Delivering at Holy Cross

[Anonymous]

I gave birth at Holy Cross SS 2 years ago and it was horrible for me as a first time mother. They were understaffed, I was sent directly from my OB to the hospital because they couldn't find movement, and then I had to wait for hours and hours until I was finally taken to a room and induced. I was told there would be two nurses along with my doctor in the room when it was time to deliver, but there was only one and they made my husband hold up my leg the whole time I was pushing (epidural). The postpartum recovery nurses were terrible - I had a 4th degree tear and was in severe pain, and they refused to give me my prescribed pain meds. My husband had to get mad for someone to finally listen and then they said "oh, yeah, your doctor did prescribe oxy." Nobody explained anything to me about my recovery process or infant care. The beds/rooms were old, dirty, and the bed kept moving on its own every 5 minutes, and machines were beeping and beeping without anyone coming to turn them off. I am pregnant again and switched OB offices just to deliver at a different hospital (which is also much further from my house).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My baby died at HC Germantown. I could overhear the tech saying that it didn't need to happen. I was 36 weeks. Run.

I’m so sorry. I delivered my stillborn baby at Sibley…you couldn’t pay me to set foot there again.

There will be horror stories about every single hospital.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I am also on Kaiser and live in Rockville. I plan to deliver at Reston Health Center. The Catholic thing makes me uncomfortable as well and also various ratings were not great.

How does that make you uncomfortable? I had a great birth experience at Holy Cross Germantown.

NP. If it's saving you or the baby, it's going to be the baby. Not everyone would make that choice.

You made that up. And it is rude and dangerous and bigoted to spread that kind of misinformation.

I gave birth at Holy Cross Silver Spring 16 years ago, and because it was a high risk pregnancy (multiples), I repeatedly asked my OBs whether I would be able to terminate the pregnancy in the event that it endangered my life. I never got a straight answer. Thankfully, it ended up being a moot point.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I am also on Kaiser and live in Rockville. I plan to deliver at Reston Health Center. The Catholic thing makes me uncomfortable as well and also various ratings were not great.

How does that make you uncomfortable? I had a great birth experience at Holy Cross Germantown.

NP. If it's saving you or the baby, it's going to be the baby. Not everyone would make that choice.

You made that up. And it is rude and dangerous and bigoted to spread that kind of misinformation.

Lol, the Catholic Church says being gay is a "inherently disordered" and sinful, that only men can embody the Christlike essence needed for priesthood, and that given the choice between removing an embryo in a woman's fallopian tube or letting her die, you should let her die. But sure, this poster is the bigot.

Not according to the current pope. Keep up.

Why don't we get a group of priests to have this theological debate while women go septic or hemorrhage? /s Savita Halapanavar anyone? Not all of us want even the possibility of this kind of debate so will avoid Catholic hospitals. I feel terrible for women who live in areas where they are the only option.

Yes according to the current pope. Read the catechism.

[Anonymous]

I would under no circumstances deliver in a Catholic hospital. My living daughter needs her mother more than she needs a sibling (or a misguided effort to save a sibling.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would under no circumstances deliver in a Catholic hospital. My living daughter needs her mother more than she needs a sibling (or a misguided effort to save a sibling.)

There is often not even a pretense of saving the fetus. If you are OBVIOUSLY miscarrying and there is no hope at all for the fetus, they won't treat you of there is still a heartbeat, even if you are developing sepsis.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I am also on Kaiser and live in Rockville. I plan to deliver at Reston Health Center. The Catholic thing makes me uncomfortable as well and also various ratings were not great.

How does that make you uncomfortable? I had a great birth experience at Holy Cross Germantown.

They refuse to treat a variety of conditions (e.g. ectopic pregnancies) because of their religious objections. That is a situation where the embryo cannot even be saved and can be life threatening to the woman, so it does not inspire confidence that they will do a good job caring for me or my baby.

Also, my family does not meet the Catholic church's rather narrow definition of family (they don't approve of gay people, trans people, conception by IVF, single parenthood unless by adoption, and any number of other family arrangements). I understand this doesn't mean every nurse and doctor will necessarily give me the side eye, but they have a crucifix in every room and frequent Catholic prayers over the loudspeaker. Thus it makes me uncomfortable.

Glad you had a great experience but it's just not for me.

They don't approve of single parenthood by adoption either

The Catholic Church does not prohibit treating ectopic pregnancies. There are several articles out there that say otherwise, but they are incorrect. While there is ethical debate among theologians, there is no restriction in the catholic health care community. It would certainly be helpful though, if the Church would end that theoretical theological debate to align with the actual health care practices.

"Catholic health care guidelines do not debate whether to treat ectopic pregnancies, which are never viable and are always life-threatening to the mother." https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/my-ectopic-pregnancy-i-never-want-go-through-again

https://www.chausa.org/publications/health-care-ethics-usa/article/winter-2011/catholic-hospitals-and-ectopic-pregnancies

Guidance is inconsistent and not transparent. Some hospitals permit the removal of the entire fallopian tube, reasoning that the embryo is then just an unintended casualty. This doesn't kill the woman but also needless hurts future chances at fertility and takes away a perfectly functioning body part for their own moral reasoning. Even then, it is neither consistent nor transparent.

The U.S. the United States, the Ethical and Religious Directives (guidelines that governs health care provision in Catholic medical centers) writes “In case of extrauterine pregnancy, no intervention is morally licit which constitutes a direct abortion."

That leaves some room for interpretation but also strongly implies no treatment allowed. Your mileage may vary according to hospital and theologian.

That will be the very rare hospital. Spreading misinformation as if this particular hospital has such a policiy, or even a lot or most is wrong.

[Anonymous]

Back in 2020, I initially planned to deliver at Holy Cross in Silver spring. However, at one point I was sent there from an appointment due to concern for fetal distress and I found the overall experience rushed and disappointing. I didn't feel like my voice was heard and I felt that the team was pushing for a C-section. Thankfully everything ended up being fine and I was sent home. I later decided to deliver at Washington hospital center and had a really great experience. The facility overall felt a bit outdated but I was very supported by the team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In no way would I deliver at a catholic hospital.

That's how I felt although I did deliver at Georgetown which seems different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I am also on Kaiser and live in Rockville. I plan to deliver at Reston Health Center. The Catholic thing makes me uncomfortable as well and also various ratings were not great.

How does that make you uncomfortable? I had a great birth experience at Holy Cross Germantown.

They refuse to treat a variety of conditions (e.g. ectopic pregnancies) because of their religious objections. That is a situation where the embryo cannot even be saved and can be life threatening to the woman, so it does not inspire confidence that they will do a good job caring for me or my baby.

Also, my family does not meet the Catholic church's rather narrow definition of family (they don't approve of gay people, trans people, conception by IVF, single parenthood unless by adoption, and any number of other family arrangements). I understand this doesn't mean every nurse and doctor will necessarily give me the side eye, but they have a crucifix in every room and frequent Catholic prayers over the loudspeaker. Thus it makes me uncomfortable.

Glad you had a great experience but it's just not for me.

They don't approve of single parenthood by adoption either

The Catholic Church does not prohibit treating ectopic pregnancies. There are several articles out there that say otherwise, but they are incorrect. While there is ethical debate among theologians, there is no restriction in the catholic health care community. It would certainly be helpful though, if the Church would end that theoretical theological debate to align with the actual health care practices.

"Catholic health care guidelines do not debate whether to treat ectopic pregnancies, which are never viable and are always life-threatening to the mother." https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/my-ectopic-pregnancy-i-never-want-go-through-again

https://www.chausa.org/publications/health-care-ethics-usa/article/winter-2011/catholic-hospitals-and-ectopic-pregnancies

Guidance is inconsistent and not transparent. Some hospitals permit the removal of the entire fallopian tube, reasoning that the embryo is then just an unintended casualty. This doesn't kill the woman but also needless hurts future chances at fertility and takes away a perfectly functioning body part for their own moral reasoning. Even then, it is neither consistent nor transparent.

The U.S. the United States, the Ethical and Religious Directives (guidelines that governs health care provision in Catholic medical centers) writes “In case of extrauterine pregnancy, no intervention is morally licit which constitutes a direct abortion."

That leaves some room for interpretation but also strongly implies no treatment allowed. Your mileage may vary according to hospital and theologian.

That will be the very rare hospital. Spreading misinformation as if this particular hospital has such a policy, or even a lot or most is wrong.

If this is misinformation (it's not), then it's funny how HC won't give their policy about these things publicly. Call them and ask. You will get nowhere. They could easily just put a policy on their website but they are intentionally being cagey.

I happen to know that HC specifically will not remove an embryo from a fallopian tube to save a mother's life. They might unnecessarily remove the entire fallopian tube, damaging a woman's fertility and robbing her of a needed body part for no good reason. They will also transfer to a less misogynistic and insane facility. But they won't just remove the damn embryo when that is the safest and least harmful option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In no way would I deliver at a catholic hospital.

That's how I felt although I did deliver at Georgetown which seems different.

?

You realize it felt different simply because you attributed a lot of fear/assumptions to Holy Cross because it’s a catholic hospital yet for whatever reason you didn’t attribute those same fears to Georgetown…a catholic hospital. Weird because they aren’t different based on your metric.

Georgetown is gross imho.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In no way would I deliver at a catholic hospital.

Well those are her options. You wouldn’t go to Georgetown either? Please tell us why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In no way would I deliver at a catholic hospital.

+1000000000000000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In no way would I deliver at a catholic hospital.

Well those are her options. You wouldn’t go to Georgetown either? Please tell us why.

Not PP and absolutely not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In no way would I deliver at a catholic hospital.

Well those are her options. You wouldn’t go to Georgetown either? Please tell us why.

Dp but, uh, read the thread.

And no, there are other options, Kaiser has non Catholic hospitals like rhc.