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Sibley private rooms
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Anonymous
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I'm in my 6th month and had planned to deliver at Sibley since my OB/GYNs are the Foxhall practice. I didn't realize that so many people ended up sharing rooms at Sibley. Has anyone else been on a tour or just happens to know how likely it is that you'll have to share a room versus have a private one?
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Anonymous
| It's total luck of the draw - if it's a busy time then you're stuck. I delivered my first child at Sibley a few years ago and happened to go into labor on a full moon (which I was told is common.) I was ready to go into a room by about midnight, but by then there were no private rooms. I hated sharing - it meant I was woken up twice as often and the other mom had tons of visitors, a small child, and endless consults. After a day I got a private room and was able to get a bit more sleep and comfort. This time around I'll be the mom with a (very active) little boy in the room and have my fingers crossed that I can get a private room from the get go. But there's simply no way to predict or guarantee it. |
Anonymous
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I think you can request one when you check in, but their policies seem to have changed in that you can't actually be guaranteed one (like we did 2 years ago).
If you are sharing a room, can your husband stay with you? I would think that 4 people in the room may be a bit much! |
Anonymous
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It is the luck of the draw.
When you arrive at the hospital, request one, even if you have already requested it on paperwork. If there is a private room available after you deliver, then you get the room. If there is not a private room available, you go into the queue for the next available private room. I don't remember how much a private room costs, I think $150.00 per day? |
Anonymous
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Just did a tour recently -
Cost is $200 per day and not covered by insurance. Husbands can NOT room in if you have a shared room. The ratio of private to shared is pretty good -- I think there are something like 18 private and 4 shared? |
Anonymous
| OP here. Did this bother anyone else as much as it does me - maybe I'm making a mountain over a molehill? Did anyone actually switch doctors to move to a guaranteed-private-room facility? Shady Grove seems to have a beautiful new maternity center, if the pictures on line are any indication . . . |
Anonymous
| Op, if you search archives, you'll see this is popular topic. You are by no means alone in your discomfort with shared rooms. |
Anonymous
| Wasn't there supposed to be some construction and thus extra private rooms in Sibley? Anyone taken a recent tour who knows? I'm delivering in Feb and am interested in this answer myself. |
Anonymous
| I delivered at Sibley twice and both times got private rooms. I called ahead and told them when I anticipated I would be there and got on a list for a private room. I did do a scheduled induction so that may have helped. |
Anonymous
I actually delivered my first baby at another area hospital where you are guaranteed a private room, had a horrible experience there and switched doctors to have my second baby at Sibley. For me, a private room didn't make up for horrible check-in procedures even though I had pre-registered, a terrible delivery nurse whose incompetence led to my having to have a second epidural in the middle of labor, mediocre mother/baby care and lactation services, and incredibly insensitive pediatric staff (our pediatrician did not have privileges there). |
Anonymous
Just to update, as it seems like their current policy of room assignment may be different than it was in the past. Rooms are assigned after delivery. If they are full and you are in a double room, the priority list for when you move is the same as the innital room assignment: preferences are ranked by order of delivery time. So, you can not call ahead or reserve a room
On the bright side, as someone else mentioned, almost all of the rooms are private.(And I love their windows!) The east wing is all private rooms, and the west wing has 4 shared rooms and the rest are private. They are doing a renovation of a new all private wing right now. Don't know much about it other than that, but the word is bound to get around quickly when it does open, as we are all interested. |
Anonymous
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Just did a tour and the woman doing the tour assured me that everyone who wants a private room gets one, but as other posters said, they won't guarantee it. They put you on the list after delivery and if there is a private room available you'll get one, otherwise you'll have to share. The ratio is good, lots of private rooms and not a lot of shared rooms, but she also mentioned that they might convert private rooms to shared ones if they need the space.
I have shared a hospital room after a minor surgery, and the experience could not have been more miserable. I didn't get a wink of sleep, despite being completely exhausted and on pain meds, because my room-mate had visitors well past visiting hours and the nurses were constantly running in to check on her, yelling her name out on their way past my bed, leaving the door open, etc. That's in addition to the checking on me every 4 hours, so I never went more than an hour or two without an interruption. I was so tired I wanted to cry. I cannot imagine adding another woman's crying baby -- on top of my own crying baby -- to that. Sure, you can have them take yours away, but you can't force her to send hers away just because it's keeping you up! I am sure there are other factors that would make a hospital stay more miserable than sharing a room, but they're not the kind of things you know about before picking a hospital. I would try to find a place where at least you know you'll be able to rest for a day or two after giving birth -- since from what I hear you've got 3 months of sleep deprivation ahead of you. |
Anonymous
| Other than putting two patients in the same bed I have no idea how they could convert a private to a shared room at Sibley. They are tiny!! |
Anonymous
OP- I'm with you. I considered switching OB practices to go to a hospital that guaranteed private rooms, but ended up sticking with my current doctor, whom I love. For my first, I got a private room at Sibley. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't have any problems the second time around, although I'm definitely worried about it. I will say that I know tons of people who have delivered babies at Sibley and only one has gotten stuck with a shared room for one night, which tells me that it's pretty rare. |
Anonymous
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I guess I hadn't considered any of this. Unless you have a planned C-section, you don't know until you get there. Nobody can predict a rush of deliveries.
I ended up getting a private room and that was by chance. |