SIBLEY MATERNITY NURSES SUCK! SIBLEY ISN'T THE ROLLS ROYCE OF HOSPITALS.............

[Anonymous]

I had a vaginal birth, I am one of the ones with the horrible experience. My doctor did however give me the choice to have a c-section.

[Anonymous]

For anyone who is nervous -- I was at Sibley the same weekend as the OP and had the exact opposite experience. I had an emergency C-section on the 27th, stayed 3 nights(by choice, felt great and wanted to go home) and thought the nurses were great. I did have a private room -- which no doubt colored my experience.

[Anonymous]

Post partum nurses seem to be much worse than L&D everywhere. The same thing happens in NICUs the critical care nurses are extraordinary but the step down unit nurses are hit or miss. The areas that require less skill can keep less qualified staff who have multiple performance problems.

The best approach is to plan to be self sufficient, stand up to the bad ones, and don't expect a lot from them. I'm pretty direct and I had a nurse try to pull a " we send the babies to the nursery at night". I told her she was wrong and I planned on reporting her to the administration. Point blank no arguing. I also told her to get out. Use your professional this is an order not a request voice. The bad ones are everywhere. You could get the contact info for patient advocacy before you go in if you are really worried. If there is a particular policy or area you are worried about get it in wiriting before you go in. As a general rule, the nurses can do any procedure to you or take your child anywhere without your consent. Its assault otherwise.

For BF, if you really want to do this you could line up a lactation consultant before you go.

[zumbamama]

I had the same experience with the rude nurses and late/loud/too many visitors in a double...but in CA. It's too bad when things like that dampen the birthing experience. The second time around was better though.

[Anonymous]

I am sorry about your terrible experience. It makes me nervous about delivering at Sibley...

PLEASE, help others scheduled to deliver there and send your complaints to the hospital. I know that posting here makes we all feel better, but things will not improve unless people at the hospital (not only the bad nurses) know about the problems. If they got a complaint for every mother who had a bad experience they would have to do something about it.

Your experience was quite amazing (so sorry!) and I doubt any responsible person could ignore it.

[Anonymous]

If anyone sends this discussion over to Sibley admin or receives a response to their letters of complaint, would you please let the group know via this forum?
Additionally, Jeff, do you have any contacts or any ways of passing this along ... perhaps your "pull" as the founder of this site would help?
Many thanks
- Another mom getting ready to deliver at Sibley!

[Anonymous]

Administration
[phone] Chief Executive Officer
[phone] Chief Nursing Officer

Medical Staff Office [phone]
Human Resources [phone]

[Anonymous]

I hate to tell you this ladies, but everything that has been said here has been said more than once on DCUM and other MBs/ posts about Sibley. There is nothing new here. Why we all continue to buy into this myth that Sibley maternity care is so first rate is beyond me. I could have posted most of OP's comments myself (except the C section part; I'm sure that made it worse) for both of my deliveries there; what I hope was different in my case was my attitude about it. Yes, some of the night nurses are really bad in all of the ways mentioned and having to share a room (which you should have been prepared for; it's a well-known fact about that hospital) is not fun... but this is all beginning to smack of a real entitlement mentality that is too prevalent whenever this discussion comes up. What if we all just focused on the fact that we have beautiful new babies and are coming through delivery basically healthy... more than a lot of women in many parts of the world could ever say. You certainly don't have to deal with the sibley nurses or your roommate's inconsiderate family/ friends on a daily basis in your life... so can we please drop the whining about it all these weeks later??? Life is rarely perfect. Even in "storybook moments" like childbirth.

[Anonymous]

Kudos for the PP, a little perspective is in order. Sibley isn't perfect, but you and your baby are fine and that is a truly wonderful thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: PLEASE, help others scheduled to deliver there and send your complaints to the hospital. I know that posting here makes we all feel better, but things will not improve unless people at the hospital (not only the bad nurses) know about the problems. If they got a complaint for every mother who had a bad experience they would have to do something about it.

Your experience was quite amazing (so sorry!) and I doubt any responsible person could ignore it.

Yes, I agree! If everyone who posted a negative experience here can just send the complaint to Sibley, something good could actually come out of your terrible experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate to tell you this ladies, but everything that has been said here has been said more than once on DCUM and other MBs/ posts about Sibley. There is nothing new here. Why we all continue to buy into this myth that Sibley maternity care is so first rate is beyond me. I could have posted most of OP's comments myself (except the C section part; I'm sure that made it worse) for both of my deliveries there; what I hope was different in my case was my attitude about it. Yes, some of the night nurses are really bad in all of the ways mentioned and having to share a room (which you should have been prepared for; it's a well-known fact about that hospital) is not fun... but this is all beginning to smack of a real entitlement mentality that is too prevalent whenever this discussion comes up. What if we all just focused on the fact that we have beautiful new babies and are coming through delivery basically healthy... more than a lot of women in many parts of the world could ever say. You certainly don't have to deal with the sibley nurses or your roommate's inconsiderate family/ friends on a daily basis in your life... so can we please drop the whining about it all these weeks later??? Life is rarely perfect. Even in "storybook moments" like childbirth.

Wow lady, did you not read some of these stories? Hoping for good, responsive care and perhaps a little compassion thrown in doesn't even come close to having a sense of "real entitlement." Get off your high horse. If you dealt with your situation by simply rolling over and taking it, that's your prerogative, but there is nothing wrong with wanting decent care at a hospital. Really, who's the one whining?! Don't read the thread if it offends you.

[Anonymous]

I understand complaining about the nursing staff-although my experiece at Sibley was lovely. It's unfortunate that Sibley doesn't have all private rooms, but that's the way it is. We paid for a private room-well worth the money-but I was there 5 days. It's not fair to complain about sharing a room-that's the most an insurance company will pay for. Until Sibley renovates-the double rooms aren't going anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Actually, I don't think it sounds like OP would have minded paying for a single--rather, it sounds like none were available. Something for all delivering at Sibley to be aware of. Plenty of hospitals in the area offer exclusively private rooms--and it is useful to know this when you decide where you want to deliver if that is something important to you.

[Anonymous]

I had a great experience with Sibley and had a vaginal birth. The labor and delivery nurses were amazing. And the rest of the nurses were fine to me, there was one post-partum nurse that was sort of annoying, but other than that everyone was great. However, I didn't have any preconceived notions that the nurses were going to be at my beck and call or that Sibley was supposed to be this amazing hospital. I am also fairly low maintenance. I recall they forgot to give me pain medication at one point, and when I started needing it I just reminded them that I hadn't gotten it and they brought right away. Not a big deal to me. I was moreso enjoying my new baby and having my family and friends come visit. I also put the baby in the nursery both nights even though I was breastfeeding because it makes a huge difference in getting that little bit of extra sleep. You need to get that rest when you can because once you go home there is no "nursery" to help out. One other thing I'll mention is my husband did make an effort to be nice to the nurses and speak to them by name, etc. and I think that helped a lot. Even though it's their job to be there for us, he showed is appreciation whenever he could and it really went a long way. I think by the 2nd day he was buddies with one of the nurses who was bringing us hot tea because we both had bad colds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually, I don't think it sounds like OP would have minded paying for a single--rather, it sounds like none were available. Something for all delivering at Sibley to be aware of. Plenty of hospitals in the area offer exclusively private rooms--and it is useful to know this when you decide where you want to deliver if that is something important to you.

Oh-I agree. Some of the posters, not the OP, complained about the noise from their roommates. I don't think that issue will get resolved until Sibley does a renovation. I still think it's a great hospital