Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is everyone badmouthing GW? I had 3 kids there. The first was in the nursery a lot (2013). The second a third were always in my room because that was what I wanted. I had 3 C sections and I would never let my babies be alone in the nursery again. I can’t imagine why any parent would want that (leave their newborns alone with strangers). The nurses were great and took care of me 100%. You are having a baby, it’s not easy and you will not get much sleep... no big deal

I've heard from multiple women who delivered at GW that the reason they reopened the nursery is that a newborn fell out of a tired/sleeping mom's bed. I bet that mom would have wanted the nursery.

And then there's the case of the mother in Oregon who accidentally suffocated her newborn because he was placed in her bed while she was heavily medicated.

I heard this from multiple GW nurses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does everyone on this board know with such clarity that GW is the worst? If personal experience, how many babies are you all having and how many hospitals have you given birth in?

Genuine question, because no one is ever saying, “I preferred Sibley over GW,” everyone talks about birthing hospitals as if we have all had the opportunity to have sampled each one more than once, like a lunch spot, and cannot BELIEVE that GW brought out food out cold AGAIN.

I had a fine time at GW. Postpartum not nearly as good as L&D but I’ll go back for my next birth because the strength of L&D was well worth it. FWIW everyone I know in real life who went to GW likes it, much like everyone know in real life feels generally good about any of the hospitals they went to.

I don't know if they're the worst, but they discharged my baby with borderline high bilirubin levels and having lost around 10% of his birthweight, with zero advice to me about how to detect whether he was getting any milk and when to supplement with formula. So I feel pretty confident in saying they were negligent, and that I'd never go to a Baby Friendly hospital again.

This just happened to us. No one monitored if DD was eating or having dirty dialers

How are these experiences so vastly different? There was this form I got in PP, that I used to check off poopy and pee diapers. It was clear from the from that a meconium diaper was critical, and one poop/one pee on Day 1, what color it should start to look like on Day 2, etc. Nurses did look at the form.

One nurse was concerned that the baby had lost too much weight (he was down 7%) and that a pediatrician might have to come talk with us, but the pediatrician said our baby was doing great — his diaper output was like 12 diapers a day, bilirubin was fine.

Back to the original post, I delivered there after the nursery reopened, had no problem sending the baby there multiple times a day, which was really helpful since I was solo because my spouse was at home overnight with our child.

The nurses (except for that one!) were great, and they would time vitals checks so that you wouldn’t be interrupted while the baby was in the nursery, so as to let you actually sleep!

Stop spreading rumors...the nursery was originally closed to increase the size of the NiCU. Once the certificate of need went through the city it was able to reopen the nursery.

Anonymous wrote:Why is everyone badmouthing GW? I had 3 kids there. The first was in the nursery a lot (2013). The second a third were always in my room because that was what I wanted. I had 3 C sections and I would never let my babies be alone in the nursery again. I can’t imagine why any parent would want that (leave their newborns alone with strangers). The nurses were great and took care of me 100%. You are having a baby, it’s not easy and you will not get much sleep... no big deal

I've heard from multiple women who delivered at GW that the reason they reopened the nursery is that a newborn fell out of a tired/sleeping mom's bed. I bet that mom would have wanted the nursery.

And then there's the case of the mother in Oregon who accidentally suffocated her newborn because he was placed in her bed while she was heavily medicated.

For what it's worth, I delivered in mid-March and had no issues getting formula from the nurses, nor did I get flak from the lactation consultants (I saw a different one each day) for supplementing. My baby bruised my nipple right off the bat and everyone was very understanding, even when I was a total slacker about pumping regularly. My night nurse offered the nursery every night and even offered to take DD back after a feeding if I wanted (and there was space). I agree that they did seem understaffed, and there was one nurse who was new/awful, but that was only for one shift. I didn't have high expectations based on what I'd read here and it wasn't a nightmare - though I am a FTM and my husband was able to stay w/me the whole time. I will go back because L&D was excellent and I'm a worst-case person, so I wanted the NICU.

If they weren’t so militant about being Baby Friendly, and instead were more open to offering formula after nursing before mom’s milk comes in, they probably wouldn’t need to be so concerned about diaper output. Infant readmission to the hospital is a huge problem, and the greatest risk factor is exclusive breastfeeding at discharge.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I delivered at GW early this year, my second. With the first the nursery wasn't available. We sent the baby to the nursery for a few hours and got some incredibly restful sleep. It was amazing. My husband went back and forth to home to have dinner with our toddler, give a bath and do a few other things, but then returned to stayed overnight, and friends stayed with our toddler. I think the L+D at GW is excellent. PP care is not nearly as good, but we had great experiences both times. In contrast to the previous posters the nurses were attentive to both me and the baby. They were super on top of the output of our baby's diapers, to the point I felt like they needed to relax about it. When I asked if perhaps we should try giving the baby formula to see if we'd get a wet diaper they gladly returned with it. I am disappointed to hear the negative experiences. I don't doubt they happened, and all of those concerns and complaints are valid, but they are in stark contrast to both of my experiences there.

Ok but the diaper is about the baby. I want to deliver somewhere I’m paid attention to as well.

NP I don't get the diaper thing too. I think they really focus on it with breastfeeding moms. I was a 3rd time mom and knew how to breastfeed. Get off my back about wet diapers! If I had been a shy first time mom I'm sure they would have made me anxious and scared that my baby was malnourished the way they talked about wet diapers.

Anonymous wrote:Why is everyone badmouthing GW? I had 3 kids there. The first was in the nursery a lot (2013). The second a third were always in my room because that was what I wanted. I had 3 C sections and I would never let my babies be alone in the nursery again. I can’t imagine why any parent would want that (leave their newborns alone with strangers). The nurses were great and took care of me 100%. You are having a baby, it’s not easy and you will not get much sleep... no big deal

Because not all of us are obnoxious mommy martyrs and it’s a marathon not a goddamn sprint, after 2 nights you get all the baby all the time so why not get some extra rest and help right after you’ve literally had a baby??? Jesus

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I delivered at GW early this year, my second. With the first the nursery wasn't available. We sent the baby to the nursery for a few hours and got some incredibly restful sleep. It was amazing. My husband went back and forth to home to have dinner with our toddler, give a bath and do a few other things, but then returned to stayed overnight, and friends stayed with our toddler. I think the L+D at GW is excellent. PP care is not nearly as good, but we had great experiences both times. In contrast to the previous posters the nurses were attentive to both me and the baby. They were super on top of the output of our baby's diapers, to the point I felt like they needed to relax about it. When I asked if perhaps we should try giving the baby formula to see if we'd get a wet diaper they gladly returned with it. I am disappointed to hear the negative experiences. I don't doubt they happened, and all of those concerns and complaints are valid, but they are in stark contrast to both of my experiences there.

Ok but the diaper is about the baby. I want to deliver somewhere I’m paid attention to as well.

I think that was in response to the multiple posts above describing the ways in which GW postpartum care ignored babies' needs.

Anonymous wrote:I delivered at GW early this year, my second. With the first the nursery wasn't available. We sent the baby to the nursery for a few hours and got some incredibly restful sleep. It was amazing. My husband went back and forth to home to have dinner with our toddler, give a bath and do a few other things, but then returned to stayed overnight, and friends stayed with our toddler. I think the L+D at GW is excellent. PP care is not nearly as good, but we had great experiences both times. In contrast to the previous posters the nurses were attentive to both me and the baby. They were super on top of the output of our baby's diapers, to the point I felt like they needed to relax about it. When I asked if perhaps we should try giving the baby formula to see if we'd get a wet diaper they gladly returned with it. I am disappointed to hear the negative experiences. I don't doubt they happened, and all of those concerns and complaints are valid, but they are in stark contrast to both of my experiences there.

Ok but the diaper is about the baby. I want to deliver somewhere I’m paid attention to as well.

I delivered at GW early this year, my second. With the first the nursery wasn't available. We sent the baby to the nursery for a few hours and got some incredibly restful sleep. It was amazing. My husband went back and forth to home to have dinner with our toddler, give a bath and do a few other things, but then returned to stayed overnight, and friends stayed with our toddler. I think the L+D at GW is excellent. PP care is not nearly as good, but we had great experiences both times. In contrast to the previous posters the nurses were attentive to both me and the baby. They were super on top of the output of our baby's diapers, to the point I felt like they needed to relax about it. When I asked if perhaps we should try giving the baby formula to see if we'd get a wet diaper they gladly returned with it. I am disappointed to hear the negative experiences. I don't doubt they happened, and all of those concerns and complaints are valid, but they are in stark contrast to both of my experiences there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does everyone on this board know with such clarity that GW is the worst? If personal experience, how many babies are you all having and how many hospitals have you given birth in?

Genuine question, because no one is ever saying, “I preferred Sibley over GW,” everyone talks about birthing hospitals as if we have all had the opportunity to have sampled each one more than once, like a lunch spot, and cannot BELIEVE that GW brought out food out cold AGAIN.

I had a fine time at GW. Postpartum not nearly as good as L&D but I’ll go back for my next birth because the strength of L&D was well worth it. FWIW everyone I know in real life who went to GW likes it, much like everyone know in real life feels generally good about any of the hospitals they went to.

I don't know if they're the worst, but they discharged my baby with borderline high bilirubin levels and having lost around 10% of his birthweight, with zero advice to me about how to detect whether he was getting any milk and when to supplement with formula. So I feel pretty confident in saying they were negligent, and that I'd never go to a Baby Friendly hospital again.

I'm the PP who delivered most recently in March. My postpartum experience was similar to the above three years ago. My first baby had to be readmitted to a different hospital with jaundice because my milk didn't come in for five days. However, I had a great experience with L&D and went back to GW with #2.

For #2, L&D were still great, and the postpartum experience was much better. I thought the LCs were better, they discussed my baby's weight loss with me, the nurse offered me a breast pump, and I was offered donor milk when it was clear that my milk was late to come in (again).

We were there recently and we called in the middle of the night for the nursery. There are only 6 spots, which no one mentioned, and we were put on a wait list. After a few hours, I called again and we apparently were never put on the list. They did come eventually though. Exhausting

Anonymous wrote:Why is everyone badmouthing GW? I had 3 kids there. The first was in the nursery a lot (2013). The second a third were always in my room because that was what I wanted. I had 3 C sections and I would never let my babies be alone in the nursery again. I can’t imagine why any parent would want that (leave their newborns alone with strangers). The nurses were great and took care of me 100%. You are having a baby, it’s not easy and you will not get much sleep... no big deal

Because I’d been up for days and needed a few hours of sleep. It wasn’t safe for me to be up and about with a newborn since I was in pain meds and hadn’t slept. I was endangering my child!

Maybe you had an easy baby that was fine staying in the bassinet while you slept, but mine did not. I also couldn’t get up to pick up the baby. Twisting to the side hurt a lot.

Saying the nursery staff are strangers are silly. They are hospital staff.

You’re an example of another women who supports the bad treatment of women. If your husband just had surgery would you tell him he doesn’t need someone to care for his baby and he should keep it in the recovery room with him? No way.

Why is everyone badmouthing GW? I had 3 kids there. The first was in the nursery a lot (2013). The second a third were always in my room because that was what I wanted. I had 3 C sections and I would never let my babies be alone in the nursery again. I can’t imagine why any parent would want that (leave their newborns alone with strangers). The nurses were great and took care of me 100%. You are having a baby, it’s not easy and you will not get much sleep... no big deal