This past Tuesday evening, we finally toured the Hospital. The E.P. braved the severe thunderstorms on subways and busses to get there, while I followed the storms into Fairfax with a break in the clouds always following behind. He being exhausted from a tough day at work and I from being pregnant, we finally got there, and in plenty of time to hit up the food court first!
First Impressions: Lobby and Food Court
How convenient that the food court is right next to the main entrance? And Thank God that it was still open for a few minutes; We were both starved. Sadly, most gluten-free options had already been closed for the night, but I was able to get a bunless burger, while a visibly tired E.P. indulged in a slice of pizza. Our food was not bad either, especially considering the extremely reasonable prices. I was very surprised. The last time I ate at a hospital, YEARS ago, the prices were along the lines of Disney World than my elementary school cafeteria.
Both the food court and the main lobby were bright, warm and inviting, with comfortable seating. The cafeteria did not smell. Nice!!!
On to the Third Floor: Labor & Delivery
How convenient that both my doctor's offices at Kaiser and the Labor/Delivery/Family Care wards at Fair Oaks are on the Third Floor? It will be hard for me to forget where to go. Registration, I must remember, is on the 2nd floor.
I must say, the decor in this hospital is beautiful. I love the Asian-inspired theme and the bold maroons and golds which repeatedly caught my eye. Gone are the days of pastel, washed-out floral watercolor posters and pink hallways. Again as I think back, I'm struck by the lack of hospital-smell, even within the wards. Clean, clean clean!
The hospital attended an unusually high number of births that day, so there weren't as many empty rooms to peer in as usual. There were 3 moderately-sized waiting rooms bedecked in mauves and vending machines, with one close to the delivery units for families of mothers who've progressed from labor to delivery.
The labor & delivery rooms for vaginal delivery are pretty nice. I can have 5 of my Closest Friends in the room with me at my Doc's discretion. =) The rooms have been designed in an attempt to compromise between a home-like bedroom environment and a cold, heartless hospital -- with a decided lean toward "hospital" but with lots of white and bright lights to take the edge off. Behind the bed, folding shutter-like doors presumably hide equipment while bringing a Cape-Cod feel into the room. There's a HUGE television. It was comforting to see an infant warming bed right in the room, where the baby stays with Mom for a couple hours after birth. Our guide said that (at Doctor's/Mother's discretion) they highly encourage skin-to-skin contact at this hospital, and often the warming bed is supplanted by Mommy's chest. That makes me smile. =)
Unfortunately, being a hospital, they do plug you and baby into more machines than I'd like by default. Just to be on the safe side/prevent liability issues, I'm guessing. But really, I hate IVs, I had my fair share of them when I was 5 and in the hospital for a bit - they burn in visual and tactile memory. Plus I hate hate hate the restricted movement they enforce. Yeouch.
The C-Section rooms are definitely more hospital than bedroom, especially as the procedure takes all of 10 minutes for the birth and another 30 or so to sew Mommy back up. I hope hope hope that I won't become acquainted with those rooms!
On to the Third Floor: Family Centered Care Unit
The FCC unit is where Moms go after delivery and for the remainer of their stay. The babies, sad to say, don't stay with Mommy (I am aware that this is so Mommy can sleep) - they go to majorly modern nurseries and are brought back to Mommy any time they start to fuss or at the very least, every few hours. I was surprised that there were only 2 babies in the nursery we peeked into, given that 20+ were in the hospital at that time. A definitely change from the days of rooms-with-rows-of-babies! Rather, they have lots of smaller nurseries dispersed throughout the ward.
And, as my friend AWC told me last week, the FFC units are SMALL. Tiny. Squished. Barely room for Mommy, Daddy, baby and grandparents - and only one chair. But at least the E.P. can stay the night with me!!! And there's a kitchenette somewhere, apparently, so we can bring a little food for him rather than relying on the (surprisingly affordable) food court.
Lactation Boutique
The "Boutique" was closed but we got to at least learn about the breastfeeding-oriented gift shop and the hospital's stance on breastfeeding. Fortunately, I'm right with them. My friend told me the lactation consultants were "pushy" to the point of inducing stress, and I will keep this in mind! But at least *I* choose whether the baby gets breast or bottle. The morning after baby is born, there's a Baby-and-me breastfeeding class plus support throughout the 2-day hospital stay -- support that I plan to take advantage of! (Assuming Kaiser pays for the 2 standard days of stay...)
Unanswered Medical Questions
One of the many considerations of being part of an HMO is that the rules for general practice Obstetricians and those with the/an HMO are totally different. The Guide kept telling people to "Talk to you doctor" about X,Y&Z that can be predetermined in advance, and then would occasionally comment that Kaiser has its own rules. We have *no idea* what that means, except that the Prenatal II & III classes we're signed up for better answer our remaining questions.
"At your Doctor's Discretion" means something entirely different when literally, one of 20 or more Docs may show up at delivery, and you've only met 3 of them. (I'm not exaggerating. My Doc did when she said "I'm one of 50" -- at least, I hope she did.) I know that my regular OB/GYN with Kaiser is very pro-natural birth and anti-pushing-meds-unless-asked, but in all likelihood, she will be nowhere near the hospital that day.
This is where KP's classes and my birthing plan become exceedingly important. The E.P. has already pledged to be my hard-assed advocate when it comes to nagging the nurses and attending to follow my wishes as stated in the birth plan, because no Doctor will be reviewing it with me in advance.
Overall Impressions
Given the constraints I have to work within, I'm satisfied. It's a pleasant, pleasantly-smelling hospital with good lighting and a decided lack of cold metal and flickering overhead lights. The nurses waved with cheery "See you soon!"s as the tour marched by. And I'm behind any hospital that encourages breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact as much as these folks do.
Hopefully, one of the 2 jacuzzi-tub labor & delivery rooms will be available when I get there... And hopefully Kaiser will pay for it!!! ;)
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