GW Nursery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was awake 50 hours straight (full workday, then long labor) and then given my baby to care for the first night at GW. I was delirious and could have easily been one of the moms who dropped their baby. I could hardly walk or see straight to get up for feeds I was so tired and nurses never offered to take her so I could rest. It’s about time they brought back the nursery, but shame on them for having ever gotten rid of it in the first place.

+1. Similar experience. It was a lawsuit waiting to happen. I would have absolutely sued if I had hurt my baby given GW was forcing me to take care of it by myself when I'd just had surgery and had been awake for days. Oh and I was on opioids. I remember feeling dizzy multiple times when I stood up to get my baby to breastfeed and could have easily fallen with the baby in my arms. Giving a post csection mom strong pain pills and then leaving and closing the door to the room while the baby is across the room and the csection mom has to painfully make it over to the baby is criminal.

Geez, people. Where are your partners, doulas, friends? I’m glad the nursery is an option now, but I think people shouldn’t be putting 100% of the responsibility for newborn care on the hospital.

You should NOT be required to bring a partner to help you recover and care for your newborn while you're on meds and in pain.

If you don't think there should be any care then why don't they just send you home right after surgery? It seems like if a hospital isn't open to having a nursery then they shouldn't be delivering babies.

[Anonymous]

People are deservedly angry when our insurers are being billed between 20 and 50 grand for a two or three day hospital stay where we are expected to bring husbands, family members, and doulas to provide nursing care for ourselves and our new babies. What are our insurers and us paying for exactly? Women and babies deserve better, but they will only happen when women collectively stop sniping at each other and saying things like husbands and families need to "man up" to help in the hospital and there is a cost benefit analysis on dropping babies and it's okay if the baby isn't seriously injured. We ALL deserve better.

What other hospital unit would you be in and not receive adequate nursing care and support and be expected to bring your own? It's utterly ridiculous. There is clearly some GW hospital administrator on this thread and some other self loathing women with too much of a "pick yourself up by the boot straps" mentality who feels that being vulnerable and needing support during a major medical and life event is an unforgivable weakness of character.

And to the PP who asked, one nurse to 5 mothers and babies for a total of ten patients is ridiculous! Have you ever taken care of 10 people at once? Of course postpartum mom's are dying in droves in the US. Their nurses aren't trained to recognize common complications of delivery and they have far to many patients to take care of. A ratio of 1 nurse to 3 women is what proposed RN ratios are calling for.

This stuff will never change unless we demand it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was awake 50 hours straight (full workday, then long labor) and then given my baby to care for the first night at GW. I was delirious and could have easily been one of the moms who dropped their baby. I could hardly walk or see straight to get up for feeds I was so tired and nurses never offered to take her so I could rest. It’s about time they brought back the nursery, but shame on them for having ever gotten rid of it in the first place.

+1. Similar experience. It was a lawsuit waiting to happen. I would have absolutely sued if I had hurt my baby given GW was forcing me to take care of it by myself when I'd just had surgery and had been awake for days. Oh and I was on opioids. I remember feeling dizzy multiple times when I stood up to get my baby to breastfeed and could have easily fallen with the baby in my arms. Giving a post csection mom strong pain pills and then leaving and closing the door to the room while the baby is across the room and the csection mom has to painfully make it over to the baby is criminal.

Geez, people. Where are your partners, doulas, friends? I’m glad the nursery is an option now, but I think people shouldn’t be putting 100% of the responsibility for newborn care on the hospital.

my husband was taking care of my other kids and i don't have friends in the area. it is absolutely 100% responsibility of the hospital to care for the newborn for the 2-3 days they are actually in the hospital. it's what is done in civilized world and mothers often spend longer in hospitals here (because one day doesn't cost 10k).

They ARE caring for the newborn. I delivered at GW sans nursery. They check on the newborn for all sorts of tests, etc. just because they’re not cradling the newborn lovingly in their arms so you can sleep does not mean they are not providing care.

This was not what I experienced. I had a csection and was left in the room with my newborn for hours and no one checked on us. What you just said about "cradling the newborn lovingly..." is so far from what most women expect. I was in A LOT of pain and getting up to feed my baby was awful. Not to mention I felt sissy when I carried her to my bed to breastfeed. It's dangerous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are deservedly angry when our insurers are being billed between 20 and 50 grand for a two or three day hospital stay where we are expected to bring husbands, family members, and doulas to provide nursing care for ourselves and our new babies. What are our insurers and us paying for exactly? Women and babies deserve better, but they will only happen when women collectively stop sniping at each other and saying things like husbands and families need to "man up" to help in the hospital and there is a cost benefit analysis on dropping babies and it's okay if the baby isn't seriously injured. We ALL deserve better.

What other hospital unit would you be in and not receive adequate nursing care and support and be expected to bring your own? It's utterly ridiculous. There is clearly some GW hospital administrator on this thread and some other self loathing women with too much of a "pick yourself up by the boot straps" mentality who feels that being vulnerable and needing support during a major medical and life event is an unforgivable weakness of character.

And to the PP who asked, one nurse to 5 mothers and babies for a total of ten patients is ridiculous! Have you ever taken care of 10 people at once? Of course postpartum mom's are dying in droves in the US. Their nurses aren't trained to recognize common complications of delivery and they have far to many patients to take care of. A ratio of 1 nurse to 3 women is what proposed RN ratios are calling for.

This stuff will never change unless we demand it.

This expectation is ridiculous. Can you imagine your husband having heart surgery and being told you need to stay at the hospital and act as the nurse?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was awake 50 hours straight (full workday, then long labor) and then given my baby to care for the first night at GW. I was delirious and could have easily been one of the moms who dropped their baby. I could hardly walk or see straight to get up for feeds I was so tired and nurses never offered to take her so I could rest. It’s about time they brought back the nursery, but shame on them for having ever gotten rid of it in the first place.

+1. Similar experience. It was a lawsuit waiting to happen. I would have absolutely sued if I had hurt my baby given GW was forcing me to take care of it by myself when I'd just had surgery and had been awake for days. Oh and I was on opioids. I remember feeling dizzy multiple times when I stood up to get my baby to breastfeed and could have easily fallen with the baby in my arms. Giving a post csection mom strong pain pills and then leaving and closing the door to the room while the baby is across the room and the csection mom has to painfully make it over to the baby is criminal.

Geez, people. Where are your partners, doulas, friends? I’m glad the nursery is an option now, but I think people shouldn’t be putting 100% of the responsibility for newborn care on the hospital.

my husband was taking care of my other kids and i don't have friends in the area. it is absolutely 100% responsibility of the hospital to care for the newborn for the 2-3 days they are actually in the hospital. it's what is done in civilized world and mothers often spend longer in hospitals here (because one day doesn't cost 10k).

They ARE caring for the newborn. I delivered at GW sans nursery. They check on the newborn for all sorts of tests, etc. just because they’re not cradling the newborn lovingly in their arms so you can sleep does not mean they are not providing care.

"Caring" for a baby doesn't mean just letting it cry in a bassinet, cold and hungry. They should not expect the mother to be caring for a baby after an operation or a long labor!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shame on them prior poster?
The well baby “respite” nursery was closed at GW in 2013 in order to expand the number of NICU beds for sick babies.

Shame on the city for requiring hospitals to get certificates of need that take over two years to increase the number of beds they have.

The city is in complete crisis due to UMC and Providence shutting down their maternity wards without a plan in place.
That is another story.

GW does not have the “baby friendly designation.”
They want you to room in yes.
The respite nursery is open now because the certificate went through.
Put a sign on your door.
Med student no longer round on you.
They may with the pediatrician but not alone.
Make sure the managers know how much you like the nursery.

Ok so apparently you work for the hospital. And yes, shame on them. They did have a baby friendly designation when I delivered there in 2016 and touted it proudly. 5 babies dropped? There is no excuse for that and each time is one time too many.. Their ratios for postpartum sucked when I delivered. I think each RN had like 5 mother baby couplets. There is no way to deliver quality nursing care with a ratio that high.

That ratio doesn’t seem high to me at all. Are you a nurse? And of course every dropped baby is regrettable but there is a cost/benefit analysis here on how much to spend on nurses, nurseries, etc. I don’t think every dropped baby is seriously injured. People drop babies once they go home, too. I think people are going a little psycho on GW here.

omg. you're not really doing GW any favors ... "dropped baby" is pretty much the metric of failure in post-partum care, and should be a zero-event.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was awake 50 hours straight (full workday, then long labor) and then given my baby to care for the first night at GW. I was delirious and could have easily been one of the moms who dropped their baby. I could hardly walk or see straight to get up for feeds I was so tired and nurses never offered to take her so I could rest. It’s about time they brought back the nursery, but shame on them for having ever gotten rid of it in the first place.

+1. Similar experience. It was a lawsuit waiting to happen. I would have absolutely sued if I had hurt my baby given GW was forcing me to take care of it by myself when I'd just had surgery and had been awake for days. Oh and I was on opioids. I remember feeling dizzy multiple times when I stood up to get my baby to breastfeed and could have easily fallen with the baby in my arms. Giving a post csection mom strong pain pills and then leaving and closing the door to the room while the baby is across the room and the csection mom has to painfully make it over to the baby is criminal.

Geez, people. Where are your partners, doulas, friends? I’m glad the nursery is an option now, but I think people shouldn’t be putting 100% of the responsibility for newborn care on the hospital.

So you're saying that after I had surgery I should have spent 1k each day for someone to stay with me and help care for me and the baby?

I find it strange you don't expect for the hospital to help with newborn care, especially since this is a common practice all over the world. Only in a third world country do you expect for a friend or family member to take care of you at the hospital after surgery.

Based on your beliefs, they should simply send babies home with the dad immediately after a csection if they aren't breastfeeding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was awake 50 hours straight (full workday, then long labor) and then given my baby to care for the first night at GW. I was delirious and could have easily been one of the moms who dropped their baby. I could hardly walk or see straight to get up for feeds I was so tired and nurses never offered to take her so I could rest. It’s about time they brought back the nursery, but shame on them for having ever gotten rid of it in the first place.

+1. Similar experience. It was a lawsuit waiting to happen. I would have absolutely sued if I had hurt my baby given GW was forcing me to take care of it by myself when I'd just had surgery and had been awake for days. Oh and I was on opioids. I remember feeling dizzy multiple times when I stood up to get my baby to breastfeed and could have easily fallen with the baby in my arms. Giving a post csection mom strong pain pills and then leaving and closing the door to the room while the baby is across the room and the csection mom has to painfully make it over to the baby is criminal.

Geez, people. Where are your partners, doulas, friends? I’m glad the nursery is an option now, but I think people shouldn’t be putting 100% of the responsibility for newborn care on the hospital.

I know I did all the work and went through all the labor, but my DH was awake the entire time with me. He was stressed during the labor too and running around getting me ice chips and massaging me. We both worked a full 9 hour day, then went to the hospital for our induction, then were up for 34 hours in labor. It was at least 42 hours until either of us got an ounce of sleep. My story is super common. DH was too tired to hold the baby and so was I. When I delivered, I had medical complications so they didn't let family members in the room, so it was just DH trying to soothe the baby. Also, room was too small for a team of grandparents to come in and I needed sleep. Grandparents holding my baby would have hindered sleep. Why should I have to hire a doula to hold my baby for me? Why aren't nurses there to assist? My delivery was 29k! Surely that should have had some nurse support included.

A couple of options: Let the baby cry. Your husband drinks a Red Bull or two and mans up.

Well the baby did cry (in DH's arms) and the nurses came in and yelled at us at 3am and told us I needed to breastfeed more. I didn't have milk yet.

Yes, I’m sure they literally “yelled” at you. Get over yourself.

Ok Nurse Ratchett. I think you may need to look into new professions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are deservedly angry when our insurers are being billed between 20 and 50 grand for a two or three day hospital stay where we are expected to bring husbands, family members, and doulas to provide nursing care for ourselves and our new babies. What are our insurers and us paying for exactly? Women and babies deserve better, but they will only happen when women collectively stop sniping at each other and saying things like husbands and families need to "man up" to help in the hospital and there is a cost benefit analysis on dropping babies and it's okay if the baby isn't seriously injured. We ALL deserve better.

What other hospital unit would you be in and not receive adequate nursing care and support and be expected to bring your own? It's utterly ridiculous. There is clearly some GW hospital administrator on this thread and some other self loathing women with too much of a "pick yourself up by the boot straps" mentality who feels that being vulnerable and needing support during a major medical and life event is an unforgivable weakness of character.

And to the PP who asked, one nurse to 5 mothers and babies for a total of ten patients is ridiculous! Have you ever taken care of 10 people at once? Of course postpartum mom's are dying in droves in the US. Their nurses aren't trained to recognize common complications of delivery and they have far to many patients to take care of. A ratio of 1 nurse to 3 women is what proposed RN ratios are calling for.

This stuff will never change unless we demand it.

The women dying in droves are not doing so because they don’t have nurseries but good job distracting from the actual topic of the thread so you can justify your rant. I don’t work at a hospital and I’m not self-loathing. I know my rights and self-advocate but will also call out unreasonable complaints when I see them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shame on them prior poster?
The well baby “respite” nursery was closed at GW in 2013 in order to expand the number of NICU beds for sick babies.

Shame on the city for requiring hospitals to get certificates of need that take over two years to increase the number of beds they have.

The city is in complete crisis due to UMC and Providence shutting down their maternity wards without a plan in place.
That is another story.

GW does not have the “baby friendly designation.”
They want you to room in yes.
The respite nursery is open now because the certificate went through.
Put a sign on your door.
Med student no longer round on you.
They may with the pediatrician but not alone.
Make sure the managers know how much you like the nursery.

Ok so apparently you work for the hospital. And yes, shame on them. They did have a baby friendly designation when I delivered there in 2016 and touted it proudly. 5 babies dropped? There is no excuse for that and each time is one time too many.. Their ratios for postpartum sucked when I delivered. I think each RN had like 5 mother baby couplets. There is no way to deliver quality nursing care with a ratio that high.

That ratio doesn’t seem high to me at all. Are you a nurse? And of course every dropped baby is regrettable but there is a cost/benefit analysis here on how much to spend on nurses, nurseries, etc. I don’t think every dropped baby is seriously injured. People drop babies once they go home, too. I think people are going a little psycho on GW here.

omg. you're not really doing GW any favors ... "dropped baby" is pretty much the metric of failure in post-partum care, and should be a zero-event.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are deservedly angry when our insurers are being billed between 20 and 50 grand for a two or three day hospital stay where we are expected to bring husbands, family members, and doulas to provide nursing care for ourselves and our new babies. What are our insurers and us paying for exactly? Women and babies deserve better, but they will only happen when women collectively stop sniping at each other and saying things like husbands and families need to "man up" to help in the hospital and there is a cost benefit analysis on dropping babies and it's okay if the baby isn't seriously injured. We ALL deserve better.

What other hospital unit would you be in and not receive adequate nursing care and support and be expected to bring your own? It's utterly ridiculous. There is clearly some GW hospital administrator on this thread and some other self loathing women with too much of a "pick yourself up by the boot straps" mentality who feels that being vulnerable and needing support during a major medical and life event is an unforgivable weakness of character.

And to the PP who asked, one nurse to 5 mothers and babies for a total of ten patients is ridiculous! Have you ever taken care of 10 people at once? Of course postpartum mom's are dying in droves in the US. Their nurses aren't trained to recognize common complications of delivery and they have far to many patients to take care of. A ratio of 1 nurse to 3 women is what proposed RN ratios are calling for.

This stuff will never change unless we demand it.

This is an odd place to yell about this. GW has reopened the nursery and women are not dying in droves at GW, with or without a nursery.

Your ire seems misplaced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was awake 50 hours straight (full workday, then long labor) and then given my baby to care for the first night at GW. I was delirious and could have easily been one of the moms who dropped their baby. I could hardly walk or see straight to get up for feeds I was so tired and nurses never offered to take her so I could rest. It’s about time they brought back the nursery, but shame on them for having ever gotten rid of it in the first place.

+1. Similar experience. It was a lawsuit waiting to happen. I would have absolutely sued if I had hurt my baby given GW was forcing me to take care of it by myself when I'd just had surgery and had been awake for days. Oh and I was on opioids. I remember feeling dizzy multiple times when I stood up to get my baby to breastfeed and could have easily fallen with the baby in my arms. Giving a post csection mom strong pain pills and then leaving and closing the door to the room while the baby is across the room and the csection mom has to painfully make it over to the baby is criminal.

Geez, people. Where are your partners, doulas, friends? I’m glad the nursery is an option now, but I think people shouldn’t be putting 100% of the responsibility for newborn care on the hospital.

my husband was taking care of my other kids and i don't have friends in the area. it is absolutely 100% responsibility of the hospital to care for the newborn for the 2-3 days they are actually in the hospital. it's what is done in civilized world and mothers often spend longer in hospitals here (because one day doesn't cost 10k).

They ARE caring for the newborn. I delivered at GW sans nursery. They check on the newborn for all sorts of tests, etc. just because they’re not cradling the newborn lovingly in their arms so you can sleep does not mean they are not providing care.

Um. It's not caring for a patient if you're putting them at considerable risk of suffocation or fall (which is what you're doing if you're entrusting a very fragile patient to be cared for by an exhausted, medicated, possibly post-surgery and non-ambulatory adult.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was awake 50 hours straight (full workday, then long labor) and then given my baby to care for the first night at GW. I was delirious and could have easily been one of the moms who dropped their baby. I could hardly walk or see straight to get up for feeds I was so tired and nurses never offered to take her so I could rest. It’s about time they brought back the nursery, but shame on them for having ever gotten rid of it in the first place.

+1. Similar experience. It was a lawsuit waiting to happen. I would have absolutely sued if I had hurt my baby given GW was forcing me to take care of it by myself when I'd just had surgery and had been awake for days. Oh and I was on opioids. I remember feeling dizzy multiple times when I stood up to get my baby to breastfeed and could have easily fallen with the baby in my arms. Giving a post csection mom strong pain pills and then leaving and closing the door to the room while the baby is across the room and the csection mom has to painfully make it over to the baby is criminal.

Geez, people. Where are your partners, doulas, friends? I’m glad the nursery is an option now, but I think people shouldn’t be putting 100% of the responsibility for newborn care on the hospital.

my husband was taking care of my other kids and i don't have friends in the area. it is absolutely 100% responsibility of the hospital to care for the newborn for the 2-3 days they are actually in the hospital. it's what is done in civilized world and mothers often spend longer in hospitals here (because one day doesn't cost 10k).

They ARE caring for the newborn. I delivered at GW sans nursery. They check on the newborn for all sorts of tests, etc. just because they’re not cradling the newborn lovingly in their arms so you can sleep does not mean they are not providing care.

"Caring" for a baby doesn't mean just letting it cry in a bassinet, cold and hungry. They should not expect the mother to be caring for a baby after an operation or a long labor!

+1. The medication many women are on after a csection says to not operate machinery. But they are leaving you in a room by yourself to care for your newborn for hours. I remember being so utterly exhausted and in such pain. Having to get up and carry an infant back to my bed was awful. I can't believe they were billing my insurance company for my stay considering I barely received any care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are deservedly angry when our insurers are being billed between 20 and 50 grand for a two or three day hospital stay where we are expected to bring husbands, family members, and doulas to provide nursing care for ourselves and our new babies. What are our insurers and us paying for exactly? Women and babies deserve better, but they will only happen when women collectively stop sniping at each other and saying things like husbands and families need to "man up" to help in the hospital and there is a cost benefit analysis on dropping babies and it's okay if the baby isn't seriously injured. We ALL deserve better.

What other hospital unit would you be in and not receive adequate nursing care and support and be expected to bring your own? It's utterly ridiculous. There is clearly some GW hospital administrator on this thread and some other self loathing women with too much of a "pick yourself up by the boot straps" mentality who feels that being vulnerable and needing support during a major medical and life event is an unforgivable weakness of character.

And to the PP who asked, one nurse to 5 mothers and babies for a total of ten patients is ridiculous! Have you ever taken care of 10 people at once? Of course postpartum mom's are dying in droves in the US. Their nurses aren't trained to recognize common complications of delivery and they have far to many patients to take care of. A ratio of 1 nurse to 3 women is what proposed RN ratios are calling for.

This stuff will never change unless we demand it.

This expectation is ridiculous. Can you imagine your husband having heart surgery and being told you need to stay at the hospital and act as the nurse?

Birth, even a c-section, is not heart surgery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are deservedly angry when our insurers are being billed between 20 and 50 grand for a two or three day hospital stay where we are expected to bring husbands, family members, and doulas to provide nursing care for ourselves and our new babies. What are our insurers and us paying for exactly? Women and babies deserve better, but they will only happen when women collectively stop sniping at each other and saying things like husbands and families need to "man up" to help in the hospital and there is a cost benefit analysis on dropping babies and it's okay if the baby isn't seriously injured. We ALL deserve better.

What other hospital unit would you be in and not receive adequate nursing care and support and be expected to bring your own? It's utterly ridiculous. There is clearly some GW hospital administrator on this thread and some other self loathing women with too much of a "pick yourself up by the boot straps" mentality who feels that being vulnerable and needing support during a major medical and life event is an unforgivable weakness of character.

And to the PP who asked, one nurse to 5 mothers and babies for a total of ten patients is ridiculous! Have you ever taken care of 10 people at once? Of course postpartum mom's are dying in droves in the US. Their nurses aren't trained to recognize common complications of delivery and they have far to many patients to take care of. A ratio of 1 nurse to 3 women is what proposed RN ratios are calling for.

This stuff will never change unless we demand it.

This is an odd place to yell about this. GW has reopened the nursery and women are not dying in droves at GW, with or without a nursery.

Your ire seems misplaced.

Yeah guys why are you so salty not many moms or babies die at all