Hospital Tour

We had our last childbirth education class last night. 10 couples started the class - on the last day there were 6 left.


The first hour was spent in the meeting room talking about car seat safety and proper installation. It was a very powerful presentation and she brought up a lot of points that I hadn't thought about. Items that they make & sell in stores that really are dangerous to babies in car seats if you're in the wrong situation. Her motto - If it doesn't come with the car seat don't use it.

• the mirrors
• the toy bars
• the bundleme's
• the extra cushion straps

Of course she knows parents are going to use the items above she just cautions and educates on what could happen. Make sure those mirrors are anchored well because if you're in a front on collision that becomes a projectile right into the baby's face. ETC...

We also learned about proper installation. Since the beginning of the year I think she said she had installed 100 seats and only 6 of those had been installed correctly by the parents to begin with. We are definitely calling Huntley's police department and making an apt for a car seat check this weekend.

The second half of the class was the Labor and Delivery hospital tour. The new Sherman Hospital is quite nice. The Labor and Delivery unit is on the third floor at the south end of the hospital. As soon as you get out of the elevator you walk into this calm, subdued atmosphere - there's a glass wall that you have to get buzzed past to enter the unit. At one end is the labor and delivery rooms and the other is postpartum. The rooms are nice. They're big enough with huge bathrooms. Sherman prides itself on being the only hospital around that doesn't separate mom and baby (unless they have to) after birth. Meaning - when you deliver baby is taken to the side of the room where she is placed in a heater, weighed, measured, bathed right there. * Dads remember to take pictures! You, baby and dad are then left in the delivery room for 1-2 hours to recover and finally moved to your postpartum room.

While we were touring the L&D room one of the dads from our class who's wife's water had broken earlier that day came to give us an update. She was doing well. Had no clue she was contracting until her water broke, had the epidural now and was around 5 centimeters. He was all smiles and just waiting for their little Ryley Ann to show up.

We also peeked into the operating room for Csections and NICU where the father that was discussed from Class #5 (short umbilical cord) came out to chat. Their baby is doing very well - he was born at 33 weeks and weighed 4lb 6oz. He was improving fast, breathing on his own and if all is good can go home in a week or so. They were staying at the hospital in a courtesy suite so that she is able to bring expressed breastmilk to him anytime needed. It turns out that the gestational diabetes that she had was a blessing because if they hadn't been monitoring her for that so closely they probably would have never seen that the baby was under distress and they could have lost him. Miracles do happen.

On the way out a doula that was there and on the tour for another couple asked me how far along I was. When I said 36 weeks she was a bit shocked. By the way I'm carrying she could've sworn I was more like 38. She commented that I'm low, the baby's already in position (which we know from the doctors apt this week) and she'd be surprised if I held out to my due date. She wasn't even sure I'd make it another two weeks. We will see - I'll ask my doctor next Monday what she feels.