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Birthing at park nicollet methodist in st.louis park
Do any of you ladies have an experience with this hospital? This is my first child and that is where my OB delivers at..
I was also told by the reception ladies at my OBGYN office to make sure and ask for my free gift before I go home from the hospital with baby.. Free gift? I'm sorry but I think the last thing on my mind is going to be asking for my free gift! Do you ladies know what this free gift is? Is it worth asking for? lol so funny
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Re: Birthing at park nicollet methodist in st.louis park
This is where I gave birth to my LO, as it is the hospital both my perinatologist and my family doctor worked through for deliveries.
I was very happy with the level of care that I got. I had a high risk pregnancy with some difficult issues (on blood thinners, allergic to lidocaine), which along with a fear of needles and a hatred of being pinned down anywhere meant that I wanted to do as natural a birth as possible. I still had to do an induction (a week and two days overdue), but got all the support that we needed to remain painmed free. They made sure that even on monitors and IV, I was able to move around, walk the circle, get easily back and forth to the bathroom, use exercise ball and squatting bar, etc. I was encouraged and aided in using the bathtub in the room during transition.
I had some frustration getting checked out of the hospital, but that was due to a miscommunication between my doctor, my perinatologist, and myself over what blood thinners I was to be on following the birth.
Things I really liked: very supportive of natural birth and moving around. Was able to eat as long as I wasn't in full on active labor (which was good, as our daughter wasn't born for almost 72 hours from when we checked in). Good communication between the nurses when they changed shifts. Very good access to lactation consultants.
Things I wish they'd change: need more comfortable place for dads/partners to sleep during labor (only very stiff bench in L&D room, really uncomfortable reclining chair in recovery room).
As for the 'free gift'? I dunno, I got all the hygeine supplies I could need (the mesh panties, the GIANT pads, the cooling pads, etc. etc) and they gave us a baby book and a big water container.
I had a good experience at Methodist. I had a scheduled repeat c-section and it went as planned. I think no matter where you deliver you just need to speak up and tell the doctors and nurses what you want. Be your own best advocate.
As far as the free gift? I think it was a water bottle, board book and a little insulated cooler for storing bottles. Not anything worth writing home about!
Remember that YOU are birthing your baby and YOU are your baby's advocate. They cannot legally touch you or perform any medical procedure or monitoring without your permission. That said, remember that they're professionals who birth babies every day and can usually read where you're at in terms of making recommendations. That said, if you are anti-anti anything, it's your right to say "no". A friend of mine delivered there twice and didn't have what I'd call significant problems/complications with Methodist.
One of the formula companies usually donate to the hospital free samples and a cooler/ice pack but you've usually got to ask for it. Whether you choose to BF or FF get all the freebie samples you can because if something doesn't work out you'll have a backup (DS was pretty lactose intolerant and even though I EP it was fantastic to have the Sensitive formula to test out whether that was the case or not with the fussiness), and if it does, you can always donate the extras to the food shelf which is always in need of formula!