can you bring an air mattress to sibley for DH?

[Anonymous]

I cannot believe there are actually two different people who are seriously thinking of bringing an air mattress to the hospital.

[Anonymous]

I highly doubt it. It's a safety hazard. Suppose you have a post-op crisis and the doctors and nurses are trying to wheel a crash cart and other equipment into your room. It's not likely of course but every second counts in an emergency.

I had a c-section at Sibley. My baby stayed in the nursery during the night and was brought to me whenever the baby was hungry...usually every 2 hours or so. My husband went home and got some rest. It was really nice to have one of us well rested when the baby got home.

I delivered the second at HC. They don't do the nursery so my husband stayed. Neither of us got any sleep...it was complete misery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe there are actually two different people who are seriously thinking of bringing an air mattress to the hospital.

+1

[Anonymous]

I still can't figure out what use my husband would have been at the hospital, sleep-deprived. He went home to let out the dog, take care of the other kids, turn up the thermostat for my mother, get milk, whatever.

[Anonymous]

There is no room for an air mattress with the couch and the bassinet in there. Let your husband go home and sleep so that at least one of you is well rested. I ended up with c-sections both times and my husband never stayed at Sibley. I could not imagine how grumpy he would have been on that pull-out.

[Anonymous]

We slept together in my hospital bed. No nurse said a word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We slept together in my hospital bed. No nurse said a word.

After a c-section?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We slept together in my hospital bed. No nurse said a word.

After a c-section?!

Yup. With complications I'd first get myself comfortable and then DH would hop on. We have sweet memories of those loooooooooong 6 days... BTW I was BF so DH has crucial presence to make it happen. I can't imagine having to call the nurse every single time I had to pick up or put down DC in the bassinet. I could barely move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have the people who are telling me to let him go home had c-sections and sent their DHs home? I always heard that if you have a c-section, you can't pick up the baby for a few days. So what did you do overnight if your DH went home?

Have you never been in a hospital before? I'm sure that the night nurses in a maternity ward know how to pick up an infant, change her and deliver her to her mother for nursing. There is this device on your bed called a "call button". If your child wakes and the nurse does not hear it and come in, you can press the call button and the nurse at the station will come in to assist.

You should not bring an air mattress to a hospital and have someone sleeping on the floor where they can interfere with hospital staff coming in and tending to the patient (i.e. YOU). Your husband should go home, sleep there and get the house ready for both you and your child to return home. Believe me, there are plenty of sleepless nights in front of you. You husband should be getting as well rested as he can.

[Anonymous]

I had 2 kids at Sibley, great nurses throughout, husband didn't stay either time. My first baby arrived at 10pm and afterward I was put in a shared room due to overcrowding; even after I was moved to a private room, there never seemed much point in having him stay since our house is only 15 minutes away.

[Anonymous]

Hospital floors are disgusting. Do you know any nurses, doctors or anyone else who works in a hospital? Ask them what they do with their shoes when they get home. I know several, and not one of them lets their hospital shoes touch their floors at home.

DH had surgery awhile back at GW - nurse saw me walking on the floor with just thin socks on my feet and let me know that was a really bad idea. She was nice about it, but she was a bit more graphic about what happens to hospital floors than I really wanted to hear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have the people who are telling me to let him go home had c-sections and sent their DHs home? I always heard that if you have a c-section, you can't pick up the baby for a few days. So what did you do overnight if your DH went home?

There is this magical place called the nursery. The nurses take the baby there so you can get an hour or tow of sleep, then bring the baby back when they are hungry. When you are done feeding, you ring the buzzer and they come and get the baby. Even without that, I was able to put the baby in the bassinet from my bed.

[Anonymous]

I had a c-section at Sibley two years ago and was there for three nights. My husband stayed two of the nights and my mom stayed one of them so my husband could go home and get some sleep. While I don't think it was absolutely necessary for anyone to stay at night (they offered and wanted to), it was nice having someone else there especially the first night. For the first 24 hours post c-section, you have an epidural so you obviously can't get out of bed. It was nice having someone there to help me put the baby back in the bassinet; change the baby's diaper; bring me a book, a drink, my computer, etc. Yes, a nurse could have done those things, but they seemed very busy and I honestly would have felt bad calling them everytime I needed anything. After 24 hours I was up and around and able to lift the baby, so it was less necessary to have someone there.

The private rooms are very small and I don't think there is enough room for an air mattress. Maybe just have your husband stay the first night and, if you want someone after that, maybe have a friend or family member spend the night so he can get some sleep.

[Anonymous]

I can actually answer this question from experience. The answer is yes, as we did it twice at Sibley for two different babies. In 2008, we brought in a twin-sized air mattress. We had one of the tiniest private rooms that they have, and it fit fine, and no one told us that it was a problem. My husband said it was a life-saver. He actually was able to get a bit of rest. In 2010, we brought in a queen-sized air mattress (by mistake - we grabbed the wrong one), and it was too big for the space. I thought my husband was going to cry. BUT, the nurse came in and showed us that they had updated their furniture, and the couch actually folded out to become a full-length sleeping surface. (Not sure I would call it a bed.) Not sure if the new furniture is in every room or not. So, you may want to try to find that out from Sibley first, but if you do bring an air mattress, bring a twin-sized one.

Also, I had two c-sections, and I absolutely wanted my husband there with me for comfort and as an advocate. You can't get out of bed the first night after a c-section. The first time he stayed all four nights. The second time, he stayed the first and possibly the second nights. Good luck, OP!

[Anonymous]

Had a baby at Sibley in 2005. Sleeping arrangements and nurses were awful.

Had a baby at Sibley in 2011. We had a bigger private room with a pull out couch, not chair. We didn't use it, but it looked much better than the one in our room in 2005. The nurses were also sooo much better than in 2005, but you do have to use your call button to get their attention.