Had to share, another reason to stay home - Page 2

[Belle]

Originally Posted by Nicole730

I was just talking to my friend who works in L&D about these rules. The bassinet in the hallway is because they risk getting sued if the baby is dropped. Lame I know. And when babies are stolen they are carried in someone's arms...not wheeled in a bassinet. Totally sucks, but I can understand their point of view on those two points. Although I think you should be able to sign something that says - I won't sue you if I drop my baby

Yeah, cause nobody who would steal a baby would dare steal a bassinet too. The line of empty bassinets in the hallway are theft proof.

[lunita1]

Originally Posted by dannic

I'm planning on having a Britax this time around as well, but planning my 2nd HB, so that carrier policy won't matter (hopefully).

(

Just a tiny OT (but, IMO very important) car seat note... Britax convertibles rarely if ever fit newborns safely despite their "5 -40 or 65" or whatever lbs. ratings. The bottom slots are just too high (at about 10-10.5 inches from the bottom of the seat.) When a seat is rear facing, the harness slots need to be at or below the baby's shoulders. Other brands make convertibles with harness slots (at about 7.5 inches or lower) that *do* fit newborns, but unfortunately Britax doesn't.

[Sweetiemommy]

The Britax fits my newborn perfectly, of course I have huge babies, 9, 10 and 9.5 respectively. They are also tall babies, 21 plus inches.

But regarding the stolen baby issue, they weren't asking us to put him in a bassinette, they wanted him in a car seat. It seems like a baby thief would think of bringing a carseat to avoid detection. All around it is a lame policy. Created to control people and force the following of ridiculous rules. Read 1984 and see if we aren't living and breathing this stuff. It amazes and frightens me that the majority of women are forced to endure their most primitive, spiritual rite of passage in such a controlled, sterile environment. I am really thankful for the midwives who make our freedom of choice possible.

[Kidzaplenty]

I have a Britax and it fits my newborns perfectly. As for hospital policy, the only policy that the mentioned to me was that I was not allowed to walk out, but wait and must be in a wheel chair. I just told them I was leaving, right then, and if they wanted me in a wheel chair, then they had better have one before I reached the elevator. (Amazingly, they suddenly had one available.)

I just carried the baby in my lap and then got out of the wheel chair right outside the doors of the hospital.

[mamakaryn08]

Geez. Hospital I had DS at let me carry him all the way out to the car in my arms, they just had a volunteer push us in a wheelchair and check to make sure we did, indeed, have a seat in the car. But they don't make sure you buckle them in correctly or anything, just ensure you have one and you're on your way. I was glad I was able to carry him in my arms out of the hospital. That's just crazy!

[Nicole730]

Originally Posted by Belle

Yeah, cause nobody who would steal a baby would dare steal a bassinet too. The line of empty bassinets in the hallway are theft proof.

True.

Originally Posted by Sweetiemommy

But regarding the stolen baby issue, they weren't asking us to put him in a bassinette, they wanted him in a car seat.

I don't know if this was referring to my post or not...but I know you were talking about the carseat....which is just insane IMO. I was just reporting what a L&D nurse had told me that day.

[mrshoobydoober]

Oh yes! An excellent reason to birth at home!!

My hospital had the "no carrying baby through the halls" rule too- he had to be wheeled in the clear plastic basinette.

When I had my first, on the day we were leaving they did her hospital pictures. We took her down there, not knowing we had to have her in the basinette. We came around the corner from our room, a RN saw us and YELLED at us, "YOU CAN'T CARRY HER!! YOU HAVE TO USE THE BASINETTE!!!!!"

I was horrified, felt totally inadequate, and embarrassed! We went to get it, dh took her to the nursery, and I went back to our room and cried.

[laughingfox]

I went to visit a friend in a hospital once, and there was actually an alarm system to prevent you from carrying your baby into the hallway.

There was a sensor in the "bassinet" and another sensor in the baby's bracelet. If you got the baby near the door and the two sensors were not close enough together, there was a loud siren and flashy lights that went off throughout the whole ward.
You couldn't even walk back and forth in the room holding your baby, because it would go off if your baby got anywhere near the door.

Supposedly it was supposed to stop people from stealing babies, but as another poster said, all they'd have to do is take the "bassinet", too, which they would obviously do if they were trying to look inconspicuous.

[Juvysen]

Originally Posted by laughingfox

I went to visit a friend in a hospital once, and there was actually an alarm system to prevent you from carrying your baby into the hallway.

There was a sensor in the "bassinet" and another sensor in the baby's bracelet. If you got the baby near the door and the two sensors were not close enough together, there was a loud siren and flashy lights that went off throughout the whole ward.
You couldn't even walk back and forth in the room holding your baby, because it would go off if your baby got anywhere near the door.

Supposedly it was supposed to stop people from stealing babies, but as another poster said, all they'd have to do is take the "bassinet", too, which they would obviously do if they were trying to look inconspicuous.

They had a similar alarm system in the hospital I had DD in, except one of the alarms was on baby and the other was on mama... so baby couldn't go through the doors to the WARD (could go through the room doors) without Mama. I kinda liked that one, though. They did make you keep baby in the bassinette if you were in the hallway, though...

[Belle]

When I gave birth to my first 5 years ago, nobody batted an eye when my dh went down to the kitchenette carrying our dd. She didn't have a baby lo-jack on her either. They did cross check her bracelet with mine when we were discharged, but she had never left our room (without us, she did take a trip to the kitchenette with dh). We brought her back when she was less than a week old to get her hearing re-checked and nobody gave us any trouble.

[finn'smama]

Wow, that's crazy! i've never heard of that before...I had one baby in the hospital and just got up and left a few hours later. But i'm in Canada, and it was midwife attended, so I rarely laid eyes on the actual hospital staff.

[mntnmom]

When we had our second babe in hospital, they made us bring up the car seat and properly put DS in it. He was over 9 pds and 22" long, so we had it on the second shoulder height adjustment. The nurse made some comment about that not fitting newborns disassembled the whole seat to put it back on the bottom one. He was absolutely flabbergasted when it indeed didn't fit and he had to put it back the way we'd had it to begin with.

[notjustmamie]

When we left the hospital, we were informed that the hospital policy was that "baby can only be discharged in a carseat." I explained that our carseat was a convertible, and therefore not designed to be easily removable from the car (it took over an hour to get the stupid thing in there properly and safely), and asked what they do in that situation.

This was the same policy of the hospital where DD was born. They made us take the seat out and hold her on my lap in the huge convertible seat while the nurse wheeled us out in a wheelchair. Then we had to take DD out of the seat so DH could reinstall it. Sadly, I didn't know enough to argue about it.

[bjorker]

Originally Posted by Sweetiemommy

but when they came out to get us from the front desk, the nurse said, "do you have a baby carrier?" And I was like, umm, our arms??" And she explained that the hospital has a rule that new parents cannot carry their newborns in their arms, they have to have them in a carseat (bucket style).

I had dd in a hospital, and they had that rule. I didn't quite understand what the nurse was trying to tell me, so I carried dd out anyway, and somebody said something to me about it. Though I can't quite remember what happened from there, lol, I hardly remember anything from when dd was a newborn.