Hospital Tour

We had our hospital tour last night after work. I was pretty excited to go, but once we got there and up to the labor and delivery floor I started feeling a little panicked. Not because I am scared of labor and delivery, but more so because I am scared of labor and delivery IN a hospital. It was just so "hospital like" and it smelled, well, like a hospital. Hospitals are for sick people. I'm not sick. In fact, there is nothing even remotely more normal or natural going on with me right now, so it did stick out to me how incredibly weird it was to be touring a hospital for our birth. But it is what it is and I think we can make do... I love our midwife and that whole group so at least we have that going for us, even if it's in the hospital.

As we went on the tour with Carol, who is an RN, childbirth instructor, and lactation consultant there I felt a little more comfortable which was good. The hospital itself is pretty clinical, but the section of the floor for labor and delivery was actually somewhat calming and nice.

First we saw a LDR room which is a labor, delivery, and recovery room. I like that you go right to this room when you are admitted and stay there for a few hours after the birth. Then you are moved to a post postpartum room. The LDR rooms have TVs with channels that have nature sounds if you like, you can turn the big overhead lights off, etc. Carol encouraged us to bring our own soothing music and keep things nice and calm in there, which was a refreshing change to a normal hospital setting.

Without any prompting from the group she mentioned things like NOT doing continuous fetal monitoring (unless of course there is something wrong), sending us outside to walk around and get some fresh air, and went over the many different positions we could use the beds to push in! This made me very happy to hear that they don't automatically accept women to be checked in, hooked up to drugs, monitored, and labor and push flat on their backs. Thank God!

We are also allowed to bring in outside food and drinks and wear whatever we like and allow our baby to wear whatever we want to put him in. My friend gave birth at another hospital last year and when I was there the baby was wearing hospital clothes which I was told she "had to" until they were discharged. Not that it's a huge deal at all, but if I want him to wear something else it's not something that's going to be an issue. Babies also do not have to go to the nursery at all if we do not want (yay!) except for one thing like a hearing test before we go home and we are allowed to go with him to do it, so that's no big deal. Rooming in is very common there is seems, which is nice! Babies also wear a security band that will automatically go off and lock every door in the building if a baby goes near an exit whatsoever. I'm sure it doesn't happen often, but it was nice to learn about!

We then went to see a postpartum room which was a lot like the LDR room, but a lot bigger and more "hotel" like. ALL rooms are private with private bathrooms and showers with massage heads, etc! There is also one labor tub that I hope to be able to use, but it's just the luck of the draw.

All in all it was a good tour. I learned that this hospital (maybe b/c the midwives are big there?) seems very baby friendly and our wishes won't be a pain in the butt for them, but something that they consider normal which is a nice change. I am really thankful we made the change to our midwife and therefor this hospital. I also feel better knowing WHERE the hospital is now and how to get from our car up to labor and delivery! Somewhat important :)

Probably because of the tour, I had a dream about Lucas being born last night. He was 9 lbs 1 oz and 20 inches long and absolutely perfect! We were breastfeeding really well and everything went great! I can't wait to meet him! (Okay, I can wait a few more weeks at least - you stay put you adorable little guy!)