Hospital Tours

disneybaby84 · November 2016

Questions for those who have done hospital tours for past babies or for this pregnancy.

disneybaby84 · November 2016

I went on a hospital tour last week and I was a bit confused. The nurse in charge of the tour does not work in labor and delivery, her name badge said Education. She hasn't given birth in 20 years ( which she informed us several times) and when someone asked specific questions she would call a labor and delivery nurse to answer the question. I am wondering if this is a normal experience or if I should be as annoyed as I am that this lady didn't have information pertinent to the situation.

Gators&BoSox · November 2016

when we did our tour last time we had a very sweet (little old lady) L&D nurse who was in charge. She was able to answer all questions and give insight. Maybe the normal tour guide called in? If you still have questions I'd see if you can take an extra tour.

kjd291 · November 2016

@disneybaby84 This was similar to my experience last go around. The floor receptionist gave us a tour-answered the questions she knew (mostly about the facility) and said if we had any medical related Q's to save those till the end where she introduced us to a L&D nurse on the floor so I could ask any questions I had.

What kind of questions were left unanswered? Most you can usually go over with your OB

disneybaby84 · November 2016

@kjd291 thanks for the insight, i just didn't know if my experience was special or not.

sunshine507 · November 2016

I had one tour given by a former nurse who worked in education, and one tour given by a doula who was totally unaffiliated with the hospital aside from having been hired to give tours. They could both answer most of our questions, and the ones they couldn't they said to ask our specific OBs rather than the hospital's nurses.

disneybaby84 · November 2016

BTW, during my hospital tour I was told there is no nursery and from the beginning to the end the baby is in the room with me. Anyone ever experience this? Will I get any sleep?

Burrberrymum · November 2016

disneybaby84 said:

BTW, during my hospital tour I was told there is no nursery and from the beginning to the end the baby is in the room with me. Anyone ever experience this? Will I get any sleep?

This is how my hospital is. I wouldn't want my baby anywhere else other than right beside me anyway to be honest. I had sooooo much adrenaline for 3 days I barely slept even when I had the chance but newborns do sleep a little more than infants do from my own personal experience, so you should have the chance to sneak in a little nap here and there if the nursing staff doesnt bug you too much.

wintersong · November 2016

disneybaby84 said:

BTW, during my hospital tour I was told there is no nursery and from the beginning to the end the baby is in the room with me. Anyone ever experience this? Will I get any sleep?.

Nurseries are becoming less popular in hospitals because they want to make sure you gave a Good start to breastfeeding. I would not want my baby taken away anyway. My baby! Lol. I even pulled the bassinet closer to my bed while I tried to sleep because 2 feet away was too far.

You might not get any sleep anyway...my hormones were crazy, I couldn't sleep for about 24 hours after birthing.

Eta
Peopleconstantly coming I to do stuff like take my blood pressure or remove my heplock were way more disruptive than baby. You have to wake baby up to nurse every two hours anyway and those sessions can take awhile when baby is still getting the hang of it. Think 45 minutes fumbling and trying to nurse,1 and 15 minutes trying fruitlessly to sleep, repeat.

sunshine507 · November 2016

disneybaby84 said:

BTW, during my hospital tour I was told there is no nursery and from the beginning to the end the baby is in the room with me. Anyone ever experience this? Will I get any sleep?

Zero experience in doing it, but both hospitals I toured recently have nurseries but strongly encourage the baby rooming in with you. Helps you learn their sounds and feeding cues while the nurses can support you.
Seems pretty common now. They both did say you can ask for the baby to be taken to the nursery if you really want to (but they discourage it).

kjd291 · November 2016

disneybaby84 said:

BTW, during my hospital tour I was told there is no nursery and from the beginning to the end the baby is in the room with me. Anyone ever experience this? Will I get any sleep?

In my experience---the first day or more your babe is born they are still basically in utero mode. Super chill and sleepy. Not needing to eat much. I got two pretty full nights of sleep with (like longliveR said) more annoying wake ups from the nursing staff needing to check on my stats.

Rant... Despite baby only leaving my side for a few tests which totaled maybe an hour or two total... I still got a couple thousand dollar "nursery" line item in my bill.

marshmallowfarts · November 2016

You can ask nursing staff to leave you be while sleeping. I know the one hospital I had clinicals in had signs on the door for moms to use "do not disturb - bonding time". You can ask for or even bring such a sign to put outside your door. And yes - nurseries are now pretty frowned upon except for testing/procedures. They want to promote baby bonding time/nursing. As others said - baby sleeps like 18 hours a day for the first two/three days of life. After that though they start learning to voice their little demands

Also some hospitals are REALLY nice. The one I had clinicals at gave every mom a massage 24 hours post birth by a certified massage therapist. The rooms were like suites - large and they had jacuzzi tubs, cable tv, little kitchens, etc. The food was restaurant quality too. If I didn't live 1.5 hours away from that site you better believe I'd be birthing there. If you weren't happy with the hospital you toured at try looking at different places until you're happy. It's your birth and your experience.

Gators&BoSox · November 2016

I'll second some hospitals are amazing... now, I didn't get a massage but the entire staff was so sweet, they had a dessert cart every night..GOOD dessert!... good food, my husband had a full pull out mattress and cable tv.

wintersong · November 2016

sunshine507 said:

disneybaby84 said:

BTW, during my hospital tour I was told there is no nursery and from the beginning to the end the baby is in the room with me. Anyone ever experience this? Will I get any sleep?

Zero experience in doing it, but both hospitals I toured recently have nurseries but strongly encourage the baby rooming in with you. Helps you learn their sounds and feeding cues while the nurses can support you.
Seems pretty common now. They both did say you can ask for the baby to be taken to the nursery if you really want to (but they discourage it).

Good point. I actually had them wheel my son to the nursery for all his pricks and tests (he was jaundiced so they took extra blood) so my husband could sleep. I went with him though. We also had our breastfeeding class in he nursery. Maybe they have a nursery like room but call it something different? There has got to be situations at least in jerry's emergencies when mom can't be with baby.

Burrberrymum · November 2016

I had an amazing nurse there with me when DD was born, she was so sweet she saw I wasn't sleeping at all and knew I haven't slept in 2 days so she offered to wheel DD to her nursing station at the front to keep her for a little while so I can rest. When she brought her back she was bathed, had her hair (super long hair at birth) combed down, and 2 new hats the nurse said she found for her. Sometimes you'll get little moments like that to rest up I'm sure. They tend to take baby away for tests where we are.

wintersong · November 2016

Burrberrymum said:

I had an amazing nurse there with me when DD was born, she was so sweet she saw I wasn't sleeping at all and knew I haven't slept in 2 days so she offered to wheel DD to her nursing station at the front to keep her for a little while so I can rest. When she brought her back she was bathed, had her hair (super long hair at birth) combed down, and 2 new hats the nurse said she found for her. Sometimes you'll get little moments like that to rest up I'm sure. They tend to take baby away for tests where we are.

I'd be kind of mad if a nurse have my baby her first bath.

Cbeanz · November 2016

OMG ladies, for some reason reading about the hospital makes me so excited to deliver this baby and meet him or her!!!!!!!!! I seriously cannot wait!!!!!!!

Burrberrymum · November 2016

@longliveregina it's pretty standard where we are, to get all the vernix off during your hospital stay. I wasn't mad at all to be honest. I was a first time mom though and 26 hours of labour no sleep in like 2 days so I just went with it. I don't think I'd mind this time around either.

vprod · November 2016

@marshmallowfarts woah where do you live, I want to deliver at that hospital!! Sounds amazing.

kaylaef · November 2016

I didn't do a tour for my last baby (14 months ago) it was an online tour. useless. However my OB more then compensated for it. There was no nursery at my hospital. Baby stayed in the room with me. I was soo tired after labour, that the nurse did take my son away for a bath and things after we attempted nursing. and I got like a solid 2 hours sleep! But I truly preferred him in the room with me, definitely helped him to become a great a nurser!

marshmallowfarts · November 2016

@vprod little hospital in Pennsylvania

It was pretty amazing!

vprod · November 2016

@marshmallowfarts hmmm, I live a little bit upstate NY.... could make it work

kjd291 · November 2016

I had a really awesome hybrid birth center/hospital like that too last go-around! Huge room, Private jacuzzi tubs, kitchenette, seporate bed for DH, ah-mazing food, view of the ocean...
I have my new birth location tour on Monday and I'm hoping with such a great experience last time that I'm not disappointed with the new digs

MrsBinPA · November 2016

@marshmallowfarts where in PA! Lol. I am in Philly burbs.

Cbeanz · November 2016

We just toured this week bc we moved last year so it'll be my first baby in this new hospital. We were the only couple in the tour group who weren't first time parents, and the tour was clearly not meant for us!

Really all I needed to know was where to park, what floor to go to, and who to hand my birth plan! Anyway, 90 long minutes later we're all set and I'm excited!

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