Last night Chris and I attended our last childbirth prep course. It was nice to wrap up this series of learning, but we did enjoy the class.
As soon as all the couple arrived to class, we headed off for our hospital tour. I was honestly surprised to see how many rooms a person must experience during labor and delivery. We started at the triage desk, where we will check-in when we think we’ve gone into labor. Once checked in here, they will take us to a small "closet", also known as the check-up room. Here a nurse will do an exam to be sure we are in active labor. If not, the road stops there and they will send us home. If so, we will complete the registration process and get checked into a Labor & Delivery room. This was our next stop. I was impressed with the size of the room; although I’m sure they are not all like that. I wondered to myself if it was like buying a timeshare…they show you the best room to pull you in, and then end up giving you the tiniest room for your dollar. We’ll see. We were touring the new maternity wing, so I think that's where we want to be…not that we’ll have a choice. If we do end up in a room similar to the one we visited, I will be happy.
Let’s just start with the bed. Wow. It didn’t really look comfortable at all, but I couldn't believe all the different things it did. That was one techie bed! As our instructor showed us some of the positions you could put the bed in, she also pointed out the “gooey bucket.” We all laughed out loud. They actually have a bucket thing under the bed…I won’t go into details about it for those of you who may never have to experience it…but I’m sure you get the picture just by the name itself. :)
Afterwards we headed toward the nursery. There was only one little baby there, but his dad was proud to show him off to all of us on the other side of the glass. I was happy to hear that this hospital also has a high level NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). Not that I want to use it, but I was glad to hear they are only a teeny tiny step away from the top of the line NICU across the state. You never know what can happen, and I was relieved to know that they could care for Baby Madelyn no matter what (minus one or two rare things).
Then we headed over to the post-op rooms. This is where visitors can come see Madelyn for the first time. Again these rooms were not too bad. They weren’t huge, but they seemed nice, and all of them were private. I liked that. I also liked that Madelyn will be able to be in the room for the whole time if there are no complications. There seem to be some pretty strict requirements about who can/should visit the baby, so we’ll see how that goes. Apparently, kids under 10 should not come to the hospital unless they are siblings. I need to read the actual rules more carefully in the book they gave us, but they are most worried about little ones bringing in more germs then the average adult.
After our tour we headed back downstairs and finished up the course with information on baby care and breastfeeding. Baby Care proved to be interesting for Chris. We learned how to swaddle a newborn (or as Chris likes to say, “It’s a Baby Burrito!”). That seemed fairly simple, but I think everything is simplified when you’re working with a doll. ;) She also taught us how to give a sponge bath. That’s all we can give until the umbilical cord falls out (1-2 weeks). I let Chris practice that, and he did a nice job. :)
Lastly, we learned about breastfeeding. I enjoyed this topic, probably because I knew the least about this than any other. Our instructor gave us some good tips. She recommended that instead of buying an expensive pump, rent one for one month so you can make sure everything works out the way you plan. If everything works out well, then buy a real good pump. I hadn’t thought of doing that, so that’s our new plan of action. She also recommended that we meet with the lactation consultant while we’re in the hospital, even if things are going well, because it’s FREE. Once we leave the hospital it can be up to $150 an hour for a consultation. No, thank you.
Anyway…we are feeling good about everything. Tomorrow is my last day of work before Christmas Break! I am really looking forward to catching up on some rest and relaxation. Chris and I have a few things we’d like to accomplish during these two weeks, including: writing a birth plan, getting the hospital bags started, and filing some important insurance paperwork. We are also planning to travel to Tucson to tour the Cord Blood Registry banking facility. This facility is apparently the largest in the United States. We have researched several large companies and feel confident going with this one. We’ll update you on this after our tour on the 28th.
In the meantime, we wish everyone a safe and happy holiday!
No comments:
Post a Comment