View Full Version : Best Advice for Delivering in a Hospital
Polly
12-18-2007, 01:27 PM
My friend is due next month. What's your golden nugget of wisdom about hospital births?
Mine is get the menu card as soon as you push that baby out. Or you will end up eating powered scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Polly
Danielle
12-18-2007, 01:28 PM
Don't let the nurses bully you into doing anything you're not comfortable with. YOUR baby, YOUR body.
It may just be me, but next time I give birth, I'll be sending the baby off to the nursery for a few hours so I can get some sleep!
Don't let the nurses bully you into doing anything you're not comfortable with. YOUR baby, YOUR body.
Exactly!! I am still bitter about this over my last hospital birth. The nurses are not doctors and they are there to take care of you, yes, but not babysit you. They aren't the be-all, end-all authority on YOUR birth process. If you want to do something and they tell you no, three-quarters of the time it's not that it's not allowed, it's that they don't want to deal with it or don't believe it's necessary. Don't give in to them; take a stand if there's something that's important to you. After all, what are they going to do, call the police and have you arrested for having a snack during labor when they said not to? I think women (myself included, back then) forget that you are a customer of the hospital. They are there to serve your medical needs and you or your insurance company are paying them to do so. It's not a prison where you check in and then have to do every last thing they say or you'll get in trouble. Do a LOT of reading beforehand, educate yourself, and don't let them patronize you and boss you around. Just because you don't have a nursing or medical degree doesn't mean you are incapable of making your own decisions about certain things so don't allow them to treat you like you are stupid.
Christal
12-18-2007, 03:02 PM
Lori: I tried to do that when I had Josh, even though he was such a good baby, but the nurses said no! They said it was too busy for them to take him and only babies in "critical" situations would be taken away.
My advice is to, if you can, put off the epidural (if you get one, I didn't but anyway lol) and walk as much as you can. It keeps you focused and speeds up labour for most! I did and it was great!
Mine would have to be- remember you don't have to let them take your baby anywhere without you! (in fact our hospitals here they don't have a nursery in them- baby is with mom or in SCBU due to birth issues, there's no place other than with more for babies with no complications)
And remember you don't have to stay in after the birth- most people (vaginal deliveries with no complications) can be fine to leave after a few hours
Don't panick if your baby cries at night in a communal ward- he/she won't be the only one that night, it's just when it is your one it seems ten times louder to you :giggle
Take your own pillows! Hospital pillows are evil.
Kristi
12-19-2007, 05:24 AM
I agree with Danielle and Mary about not letting them bully you when you are there. So many of them try to tell you what to do when they should be helping you be comfortable and happy and healthy. It is their job.
Mine would be to take all the important things you need for you and baby,
I don't know if this happens alot but when we had Isabella they were out of clothes for her to wear so Tim had to go out and get something, they were out of blankets (they were going to wrap her in a towel but I had something with me)
bloombaby
12-19-2007, 05:43 PM
know what you want!!! and make sure that the others there know what you want too.
I told one of Madison's nurses off too, but I'm sorry, even though I was a first time mom, I was not a young first time mom and I KNEW my baby and her needs as soon as I saw her. She wouldn't eat every 2 hours as she thought that Madison should and got pissy with me when I didn't feed her every 2...well, hello, I can fight with her for 30+minutes to eat at the 2 hour time, or I can just wait for 3 hours and she'll eat without issues...why fight with a newborn who OBVIOUSLY isn't hungry and I can keep the girls warm and covered lol
Erika
12-19-2007, 05:54 PM
If you want to birth naturally, or at least try, tell the midwives/nurses/OBs/whomever that you don't want to be offered drugs. If you want drugs, you will ask for them. Otherwise you don't want any mention or offer of drugs.
This worked beautifully for me. The first thing my midwife every discussed with me was what drugs I wanted. I told her the above and she never mentioned drugs again. In fact, I had to send James off to find a free midwife to come and give me the gas and air.
ALso, don't forget to pack some nice cooling moisturiser. I loved this.
And a bottle for pouring warm water over your fanny to help alleviate the burning sensation when you pee, post birth.
:lmao ohhh yes the water bottle Erika! And drink lots too- my first birth i thought less drinking=less peeing= less stinging but noooooo less drinking= stronger pee= major stinging where as loads of water drinking= more dilute pee= less stinging!
Take your husband/birth partner/ most frequent visitor shopping before hand to show them with sanitary pads, breast pads, diapers etc you buy in case they have to bring you any in (as i once met one of my dads employees buying diapers with a 6-11KG weight range for his 6.5LB newborn whilst his wife was in hospital LOL )
Also be flexible with your birth plan- with chase i went in adament i wanted a iv to speed thing up, stay in my room and have an epidural- I ended up all natural and pacing the hospital halls until 2 hours before she arrived- with Jude i assumed David wouldn't cut the cord like with Chase but last minute he asked to... my main birth plan was making sure David knew my feelings on various issues. We just "roll with it" in labour and i've never been left with guilt/failure feelings as being flexible means accepting any unexpected.
Shana
12-20-2007, 08:28 AM
Everyone has given great advice.
My best and most favorite is to SLEEP like there is no tomorrow (because for months and months, there won't be ;) ). It's hard with a firstborn, but with subsequent children, it was cake for me to send them to the nursery at night only.
The nurses can bring the baby to you to nurse (Strict Orders!! NO FORMULA!) and you can sleep (somewhat) soundly for the last time in a while.
Oh! Also in regards to the sleeping soundly, by the time Kara rolled around, I had learned a LOT and I brought earplugs with me. They drowned out ANY sound that I could have heard to make me not be able to rest well.
And pillows. Bring your own. Good tip.
Can you tell I am obsessed with sleeping, when I have a newborn baby:lmao
My best and most favorite is to SLEEP like there is no tomorrow (because for months and months, there won't be ;) ). It's hard with a firstborn, but with subsequent children, it was cake for me to send them to the nursery at night only.
The nurses can bring the baby to you to nurse (Strict Orders!! NO FORMULA!) and you can sleep (somewhat) soundly for the last time in a while.
Yeah, I was so concerned about bonding with Thomas after he was born that I didn't want to send him to the nursery. It didn't occur to me that I'd have the rest of our lives to bond with him, but it would be over a year before I could get some uninterrupted sleep!