Hospital policies! Any suggestions? I need advice.

"DeliciousTruffles" wrote in
message ...
Leslie wrote:

The first thing to keep in mind that there is very little chance that
there
will be trouble, since your first section was for a reason that doesn't
apply
(I presume baby is head down, right?).

Yes. Baby is still head down and engaged.

I would give them as little a chance to section you as possible by not
arriving
at the hospital until the last possible minute, and then insisting on
intermittent monitoring only (if that). I would also avoid having an
epidural
or being forced to lie in bed. Remember, one intervention leads to
another and
another and another . . .

Dh and I have been reading and practicing the Bradley method of natural
childbirth because of this very concern. I would have loved to take the
classes and be even more prepared but there were none in my area.

When you feel labor coming on, can you go to the town and get your doula
to
hang out with you somewhere other than the hospital? Can you bring your
husband and the twins along? Since you have a doula, could your husband
mind
the twins part of the time? Does your doula maybe know someone who
would be
interested in minding them during the birth?

I suppose we could always get a motel room and labour there with the
doula and the twins.

I am now considering a scheduled c-section because dh can then book off
on holidays and we can call in his dad to help with the twins (but only
for a few days). I really, really, hate to have to do this, though.

Don't put yourself through that. A vaginal birth is so much easier to
recover
from. I speak from experience, lots of experience (I've had three
sections).

Oh, I know. I desperately want to avoid a section.

But, if I have to, a big fear of mine is establishing a nursing
relationship with this baby. The so-called "breast-feeding friendly"
hospital has a policy of taking the baby down to the nursery for up to 4
hours post surgery. I will be in the recovery room for a minimum of 1
to 1 1/2 hours. They will not bring the baby to me for the initial
breastfeeding within one hour. I can't go to the baby. I'm worried
that the blood sugars will be low and they will supplement. I don't
want that if I can prevent it. But how can I prevent blood sugars from
dropping if I can't nurse the baby!

You need to avoid this if at all possible. Failing that, simply forbid
them to
supplement and have your husband follow them down there and make sure
they
don't. If there's a blood sugar issue, have him insist on their
bringing baby
to you. IF for some reason supplementation becomes necessary, AFAIK
they can
give sugar water and accomplish the same effect, and it can be given by
syringe.

Dh and the doula are under instructions from me that if I do have to
have a section, one of them MUST stay with the baby at ALL times. I can
recover on my own but I just don't trust those nurses (they hospital has
a bad reputation).

You poor thing. I wish there was some way I could help. Where are you?
Maybe
someone here who "knows" you lives close enough to help out?

I'm in Merritt, BC and no one here is close enough.

--
Brigitte aa #2145
edd #3 February 15, 2004
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/joshuaandkaterina/

"Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare."
~ Harriet Martineau


How far is that from Seattle?

Denise (who actually lives less than an hour away from Vancouver)

Denise Anderson wrote:

I'm in Merritt, BC and no one here is close enough.

How far is that from Seattle?

Denise (who actually lives less than an hour away from Vancouver)

Vancouver, BC or Vancouver, WA?

Merritt is quite a distance from Seattle. Let's see...it's a 3 hour
drive from Merritt to Vancouver and then another, what, 3 or 4 hours to
Seattle from Vancouver?

--
Brigitte aa #2145
edd #3 February 15, 2004
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/joshuaandkaterina/

"Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare."
~ Harriet Martineau

Molly Fisher wrote:

In article , DeliciousTruffles
wrote:


I suppose we could always get a motel room and labour there with the
doula and the twins.


This seems like a great idea to me. Do you think the twins could handle
it?


I think so. DH might have to take them to a park every now and then,
but it might be doable.

--
Brigitte aa #2145
edd #3 February 15, 2004
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/joshuaandkaterina/

"Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare."
~ Harriet Martineau

Mary W. wrote:

And how long would it
take your husband's dad to get there to help with the twins?

It all depends on the time of day. He would have to catch a ferry and
they only run from 7 am to 9 pm, every other hour. Then there is a 3
hour drive from the ferry to our place. The ferry takes roughly a
couple of hours. So really, about 6 hours.

My neighbour would definitely help out in the night-time but she works
during the day (as does everyone I know).

--
Brigitte aa #2145
edd #3 February 15, 2004
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/joshuaandkaterina/

"Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare."
~ Harriet Martineau

DeliciousTruffles wrote:

My situation at home is changing and my mom is leaving (she was here
to help look after the twins). DH and I really don't have anyone
local to help out except for a few hours in the night, now. I have
to travel about 1 hour (depending on road conditions) to the
hospital. I have a doula in the town where the hospital is located.

I'm sorry you have to deal with all this at the last moment :-( How sucky.

It odviously works for a lot of people to bring their children with them.
Honestly, this wouuld not be a good plan for me. My kids would not be happy
in a hospital. Dh would have to be out and about entertaining them most of
the time...he might as well stay home with them. I'd have a terrible time
going with the flow of labor with my kids trying to gain access to me, or
running around the halls somewhere. Clearly YMMV. Mine don't watch tv and
love to inspect every wing ding around, which are plentiful in hospitals ;-)

I'd either find a neighbor in your town or ask your doula to assist you in
finding a child minder that she would trust. Then I'd leave them there.
They might cry but they certainly won't parish in the few hours it takes you
to have a baby and then dh can go back and get them.

If it were me, trying for a VBAC, no medication, a non-supportive
hospital...I would want my dh to myself and no distraction from kids. I'd
feel a lot more at peace if they were in another safe place and I'd trust my
doula's word on who to trust.

Hope things work out for you. If that doesn't work....yeah I might bring
them to the hospital but I'd be prepared to not have much access to dh.

--
Nikki
Mama to Hunter (4) and Luke (2)

H Schinske wrote:

Brigitte wrote:


The so-called "breast-feeding friendly"
hospital has a policy of taking the baby down to the nursery for up to 4
hours post surgery. I will be in the recovery room for a minimum of 1
to 1 1/2 hours. They will not bring the baby to me for the initial
breastfeeding within one hour.


What happens if you simply refuse? After all, this isn't the same thing as a
section for high blood pressure or something. There's no reason this baby
should be at any particular increased risk. Something like "Barring medical
necessity, my baby will remain with my husband at all times, and my husband
will bring him/her to me in the recovery room to nurse." I mean, geez. It's
YOUR baby.

It's not "hospital policy" or some such nonsense. I was having this
argument with the delivery nurses on Saturday night. This is a hospital
with a poor reputation but unfortunately it is my only option.

I had a scheduled section with my twins and my husband was with the babies
almost all the time, and they did bring them to the recovery room right away.
And that would have been a higher risk situation than yours (given that there
are a couple of things that *could* go wrong with twins that wouldn't come up
with a singleton, and given that one of my twins supposedly had a two-vessel
cord, so they were watching out for anomalies there).

When I delivered my twins (at a different hospital) they had them in the
recovery room with me within 20 minutes. I don't understand the
reasoning. They said they weren't equipped! ????? *They* don't need
to be equipped, I'm the one that has the equipment! The beauracracy
(sp?) is astonishing at this place.

--
Brigitte aa #2145
edd #3 February 15, 2004
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/joshuaandkaterina/

"Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare."
~ Harriet Martineau

"DeliciousTruffles" wrote in
message ...
Denise Anderson wrote:

I'm in Merritt, BC and no one here is close enough.

How far is that from Seattle?

Denise (who actually lives less than an hour away from Vancouver)

Vancouver, BC or Vancouver, WA?

Merritt is quite a distance from Seattle. Let's see...it's a 3 hour
drive from Merritt to Vancouver and then another, what, 3 or 4 hours to
Seattle from Vancouver?

--
Brigitte aa #2145
edd #3 February 15, 2004
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/joshuaandkaterina/

"Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare."
~ Harriet Martineau


Vancouver, Canada. I live a couple minutes south of Bellingham, Wa. So I
guess you're only about 4 hours away from me.

Nikki wrote:

I'd either find a neighbor in your town or ask your doula to assist you in
finding a child minder that she would trust. Then I'd leave them there.
They might cry but they certainly won't parish in the few hours it takes you
to have a baby and then dh can go back and get them.

Asking the doula for a child-minder in her area is a good idea. Thanks!

--
Brigitte aa #2145
edd #3 February 15, 2004
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/joshuaandkaterina/

"Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare."
~ Harriet Martineau

"DeliciousTruffles" wrote in
message ...
A bit of history:

I'm 37 and attempting a VBAC (sectioned because twin 'A' was a footling
breech) in a regional hospital. This means I am considered by them a
"high-risk" and they will section me at the first sign of trouble
because they are not equipped to do a section immediately (it would take
them an hour or two to call in a surgical team).

My situation at home is changing and my mom is leaving (she was here to
help look after the twins). DH and I really don't have anyone local to
help out except for a few hours in the night, now. I have to travel
about 1 hour (depending on road conditions) to the hospital. I have a
doula in the town where the hospital is located.

I am now considering a scheduled c-section because dh can then book off
on holidays and we can call in his dad to help with the twins (but only
for a few days). I really, really, hate to have to do this, though.

But, if I have to, a big fear of mine is establishing a nursing
relationship with this baby. The so-called "breast-feeding friendly"
hospital has a policy of taking the baby down to the nursery for up to 4
hours post surgery. I will be in the recovery room for a minimum of 1
to 1 1/2 hours. They will not bring the baby to me for the initial
breastfeeding within one hour. I can't go to the baby. I'm worried
that the blood sugars will be low and they will supplement. I don't
want that if I can prevent it. But how can I prevent blood sugars from
dropping if I can't nurse the baby!

My mind is all fuzzy right now because of being stressed out about this
whole mess with my mom and having to scramble at the last minute. I'm
also already stressed out because I had false labour on Saturday and I
have been in latent labour ever since. My contractions are about 10
minutes apart (and have been since Sunday morning) but very gentle.

I'm just a wreck right now. :-( What can I do? I need a bit of
guidance and some advice from people that are removed from the situation
and are able to think clearly (because I'm certainly not able to).

--
Brigitte aa #2145
edd #3 February 15, 2004
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/joshuaandkaterina/

Brigitte,

I had something similar with Laszlo in that they took him to the NICU
immediately after he was born, I didn't get to hold him at all until 4 hours
after I delivered him. I did get to kiss him on the nose, but that was it.
Since I had a slight fever when I was admitted to the hospital, they
automatically assumed I had an infection, so they had to hook the baby up to
IV right away (which in my opinion is total bull**** - since I think most
moms' temperature goes up a little bit when they are in LABOR!). Also,
there was meconium, the cord was around his neck AND his sugars were low
mostly because I was diabetic with that pregnancy.

I was also told that I wouldn't be able to nurse him at all, and I was
totally devastated. Not sure which moronic resident told us that, but I'm
glad we knew better. The 4 hours after Laszlo's birth were not fun. My
blood pressure was high and they wouldn't let me get out of that room until
it went down, but with each passing minute I was getting more and more upset
and wanting to get the hell out of there and meet my baby boy. They had
given him some formula, not sure how much at all, but once I got down there
luckily a lactation consultant was there and helped me right away - even
though her shift had just ended. We got Laszlo latched right on and I
nursed him *mostly* over the 2 days we were there, but he did get some
formula too if I missed a feeding. Once we got home, it was boobie all the
way. Also, if they are breastfeeding friendly, why not suggest a cup
instead of a bottle?

I guess what I'm saying is that if the worst case scenario is 1 or 2 bottles
(cups) of formula and if you have no other choice than to use this hospital,
then it's pretty ok, right? I mean, it's not ideal for sure, don't get me
wrong. Just trying to ease some of your stress. Laszlo refused a bottle
for months after that, so there was absolutely no problem nursing him all
the way afterwards.

Good luck, you'll be in our thoughts!

- Jen

See, I knew coming here would help me work this out. A plan is
formulating because of your wonderful suggestions. My VBAC is still
doable. I was getting frantic and all I needed was some clear-headed
ideas. :-)

I'll chat with my neighbour about her watching the kids in the evening
and night, if necessary. I'll contact my doula and see if she can line
up someone to watch the kids in the daytime in a motel (near a park).
I'll contact FIL and ask him to pack a bag to be ready to come over. I
think we'll also leave here when I'm contracting 5 minutes apart and
check into a motel near the hospital and labour there until the last
minute with the doula helping.

Sounds like a new birth plan to me! :-) I feel much better now. Still
stressed but not like before.

--
Brigitte aa #2145
edd #3 February 15, 2004
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/joshuaandkaterina/

"Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare."
~ Harriet Martineau