This one, however, was Jonathan's favourite shot of the ones we took.
Yesterday, we took a tour of the labour and delivery unit of the hospital. I've never had a baby at Plano Presby, so didn't know anything about how it was run, or where L&D is. I have to say that taking the tour has made me even MORE excited to bring our little Zachariah home! It's much different there than it was at Medical City. Whether that's the hospital, or just a general change in procedures from 11 years ago, I don't know, but... off the top of my head, the major differences are:
Birthing balls, and a general encouragement to find a comfortable position while in labour. I require intravenous antibiotics while in labour, so was always tethered to the bed before and not able to get in any kind of a comfortable position. Maybe being able to move around will help me to avoid an epidural this time around.
We will get an extra hour in the delivery room (in addition to all the initial testing, cleaning up Momma and baby, etc.) with the baby before being moved to the postpartum room. At Medical City, it seemed like you got maybe 20-30 minutes before baby was whisked off to be poked and prodded, and it was several hours before they were brought to you in postpartum.
You can order what you want to eat at basically any time the kitchen is open, and I hear the food is good! I'm really excited about this one. For those of you who don't know, I was in labour with Celestia for 37 hours. In that entire time, I had a smoothie from Thirsties at about 4:00 PM on day 2 of labour, before I was admitted to the hospital. Celestia was born at 6:02 AM, and breakfast wasn't served until something like 9:00. If you can imagine, I was famished by that time and broke down in tears when they brought it to me and it was just-add-water eggs and Malt-O-Meal cereal. UGH!
24 hour rooming in with baby. Medical City allowed rooming in, but you had to be very specific with EVERY nurse who took your baby to do checks. Otherwise, they would keep them forever, and you would have to call to have baby brought back. I remember falling asleep after they took Celestia late in the evening, and waking up hours later with milk-laden breasts, and no baby. I was ANGRY when they brought her back with a pacifier in her cradle. That child ate every hour and a half when she was a baby, so I know they just shoved a paci in and let her cry. Grrrrr. Won't have that happening at Presby!
All private rooms in the postpartum unit. Medical City still had semi-private rooms when I delivered my girls, and for a short period of time after having one of them (Tatiana, I think?), I had one before a private room became available. Now, I don't know about you, but the LAST thing I want is to be stuck listening to someone else's family, and baby when I'm tired and sore from having a child. Not to mention having to share a bathroom. UGH.
Serious security measures. Mom, Dad and baby all get matching bracelets, and baby has an electronic tracking anklet. No one can take baby within a certain distance of the doors without activating the anklet, and locking down the whole floor. Now, I never felt like my babies were in any danger at Medical City, but it sure is nice to have that extra safeguard.
The only level 3b NICU in Collin County. Not that I really want to think about that too hard, but it's nice to know it's there. Now, Medical City does have a level 3 NICU (can't find anywhere if it's a 3a or a 3b), so there's really not a difference there, but I don't think I was aware of that when I had the girls.
So, the long and the short of it is - I sure am glad that we're in Plano Presby this time around. Maybe the procedures have changed since I had my girls, but I think this experience is going to be much more relaxing this pregnancy. At least as relaxing as having a baby can be. lol
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