DISCLAIMER: This post contains information about our pregnancy. Because I know all too well how these kinds of posts may affect my fellow #ttcsisters and #ttcbrothers, I include this disclaimer to forewarn you. I understand how much these posts can sting and promise to continue to add the disclaimer on any post that may be related to this pregnancy (assuming viability) so that you may have the option to bow out of reading. I understand.
Hello everyone! We hope everyone is doing well. You may remember some time ago, I mentioned that S. and I discussed switching our birth locations. We have thought about it for a while now and have decided it is definitely the right decision for us and our little one.
S. and I live about three minutes from a fairly new hospital (<5 years old) and about 15 minutes from the one that delivered my son ten years ago. The newer hospital was created to accomodate the medical needs of the people in our rapidly growing city. I was really excited about that when we moved into our home because I figured one day, just maybe, S. and I would get to use its Labor and Delivery.
Well, since that time, several colleagues, friends, and associates have delivered their children there. In query, all have had pretty pleasant things to say. BUT there seemed to be a series of consistent complaints or quirks across the board from the same. The newer hospital has only 10 Labor and Delivery rooms. If there is a busy night of babies being born, the hospital staff encourages its L&D patients to leave the hospital as soon as medically possible because they need the bed. In the case of one colleague, she was discharged right at 24 hours post-delivery despite the fact that she had a C-section. (I wasn’t even aware that was medically advisable). The nurse explained that she was medically sound and the hospital needed the bed for another laboring patient. That kind of worked for her, but added to a harrowing experience because her baby had to be rushed to NICU. The newer hospital doesn’t have a NICU; the hospital 15 minutes away from us does. So, her baby was immediately transferred by ambulance to the next hospital with her husband and she was by herself waiting to recover before being discharged and hoping to receive news about her child. I couldn’t imagine!
The newer hospital also doesn’t have a nursery which means baby sleeps in the room with mom and dad 24 /7. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because it does encourage bonding. In the hospital fifteen minutes away, I remembered keeping my son with me most of the time with the exception of taking a shower and three to four hours the night before discharge because I knew I’d need the rest. I liked having the option. In the case of another colleague who’d been in labor about 32 hours, she didn’t really have an opportunity to rest because baby was with her at all times and she came out more tired than she went in. Again, both colleagues spoke highly of the staff and the experience, but wished for nursery and not feeling rushed to leave even though their insurances actually covered additional in-patient time.
The newer hospital does have an Intermediate level NICU, but I still feel a bit uncomfortable with the option of no nursery especially if S. won’t be staying the night in order to watch the kids.
So, with all of that in mind and a lot of discussion, S. and I have decided that I will be delivering at the hospital which delivered my son (15 minute away). The hospital has a stellar reputation, a level 1 trauma and NICU bay, a completely renovated labor and delivery department with private suite like rooms, a nursery, and are great about baby care. S. joked that I only get one false alarm. (Yeah, I gave him the look lol, but I didn’t have false alarms with the first, so hopefully none with this one either).
So there we stand. When my water breaks and/or when the consistent contractions come, we’ll book down the Interstate (only 2 exits) and will give birth there. Super excited!
Yay! Anyone else making birthing location decisions?
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