Sibley/GW/VHC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all - NP here, I'm with Kaiser and trying to decide between VHC and Sibley. So far all I've got is that VHC is 10 minutes closer and Sibley seems to have nicer rooms and may be slightly less intense about monitoring ("we need a doctor's order to switch monitor types if you want to walk in the hall" vs "uh we just let you walk"). These do not seem like significant differences, so I'm interested in hearing people's actual medical experiences!

I’m with Kaiser also and had the exact same dilemma (we’re in Arlington). My recommendation is to go and tour both places. I immediately assumed that I’d go to VHC due to proximity and the better NICU. Then I toured it and it stressed me out. It just wasn’t for me. Told my Dr (Dr Lee at Tyson’s) and she recommended that I look at Sibley. She said that not many Kaiser patients go there so you have your own private Kaiser Dr and Anesthesiologist with you the entire time that you’re in labor, granted it wouldn’t be her because she doesn’t deliver there. Toured it, was much more comfortable there and she was exactly right. The doctors didn’t leave my side during labor. Overall, it was a wonderful experience (as wonderful as childbirth can be).

Thanks! Can i ask what stressed you out about VHC and what you preferred about Sibley? We did your VHC, but due to a series of unfortunate events my husband had to do the Sibley tour without me, and I'm not sure I'll have time to do another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all - NP here, I'm with Kaiser and trying to decide between VHC and Sibley. So far all I've got is that VHC is 10 minutes closer and Sibley seems to have nicer rooms and may be slightly less intense about monitoring ("we need a doctor's order to switch monitor types if you want to walk in the hall" vs "uh we just let you walk"). These do not seem like significant differences, so I'm interested in hearing people's actual medical experiences!

I’m with Kaiser also and had the exact same dilemma (we’re in Arlington). My recommendation is to go and tour both places. I immediately assumed that I’d go to VHC due to proximity and the better NICU. Then I toured it and it stressed me out. It just wasn’t for me. Told my Dr (Dr Lee at Tyson’s) and she recommended that I look at Sibley. She said that not many Kaiser patients go there so you have your own private Kaiser Dr and Anesthesiologist with you the entire time that you’re in labor, granted it wouldn’t be her because she doesn’t deliver there. Toured it, was much more comfortable there and she was exactly right. The doctors didn’t leave my side during labor. Overall, it was a wonderful experience (as wonderful as childbirth can be).

Thanks! Can i ask what stressed you out about VHC and what you preferred about Sibley? We did your VHC, but due to a series of unfortunate events my husband had to do the Sibley tour without me, and I'm not sure I'll have time to do another.

Smaller rooms and I just couldn’t picture myself delivering there. I know it’s unfounded because it’s an excellent hospital but it was just gut feeling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all - NP here, I'm with Kaiser and trying to decide between VHC and Sibley. So far all I've got is that VHC is 10 minutes closer and Sibley seems to have nicer rooms and may be slightly less intense about monitoring ("we need a doctor's order to switch monitor types if you want to walk in the hall" vs "uh we just let you walk"). These do not seem like significant differences, so I'm interested in hearing people's actual medical experiences!

I’m with Kaiser also and had the exact same dilemma (we’re in Arlington). My recommendation is to go and tour both places. I immediately assumed that I’d go to VHC due to proximity and the better NICU. Then I toured it and it stressed me out. It just wasn’t for me. Told my Dr (Dr Lee at Tyson’s) and she recommended that I look at Sibley. She said that not many Kaiser patients go there so you have your own private Kaiser Dr and Anesthesiologist with you the entire time that you’re in labor, granted it wouldn’t be her because she doesn’t deliver there. Toured it, was much more comfortable there and she was exactly right. The doctors didn’t leave my side during labor. Overall, it was a wonderful experience (as wonderful as childbirth can be).

Thanks! Can i ask what stressed you out about VHC and what you preferred about Sibley? We did your VHC, but due to a series of unfortunate events my husband had to do the Sibley tour without me, and I'm not sure I'll have time to do another.

Smaller rooms and I just couldn’t picture myself delivering there. I know it’s unfounded because it’s an excellent hospital but it was just gut feeling.

Thanks. I'm going to ask my doctor about staffing differences and such to help me decide at my next appointment. I did learn from another doctor that Kaiser is pulling out of Sibley in January 2020, but my baby's due in less than a month so probably no impact on me personally.

[Anonymous]

For those who delivered at sibley, what do they give you for mom and baby? They switch my hospital for an induction at sibley and wont have time to tour it..
Thanks in advance

[Anonymous]

Delivered at Sibley in Dec 2017. Was a great experience. Food was timely and tasted good, very calm space. Not very BF friendly at the time, kept encouraging me to feed my baby formula, and completely upsurped my bfing wishes after taking baby to nursery. Remedied after talking with admins. Overall a good experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Delivered at Sibley in Dec 2017. Was a great experience. Food was timely and tasted good, very calm space. Not very BF friendly at the time, kept encouraging me to feed my baby formula, and completely upsurped my bfing wishes after taking baby to nursery. Remedied after talking with admins. Overall a good experience.

hmmm that's weird, I do remember during the tour they said they 100% supporting BF?!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Delivered at Sibley in Dec 2017. Was a great experience. Food was timely and tasted good, very calm space. Not very BF friendly at the time, kept encouraging me to feed my baby formula, and completely upsurped my bfing wishes after taking baby to nursery. Remedied after talking with admins. Overall a good experience.

hmmm that's weird, I do remember during the tour they said they 100% supporting BF?!!!

Sibley has some interesting interpretations of what "supportive" means. Like, "we're supportive of unmedicated birth!" except we demand you have an IV limiting your movement and we'll strap monitors to you so you can't really move and you'll be delivering on your back!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Delivered at Sibley in Dec 2017. Was a great experience. Food was timely and tasted good, very calm space. Not very BF friendly at the time, kept encouraging me to feed my baby formula, and completely upsurped my bfing wishes after taking baby to nursery. Remedied after talking with admins. Overall a good experience.

hmmm that's weird, I do remember during the tour they said they 100% supporting BF?!!!

Sibley has some interesting interpretations of what "supportive" means. Like, "we're supportive of unmedicated birth!" except we demand you have an IV limiting your movement and we'll strap monitors to you so you can't really move and you'll be delivering on your back!

urghh!!! that's awful, how do they expect us to trust them if they say something that they don't actually follow! I mean I know myself I'll start a fight if they mention formula or if they decided to take to baby to nursery saying I have to rest.. or anything else! like women in labor and postpartum will be in a mood that no one will be able to predict!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Delivered at Sibley in Dec 2017. Was a great experience. Food was timely and tasted good, very calm space. Not very BF friendly at the time, kept encouraging me to feed my baby formula, and completely upsurped my bfing wishes after taking baby to nursery. Remedied after talking with admins. Overall a good experience.

hmmm that's weird, I do remember during the tour they said they 100% supporting BF?!!!

Sibley has some interesting interpretations of what "supportive" means. Like, "we're supportive of unmedicated birth!" except we demand you have an IV limiting your movement and we'll strap monitors to you so you can't really move and you'll be delivering on your back!

"Supportive" for most hospitals means they won't push drugs on you if you don't want them. The other elements of their protocol are less negotiable.

Hospital L&D units are set up for women to get drugs and procedures during labor - not only epidurals, but pitocin. The vast majority of hospital births feature one or both of those procedures. It saves time if they can get you ready for that when you first arrive. Plus it's (perceived to be) safer because there is a 35-50% chance of you needing a c-section. So they know most people won't challenge them - especially people who are already dealing with painful contractions, who they know very well are probably going to cave and ask for an epidural anyway after a few hours of not being able to move around much or take a warm bath or shower.

You should ask specific questions well in advance. I asked my GW OB at an early appointment if I would be able to give birth in different positions and move around during labor. She replied that yes, you will have full mobility, can choose any position, and the nurses will follow you around to get a heartbeat if they need to (they do intermittent monitoring). Their postpartum care sucked but L&D is excellent.

[Anonymous]

I delivered via scheduled c-section my first baby at VHC in June 2017. The maternity ward at VHC while I was there was teeming with patients, and they were very short staffed. I fell behind on pain management due to one particularly overwhelmed night-shift nurse who kept promising to bring by pain meds and ultimately gave them to me hours after they were due. I got behind and was in significant pain for a lot of my recovery, and my doctor was annoyed that I was behind the 8 ball due to a lack of attentiveness by the staff.

I had my c-section at 12:30pm, so I hit the magical 12 hour window (when they consider pulling your iv, your catheter, and making you walk to the bathroom to demonstrate you can pee) around 12:30am. Although my nurse was unable to see to me because of the massive number of deliveries happening, she sent one of the supply resource managers to pull my catheter and ask me to get out of bed. I had yet to have any additional painkiller and I was in serious pain. The supply nurse did not know what she was doing and refused to even hold my arm as i hobbled silently crying from the pain to the bathroom. Shockingly because of the pain, I could not pee. She then called the busy nurse who screamed at me that she would give me one more shot to pee in an hour and i better start drinking everything in sight because she would put the catheter back in. I asked if I could please have more pain meds as I was in tremendous pain. I drank everything in sight and was able to pee, so I avoided the reinsertion of a catheter. However, when my doctor rounded around 5am-- I was gray, sweaty, and legit close to collapse from the pain. (I still had not received any pain meds.) The cherry on the cake was that my newborn got kicked out of the nursery because she was waking the other babies up. So, I was in tremendous pain and dealing with a screaming baby all night long. My husband also contracted a horrible virus from the VHC cafeteria on our third day there -- so I would also avoid the food.

I will not be returning to VHC when I deliver my next baby in a few days. I am praying that the experience at Sibley is better. I hate that I had such a horrendous experience at VHC-- I was really excited to deliver there as so many of my friends have had positive experiences there. However, I must be the exception to the rule. As I prepare for the next c-section, it feels like I have PTSD from the nursing care at VHC from the first time around. I am really hoping to have a more positive experience. I also hope that VHC has figured out its staffing better now for the sake of its patients (and particularly its c-section patients) than it had in late June 2017.

[Anonymous]

I loved VHC. Appreciated the feel of a small community hospital but with a NICU staffed by doctors from Childrens available if I needed it (I didn't). Also, they have a nursery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I delivered via scheduled c-section my first baby at VHC in June 2017. The maternity ward at VHC while I was there was teeming with patients, and they were very short staffed. I fell behind on pain management due to one particularly overwhelmed night-shift nurse who kept promising to bring by pain meds and ultimately gave them to me hours after they were due. I got behind and was in significant pain for a lot of my recovery, and my doctor was annoyed that I was behind the 8 ball due to a lack of attentiveness by the staff.

I had my c-section at 12:30pm, so I hit the magical 12 hour window (when they consider pulling your iv, your catheter, and making you walk to the bathroom to demonstrate you can pee) around 12:30am. Although my nurse was unable to see to me because of the massive number of deliveries happening, she sent one of the supply resource managers to pull my catheter and ask me to get out of bed. I had yet to have any additional painkiller and I was in serious pain. The supply nurse did not know what she was doing and refused to even hold my arm as i hobbled silently crying from the pain to the bathroom. Shockingly because of the pain, I could not pee. She then called the busy nurse who screamed at me that she would give me one more shot to pee in an hour and i better start drinking everything in sight because she would put the catheter back in. I asked if I could please have more pain meds as I was in tremendous pain. I drank everything in sight and was able to pee, so I avoided the reinsertion of a catheter. However, when my doctor rounded around 5am-- I was gray, sweaty, and legit close to collapse from the pain. (I still had not received any pain meds.) The cherry on the cake was that my newborn got kicked out of the nursery because she was waking the other babies up. So, I was in tremendous pain and dealing with a screaming baby all night long. My husband also contracted a horrible virus from the VHC cafeteria on our third day there -- so I would also avoid the food.

I will not be returning to VHC when I deliver my next baby in a few days. I am praying that the experience at Sibley is better. I hate that I had such a horrendous experience at VHC-- I was really excited to deliver there as so many of my friends have had positive experiences there. However, I must be the exception to the rule. As I prepare for the next c-section, it feels like I have PTSD from the nursing care at VHC from the first time around. I am really hoping to have a more positive experience. I also hope that VHC has figured out its staffing better now for the sake of its patients (and particularly its c-section patients) than it had in late June 2017.

I had two c-sections at VHC (also early summer babies) in 2016 and 2019 and neither of them was like this at ALL. One was unscheduled and one was scheduled. Nurses were amazing, doctors were amazing. I'm sorry your experience was so bad, but it was definitely an outlier.

[Anonymous]

I had all my kids @VHC. The first was uneventful but my last the L&D were great but during recovery, the nurses missed an infection in my newborn (thermometer kept not registering multiple times, low temps but they didn’t put her under the warmer and check she could regulate as I learned is protocol at other hospitals; instead they told me all their thermometers were faulty). She has hypoglycemia due to infection and nearly died after we brought her home. When we got to the ER the staff was also terrible (didn’t take us seriously, left us alone until she coded). The recommendation from the dr at INOVA PICU was to deliver elsewhere if we have another, which is unfortunate as VHC is close to our house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just delivered my second at GW with the OBs. I knew I wanted an epidural so the midwives were not for me. L&D was great both times and post-partum care was much better this time. I was nervous about PP care due to some issues last time and was pleasantly surprised this time. I only had one so-so nurse during one of the nights. The rest were wonderful and made me feel taken care of, unlike the nurses during my first experience.

Also, my epidural didn’t work with my first child so, this time, I spoke with a GW anesthesiologist early in my third trimester. Per her advice, when I got to L&D, I requested to have the attending do my epidural, not the resident. They listened, were understanding, and respected my request. Both times, there were very few other women delivering when I was (second time I was the only one in triage and they got me into a room within 10 minutes) so I never felt that it was crowded or frantic. Unfortunately, I think this was just luck. I’ve heard of women having to deliver in triage so who knows.

That being said, I made the decision to stick with GW based on my experience with their prenatal care, which I found superior to CWC.

I had the exact same experience to the letter. Congrats,PP.

OP, I'd definitely recommend GW. Just tell them you don't want students observing and prefer attending physicians whenever possible. (I was fine with students coming in etc. so don't feel bad, they'll have plenty of chances to learn without you). You have a very good reason to not want to have reminders of your earlier experiences (and you may want to share the reason behind your preferences if you feel comfortable.)