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Holy Cross jealousy
Man, reading about other's birth experiences at Holy Cross make me feel so gypped (I guess that's not a PC term?) My experience wasn't like that at all.... everything turned out fine, and I'm happy to have a healthy happy toddler - but, my experience in the hospital was kinda crappy. Not crappy enough to make me seek out a different alternative next time I get preggers, but, still crappy.
I had only freezing cold water in my shower for the whole stay in the recovery room, and they wouldn't switch rooms.
My labor nurse was kind of a biotch.
They didn't bathe DD for at least an hour after she was born, and I wasn't moved to the recovery floor until 5 hours after giving birth.
My doc laughed at me when I told her I wanted to try going natural (and I was already disappointed with which Doc was on call when I delivered - my least favorite in the practice).
There was sheer confusion over which recovery nurse was assigned to my room.
The parking attendants/valets lost my parents car (no one could tell them where it was parked).
I was supposed to get discharged by 10AM. They didn't discharge me until almost 5PM - because the pharmacy was confused and didn't fill my vaccine prescription.
I didn't have a blanket to take DD home in, and they were going to stop me from leaving the hospital with a receiving blanket.
I just had to get that off my chest. Not that I've been harboring it all for the past 2.5 years. I think next time, I'll try to get a doula!
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Re: Holy Cross jealousy
With the bathing thing, I guess I didn't realize that it was unusual. Otherwise, I def would have said something. I mean, the nurses sorta wiped her off, but, it was not the "take her over and weigh her/bathe her".... you can see some goo on her in her very early pics. lol.
Re: recovery - I think I was not on the "normal" maternity wing, or something. There wasn't a problem in the entire building. I asked to be moved, and they initially said OK. But, even after asking, and asking... they never moved me. I think they were full.
I know I was there at a bad time (as I think I've mentioned before, it was during a huge ice storm...) but, it was really pretty miserable.
My experience was generally fine, but there were a few things that made me mad - mostly all on my last day:
The discharge process seems screwy there. I was seriously sitting in the room dressed and ready to go for at least 4 hours and nobody explained anything to me about when we would actually get to go. Oh, and during this 4 hours, they stopped bringing me pain meds (I had a c-section and was still on the good meds). DH hadn't filled my rx yet because we had planned to have him do it at CVS, and I couldn't figure out why they were ignoring me.
And they were generally pretty weird about pain meds, actually. I had been told by a lot of people to stay on top of the pain and take the meds at the recommended intervals rather than waiting to hurt. So I was ringing for the nurse right at the intervals. I think they thought I was addicted or something.
We had to do the preemie car seat check in the NICU and both DH and I were ready to go and we were starting to walk down the hall and the nurse saw me and yelled that only one of us could go. I burst into tears and went back into the room and got mad and started calling officials at the hospital.
I think I mentioned before that I had to complain to the maternity nurse manager to even get to see an LC and it was during my 4 hour wait to be discharged. They had made me no priority because LO seemed to be eating fine. Thankfully he was, but he had also lost 9 oz while we were there.
I actually got really bitchy with the nurse manager and told her that in my professional experience in a job that highly values customer service, that people were most satisfied when they were made aware of the process, and that it would improve their customer service to make their discharge process and other procedures more transparent. She was talking down to me because I was hormonal and teary, so I said "Let me give you advice from my professional experience...." It probably had no effect, but it made me feel better.
I love how people say "my L&D nurse." LOL. I had 5 in my 42 hours. I don't really remember any of them - they all blur into one. One was from Wisconsin. They were all pretty nice.
My first two postpartum nurses were angels. The rest were ok.
I always switch to "cheated" when I want to use "gypped."
FWIW my discharge at SG was also a clusterfluff. I believe discharge is totally screwy everywhere. They want you ready to go at a certain time, but they'll get around to it when they damn well feel like it.
Ah, now I have a computer and can type more (I was on my phone before). I think it's unacceptable that you only had cold water in your shower. Unless they were 100% booked, they absolutely should've moved you to another room. That is not acceptable at all!
was at my delivery, and you probably would've preferred him.
My experience with the actual labor and delivery part was excellent, mostly because my L&D nurse was amazing. She was very encouraging and almost as helpful as my doula. I think I lucked out big time. My 2 days in the recovery area were fine - no major snafus, but nothing special. I had very little interaction with those nurses. They came in a couple of times per shift to check on me and give me some ibuprofen if I wanted it, but that was about it.
It's funny that we go to the same OB practice and one of my favorite doctors was present at your delivery, but you didn't like her. And my least favorite doc from that practice (Dr.
This is so true. LOL. I've always tended to like less popular GYN docs. I feel more comfortable with men, to start with... and, I prefer when their bedside manner is a little more brusque, with an optional (occasional) touch of crass humor thrown in.
This.
I actually was irked I didn't get Dr. S (she was supposed to do my induction but then she was asked to switch on call days at the last minute) and had Dr. R. But I warmed up to him and he's now my 2nd fave so all is well. I will be forever grateful to him (and DH) for not letting on how serious it was when H was first born. (She wasn't breathing and was quite blue. He put her on my belly for a quick second to let DH cut the cord but then the NICU team whisked her off)
I had a pretty good experience at HC but it wasn't all puppies and rainbows. I also didn't have hot water in my shower, but it was late in the day the day before I went home so I just did a sponge bath in the sink (which also had no hot water at the time!).
My L&D nurse Ashley was amahzing but I had a less than stellar PP nurse BOTH nights. Ugh. She was excited to have us again and I was pissed we didn't get someone new! She was very stingy with my meds (ibuprofen, let's get real lady) and I practically had to beg for it when it was time. I had a 2nd degree tear and stitches so I was not pleased with that. My other nurses just brought it to me.
The 2 LCs I saw were mostly useless, though I stayed 3 hours past discharge time in order to see one the last day. I feel like calling them up 6 months later and saying "you were wrong! im still having trouble" The LC at my pedi office was far more helpful and comforting.
This... the reason that some medical professionals don't immediately bathe is to make sure the youngster is thermoregulating well before they put them through the additional stress of a bath. They do an initial quick wipe-off and some people have delayed baths for hours if the newborn wasn't doing well to begin with.
I'm glad to get the heads-up about the discharge foul-ups so that maybe (although i don't know how, especially as a PP new mom, there's any way that i can be anything BUT emotional ;-) i'll be less irritated with them if i expect it to happen!
I would ask for my meds and a couple of the nurses said things like "Do you really need it?" and "Already?" And I was scrupulous about following the recommended intervals.
A CWC comment - during my labor I saw Dr. B, Dr. L and Dr. R, and Dr. R did my c-section. I had always liked him, but I love him now. I was TERRIFIED to have the c-section and he made it much less scary. Plus, it was over fast, and I healed great and the scar is very minimal.
Strangely, for some reason, I NEVER saw Dr. R through my WHOLE pregnancy (not sure how that happened)! I saw him for an exam right before I got preggo (I went 3 or 4 mo without a period, so I was getting checked out...) and he was wonderful during that visit. Usually, Docs are like "You're too fat. It's going to be hard to get pregnant. All your problems are because you're too fat... Lose XX pounds, blah, blah, blah...." He was like "Look. I was a military doc for 10 years. I saw a lot of not-fat women with the same problems, everything's fine." In fact, just about every time I ever asked weight related questions (I know I'm in the morbidly obese category) the docs looked at me like I was nutso - they were like "Ummm... your blood sugar level looks great. your BP is low. Everything's normal."
I didn't know that about the bath thing and thermoregulating. Good to know.
I never had an appt. with Dr. T. I tried, but our schedules just didn't coordinate. I've heard good things about her though.
Dr. L was the one I saw while I was on bedrest for hypertension. I really liked him. He also did a great job at the hospital - my parents were a bit freaked out because by then I had been in labor for over 24 hours and there was still very little progress, and he helped to keep them calm.
i didn't mean to imply you were taking your meds too often, and that's awfully rude of the nurses to question you. If you have pain, you have pain and you need your motrin/percocet, end of story. I was just trying to give an FYI for people who haven't been in a hospital situation before on how to deal with pain medicine. i remember my SIL complaining to me that she had to ask her nurse for her pain medicine "every time" and it the nurse was always "20 minutes late" and I've always wanted to remind her pain medicine is not always on a schedule, and that she probably needed to ask for every time because she was supposed to ask for it every time. But, on the other hand, your nurse should make that very clear in the beginning of your stay.