GW Nursery?

[Anonymous]

1 - I've heard that GW reopened its nursery. Can anyone confirm? (I delivered there in 2017 - they had no nursery then. My newborn had day/night confusion and was up ALL night the three nights we were there, so we got like ZERO sleep.)
2 - I also heard that you can only send the baby to the nursery for three hours per day. I'm wondering if what that actually means is no more than three hours at any one time, because of course the baby needs to feed. I wouldn't want to send her there for more than three hours at a time anyway, but wondering if, for example, you could have the baby in the nursery from 2am-5am one morning and then again from 10pm-midnight that same night, or if that violates the three-hour rule?!

Second-time mom that will probably be spending the nights in the hospital alone while DH is home with our toddler, and trying to recover from a C section, so just concerned about my options for sleep! Any insight is appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Just delivered at GW over the weekend and the nursery is reopen. They said 3 hours but I didn’t clarify whether one could do more than one 3-hour stretch per day.

[Anonymous]

Multiple is fine. Three hour rule is so they can bring you the baby to feed if breastfeeding.

[Anonymous]

If you want to use a nursery I wouldn’t deliver at GW. Even if they have one. When I delivered there they treated me horribly and made it very clear that my recovery from surgery didn’t matter and that my husband was there to substitute for hospital staff.

You’ve been warned if they are sharing about the three hour rule. Other hospitals with nurseries don’t tell you that. I just delivered somewhere else and it was a world of difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1 - I've heard that GW reopened its nursery. Can anyone confirm? (I delivered there in 2017 - they had no nursery then. My newborn had day/night confusion and was up ALL night the three nights we were there, so we got like ZERO sleep.)
2 - I also heard that you can only send the baby to the nursery for three hours per day. I'm wondering if what that actually means is no more than three hours at any one time, because of course the baby needs to feed. I wouldn't want to send her there for more than three hours at a time anyway, but wondering if, for example, you could have the baby in the nursery from 2am-5am one morning and then again from 10pm-midnight that same night, or if that violates the three-hour rule?!

Second-time mom that will probably be spending the nights in the hospital alone while DH is home with our toddler, and trying to recover from a C section, so just concerned about my options for sleep! Any insight is appreciated.

GW is NOT the place for you. Your husband is supposed to be the support staff and someone is supposed to spend the night with you. My husband couldn’t stay because of our first child and they acted appalled and gave me major attitude. It’s an awful place and you should avoid. If you were delivering vaginally and no other kids for your husband to watch then maybe.

[Anonymous]

All of the hospitals outsource post-partum care to your partner or a hired doula to some extent - they say it’s to help with breastfeeding or help you learn to care for your baby, but it’s really to save money by hiring less nursing staff. GW, however, does it the worst of all the hospitals. They do have a “nursery” again, but they’re not going to let you use it all night like Inova Fairfax would.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of the hospitals outsource post-partum care to your partner or a hired doula to some extent - they say it’s to help with breastfeeding or help you learn to care for your baby, but it’s really to save money by hiring less nursing staff. GW, however, does it the worst of all the hospitals. They do have a “nursery” again, but they’re not going to let you use it all night like Inova Fairfax would.

+1000. GW is the worst.

[Anonymous]

Are they still staffing postpartum nurses 1 nurse: 6 mother-baby dyads? Because that ratio really is awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of the hospitals outsource post-partum care to your partner or a hired doula to some extent - they say it’s to help with breastfeeding or help you learn to care for your baby, but it’s really to save money by hiring less nursing staff. GW, however, does it the worst of all the hospitals. They do have a “nursery” again, but they’re not going to let you use it all night like Inova Fairfax would.

+1000. GW is the worst.

How do they get away with being so awful?

[Anonymous]

I just delivered at GW in March. I was alone much of the time because my husband was with our toddler. The nurses frequently offered the nursery. My husband went there with our baby so baby could be bathed and said it was nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are they still staffing postpartum nurses 1 nurse: 6 mother-baby dyads? Because that ratio really is awful.

They were loving to hire nor nurses. I don’t know how far along the effort is, though.

[Anonymous]

*moving

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of the hospitals outsource post-partum care to your partner or a hired doula to some extent - they say it’s to help with breastfeeding or help you learn to care for your baby, but it’s really to save money by hiring less nursing staff. GW, however, does it the worst of all the hospitals. They do have a “nursery” again, but they’re not going to let you use it all night like Inova Fairfax would.

Anonymous wrote:All of the hospitals outsource post-partum care to your partner or a hired doula to some extent - they say it’s to help with breastfeeding or help you learn to care for your baby, but it’s really to save money by hiring less nursing staff. GW, however, does it the worst of all the hospitals. They do have a “nursery” again, but they’re not going to let you use it all night like Inova Fairfax would.

FWIW, I almost died at Inova Fairfax because their L&D people ducked up and missed a blood test result. GW I felt totally safe and like reheat was way less likely to happen; they were just way way more with it during L&D in a medicalized way that some people probably hate but I loved because of my first experience. Postpartum was pretty shitty in both 2016 and 2018 at GW. Apparently the nursery was back, but they didn’t even tell me about it... even though DH had to go home to watch our other two and I’d had a c-section, so was in pain meds, could barely move, etc. Still. At least they didn’t almost kill me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just delivered at GW in March. I was alone much of the time because my husband was with our toddler. The nurses frequently offered the nursery. My husband went there with our baby so baby could be bathed and said it was nice.

This was my experience as well. I’m not clear if the other posters are referencing experiences since the reopening of the nursery. My husband was with the toddler, and I sent the baby to the nursery, got a shower, put on a face mask, and took a nap in absolute, blissful silence. It was freaking amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just delivered at GW over the weekend and the nursery is reopen. They said 3 hours but I didn’t clarify whether one could do more than one 3-hour stretch per day.

I did maybe three stretches a day. (I had postpartum preeclampsia and had to stay longer.) Note: they will bring the baby back sooner if the baby is hungry, so make sure you tank up the baby before sending her/him off.