives during my c/s and they were concerned I might not react quickly if something happened. Better safe than sorry, of course, so it's not a bad thing really, but I was pretty lonely when everyone left and they took L away. They brought her back for feedings but then sent her back to the nursery when she was done. I had visitors for most of the day so this really only applied the first night. Like I said, this was only for the first 24 hours and it was because I had extra sedatives. (I was a nervous wreck and had a serious anxiety attack before the c/s.)
Oh wow! Thank you all so much for the info!
This really eases some of my anxiety. Who needs a tour!?
I delivered there!
To be honest, the tour was nice just to see things in person but it didn't really give us much info that you can't find on the website.
Just go to the maternity entrance (DH drops you off, parks the car & walks back to meet you there). You'll go up to the desk, let them know whatever ("My water broke, I'm leaking on your floor, get me a room NOW" , "Hi! I'm here for an induction" etc). They'll get you signed in & either take you to a "prep room" (small room, very boring; I was in one when I had to go to the ER during my pregnancy) or put you right into a L&D room (BIG nice rooms w/ tv!).
Your DH will be allowed to eat/drink but you won't. You get ice chips (yum...). If your DH has any sympathy for you, he'll eat in the hallway or the cafeteria, lol! They also have a room with a fridge in it where you can store food/drinks that you bring (just be sure to label them with your name!)
The staff there is great.
My only other tips:
~Don't be shy, trust me, there's NO room for dignity, pride or shyness.
~Don't be afraid to hit the call button if you need something (pp I was due for pain meds right before a shift change. After waiting over an hour in pain, I finally hit the button to ask if someone could bring my meds in. It was just missed during shift change)
~If you don't have your baby in the room with you at night (we didn't, I really needed the time to recoup & took full advantage of the nursery), call the nursery as soon as you want your baby brought to you; it can take them up to 30mins to bring the baby in. If you want the baby in the nursery at night, they'll come around 10 or 10:30 to take the baby to the nursery
~Feel free to use the room service for you & DH. The food isn't awful (granted, it's still not the worlds best food, but it's ok)
Ditto all other advice for GBMC. They will give you a canvas bag filled with all the pp goodies you will need during your stay and at home, it hangs in the bathroom there. Keep taking the supplies out and hide them away in your bags and you will keep getting more, which comes in handy big time at home!
Also for the food, which I thought was just okay (the pancakes were the heaviest I ever had seen and just almost rock hard), they let you order three things off the menu for each meal so I would just order DH something when he wanted it and we never paid extra. They also gave us their local delivery menu binder once we got to the pp room since it was too late to order food from the cafeteria.
DH bought a coupon book of parking tickets there to give out to guests that visited so that was nice.
When we were there, PP rooms were allowed spouse plus 4 visitors, which could be changed in and out, but never more than that. L&D was just spouse and 4 other named people that could not be interchanged at all.
Paperwork can be done online ahead of time on their website, but you'll do it again at the front desk again anyway.
The nursery can take a long time to bring your child back to you when you want them to. DH and I just would often bring her back and forth to make it quicker.
Ask for a corner PP room if you want to...I did right after DD was born and I was still in a L&D room...they are much bigger rooms. Room 2653 if you want to be exact.
Also, if you plan to BF, the lactation consultant is kinda crazy and out there...I mean she did show up in a Tinkerbell outfit, but make sure to ask/take a new parts package when she shows up as when you leave the hospital and decide you want it, it will cost you!
Good luck!
Ha ha I wouldn't call it seriously awesome, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised. I stayed at GBMC in '08 when I had surgery and had what you would expect hospital food to be. The L&D is definitely better. I recommend the French toast for breakfast!
Mmmmmm... French toast!
So, if you have a plan for visitors, is the nursing staff willing to run interference? I'm thinking that while I won't mind having my mom in L&D... Until LO's appearance. I just want DH and I to have our time alone as a new family, and while I LOVE my mom, she would be willing to snatch my baby right out of my hands as soon as he gets in them... Sorry, not so excited about having to fight with my mom in the first moments of LO's life!
LOL... Thanks for letting me semi vent...
Oh yes. I had friends work with the nursing staff before the various parents came into L&D and worked out a signal that they could give to the nurse to let them know everyone needed to get out.
Personally, I let DH run interference. When I was writhering and clutching the bedrails, moaning in pain and unable to hold a conversation (and yes, this was even after an epi...which barely took, but that's another story), DH told his mother and my parents they needed to retreat to the waiting room and the next time they would be back was after DD was born. And believe it or not, DH's mother actually asked the nurse if she could sit outside my room to wait. And of course the answer was a big, fat NO as she would have heard everything and really, just gotten in the way. It was good they left then anyway because that is when I was unknowingly going from 8 to 10 cm and they told me soon after that I was ready to push. It was at least a good hour or more until I told DH it was okay to let the parentals back in after DD was born. There is so much that happens in that hour with you and your newborn and I just wanted to bond as a family during that hour.
Of course who is in the delivery room is totally up to you. I would definitely pre-arrange with your nurse and your DH to have some type of signal about if/when you want her to leave... But make sure you give yourself the oppertunity to change your mind. When the time comes you may decide you want your mom there. (But if you choose to have her there I would definiely let her know that she needs to take a back seat when it comes to meeting the baby!)
I know my delivery wasn't the norm, but for my experience it was wonderful to have my mom there. DD had to go to the NICU almost immidiately after birth and DH had to go with her. It was great to have my mom with me, because otherwise I would have been alone. She stroked my hair and my cheek and told me how beautiful Evie was.