MPLS mommys what hospital did you deliver at

[KAREBEAR]

Where you happy about your delivery, would you have changed anything?

My 2 children were born at 2 different MPLS hositals, ds#1 was at North Memorial, That delivery was a nightmare. I was 19 a single mom and didnt know what was going on, went in on a Saturday and didnt feel good the interns checked me and said i wasnt in labor and to go home and gave me some sleeping pills, from the exam it caused my water to leak out slowly and I had no clue what was going on so I thought it was urine that was leaking and then On a wed I woke up with really bad cramping pain, my mom said I was in labor and it would take several hrs to deliver so she went to work, well at 5 am I was getting contactions and called my doc which then said go to the hosp, he checked me and told me my water had broken and from the looks of it, it had been a few day, so from lack of sleep they gave me some pain meds and some stuff to make me sleep, then at around 12 pm they decied I needed to deliver since I was developing a fever at 1:50 pm my son was born and had to be taken to the NICU where he stayed for 9 days I was discharged in 2 days, my son got the group b strep from my water breaking and leaking out. I developed toxcimia during the delivery and after I was moved to my own private room I passed out, didnt get to see my son for 24 hrs, I was so scared for him. He is now 12 yrs old and is a healthy boy.


#2 ds's
I had a pretty nomal pregnancy up to the last 2 1/2 months I was put on bed rest cuz I had slightly elevated blood pressure and they didnt want me to develop preclampcia so 1 month before i was to deliver the hospital I was to deliver at said they would rather I deliver at a bigger hospital (I live out in the county and at Wyoming hospital it was a smaller hospital) so I had to find a doc to see at Fairview Riverside Hospital, found 1 and at our 1 apt with the new doc he said since my 1st baby was born big 9 lbs 8 1/2 oz that he wanted to schedule a induction, so we set up the apt for 11/5/01, that morning at 1:45 am my water broke we called the hosp and went in, I never started contractions enough to dialiate more then the 2-3 that I was when I came in, so at 8 am they started poticin (the evil drug) at 11:30 I was saying I coudlnt take any more pain so the doc gave me the epidural since I was now at 4 cm, that was wonderful I went to sleep for a few hrs then at 5 pm I was dialiated to 8 cm the doc said if I didnt get to 10 cm soon he would have to do a c-section which I didnt want, so lucky for me at around 7 pm I was at 10 but still had a little lip left so I just prayed to get it over and finally at 8 pm they checked me and said Now you can push and I pushed with the nurse and finally his head was crowning and then she tells me oh you have to stop pushing cuz the doc has to be in the room, OMG I felt like saying then hurry get him in this is killing me, well he got in the room and at 8:29 my son was born, at the last push he said push your hardest the babys heart beat is going down which scared the crap out of me, when he was out he had the cord wrapped around his neck and it seamed like forever before I hurd him cry, when I hurd it I started crying it was the best sound in the world, he weighted in at 9 lbs 6 oz 21 inches long. At the time it was a warm November so the hospital was so dang hot, the only thing that I wished was that we had bought a fan both me and dh was sweating our butts off, then the nurses were not much help with the breast feeding, he wouldnt latch on and when he did he didnt want to eat, the day before we left he was running a fever and they wanted to keep him in the hosp I was like oh no not again, I cant leave another baby in this hospital and go home. they did tests and he was fine they just kept both of his for 1 extra day, they figured it was from the heat in the hosp that he was running a fever and we had to give him some formula cuz he was starving and my milk didnt come in. We breastfed for 3 months, my milk supply was just not enough for him and we had to supplement with formula and I was pumping and it just wouldnt increase so I quit and went to formula.

Ok I think I typed a book, the next time I would like it if I could just have waited until I started contracting on my own I didnt like the piticin the contractions never slowly increased they just went bam and they were 1 on top of the other.

[TrishLynne]

I had my oldest at St. Mary's (which is now Fairview Riverside), and my second there as well (it had JUST switched over from being St. Mary's). I had my third at home, and my fourth at St. John's in Maplewood.

I don't think the hospital made much difference really. I had GREAT care providers, THAT made much more of a difference than which hospital. I just chose the hospital that my care providers worked out of.

My experience with the nurses at St. Mary's was very positive (I actually had the same labor nurse with my first two kids, I still remember her name).

My experience with the nurses at St. John's was fairly horrendous, but it just didn't matter too much. They're not the boss of me. :p My MW was great, I had the birth experience I wanted (well...a fully intact pelvis and less pain would have been nice, but that wasn't controllable), and I just ignored the irritating nurses (which INFURIATED them! LOL!).

[flutemandolin]

I had great experiences with all 3 of my children at the local hospitals in Chisago County. My first ds was born at the old Chisago City hospital, the other two at the new Fairview hospital in Wyoming. The OB nurses were great, didn't push for drugs or interventions too much, and were really supportive of breastfeeding. No formula samples! My family doc was great, but I don't think he's there anymore.:( Actually, I was living in a MPLS suburb when ds2 was born, but I drove all the way to Wyoming for appointments because I was so happy with the system there. I ended up waiting too long when labor started, racing up I 35 at 100+ mph (dh driving) and they met me at the door, wheeled me up to OB and I had ds2 five minutes later!:eek :D

[battymomma]

i delivered DD at Methodist and it was wonderful, esp b/c i had great nurses. i also loved the private room which was a given, as opposed to when i delivered DS at a hospital on Long Island and no one just got a single room! how nice to have that privacy!
i also had a great experience at Methodist 3 wks later when i drove to the ER at 3AM and found out my mystery pain was gall stones, that had been paining me for months! i brough DD with me, as she was 3 wks old and nursing and DH was home with DS (who was 2 at the time). they let her stay with me, actually ON ME, the whole time i was there, except when they had to do the procedure to dislodge the gall stone.
i really appreciate how family friendly they were!

[mamarsupial]

how odd. i JUST typed an email to another mama explaining what we liked about where we birthed - fairview riverside. here's a shortened version of what i wrote:

FAIRVIEW RIVERSIDE (with the women's center nurse midwives) i was induced with dd, but overall had a pretty good experience there. we went back because we liked most of the midwives and also felt like we knew what to expect there, for better or for worse. okay, here are the things we liked about fairview:

+ RESPECT: i was treated with respect by everyone (less one of the midwives, and one of the nurses). everyone was cool about having a doula there, and with dh participating a lot (a LOT), and treated both with equal respect. even though i was induced (because of pregnancy induced hypertension), the nurses and midwives read my birth plan and stuck to it with few exceptions.

+ MINIMAL MONITORING: i was externally monitored because of the induction, but was cut loose quite often to get in the shower or bath whenever i wanted...and when i was hooked up, things were moved around or disconnected as needed so i could be up on the birth ball, moving positions, etc. after a while, i forgot i was even being monitored.

+ PRO-SMELL! : our doula brought essential oils and used a lot of them (i'm a smell oriented person). the nurses were not only fine with all these smells, but actually commented how amazing our laboring space smelled (i think one said it smelled like an aveda salon! hee hee). after e was born, i had to pee, but was having problems...and believe it or not, the nurse brought in essential oils for me (i think it was eucalyptus or something which stimulates the urge to pee)

+ PRO-DOULA: our midwife actually asked our doula to put gloves on and get in with her when e was crowning, so that she (the doula) could do the ginger compress on the perinium (this is how well the cnm had read and taken in our birth plan!).

+ POST-DELIVERY MEDICAL STUFF (IN ROOM): we wanted dh to cut the cord and have e placed on my belly. this didn't happen because e was so floppy when she came out (i had a long labor and long set of pushing - 4 hrs). BUT, everything was ready IN the room to get her pink and breathing, so she never left our sight. after just a minute she was better, and they immediately put her in my arms.

+ PRO CO-SLEEPING (THE BIG BEDS): after e was born, we were moved to a room with a BIG bed...so that we all three could sleep together. there are only two rooms with big beds. we knew about them because my brother and sister in law birthed there. we added a request to our birth plan to be moved to one of these rooms asap after birth, and also reminded EVERY nurse who came on shift. it was SOOOOOO nice to be able to all three cuddle together (versus me trying to keep dd and i in a small hospital bed, with dh on the fold out cot 5 feet away).

+ WHAT NURSERY? (PRO-ROOMING-IN/PRO-VERNIX): there was never even a question that dd would stay in the room with us, both for us and for the staff. she only went to the nursery twice - once with dh and our moms about half an hour after she was born, for a few tests (related to her being floppy at birth). the second time was for her bath. we waited 24 hrs before her first bath to let the vernix soak in. the nurses were fine with this (they would ask 'when are you going to bathe her?', but were not at al pushy about it when we said we were waiting). we gave her a bath ourselves in the nursery (this time, we're going to do it in our own room...or even wait to do it at home, depending on how long we even stay at the hospital afterwards).

+ PRO-BREASTFEEDING: the lactation consultant i saw was awesome. she was VERY respectful, asking each time if she could touch dd and/or my breast when she was showing me how to get her latched on right. she was very positive and honest.

+ HOTEL FAIRVIEW - okay, many folks would want to grab the babe and head home. for us, staying there for a couple days was really nice. we nested in our little room (having the big bed was key) and had this quiet space all to ourselves. no dog to walk. no cats to feed. no dishes to wash. people brought us food and flowers. it was really nice. this time, we are heading home as soon as we can after the baby is born, only because we will be missing dd somethin' awful...and she can't sleep with us at the hospital. if she could, we'd prolly stay a couple nights there before coming home.

+ SITZ BATH: they have real sitz baths there...like little whirlpools for your tush. very nice after birth!


OK - what we didn't/don't like:

+ INDUCTION: being induced sucked...but even that was our choice in a way. we had the option of waiting, but i didn't want to risk more extreme interventions (like a c-section). we picked our battles and still had a wonderful, vaginal birth.

+ SOME OF THE MIDWIVES/NURSES: some of the midwives irked us...and still do. one in particular was highly medical (in a bad way) and very reactive. also, not knowing who would actually be on call when we were in labor. luckily, with ella, we got one of our favorite midwives. hopefully that will be the case this time. if not, we'll be asking to have the room to ourselves throughout much of the labor. one nurse ticked me off...but that was one out of at least a dozen who we met. the rest were great.

+ NO WATER BIRTH: but they do have big bath tubs in the rooms which you can labor in.

+ SIBLINGS: the fact that dd can't spend the night bugs me. grumble.

+ THE FOOD!

[Snow]

Oldest born at Fairview Southdale in Edina '88. emergency C section

Littlest born at Abbott NW in Mpls '99. planned C section

Liked Abbott better. We ended up being one of those very rare mama/baby pairs that has complications, and thank Maude, the staff at Abbott were all ready for it. They were calm, quiet, respected my wishes even when they went against the policy and knew their stuff. Saved us both literally, a couple times. Also the proximity to Childrens Hosp is extremely helpful & reassuring.

[kaje62]

had first at Abbott, c-section, he was breech. Even though the c-section was not what I wanted we loved
Abbott. loved the nurses, the ob's (woman's health consultants), and the anesthesiologists, and heck McDonalds came in handy too and it was comforting to be so near Childrens. They also let doula and dh be in the surgery and let doula take photos which is huge and were cooperative with our desires to sleep with babe etc.

since I am no longer working and we don't have Cadillac insurance anymore. we are now with midwives of Fairview Riverside and are planning a VBAC. I have several friends who have birthed there and liked it and a couple who did not so I am a bit apprehensive right now. I am struggling with the midwives who seem to be conservative and a bit negative but am trying to keep my inner strength cuz I believe that no matter what that is what gets us through.

today I am 10 days overdue. I will let you know my report on Fairview soon!!!

[annababy]

Hey - new member (well, lurker posting) here...

I had my first (and only thus far) at Fairview University. My pregnancy got rather complicated at the end, and my Doc ended up wanting to prep me for induction. Well, a few days before I was supposed to be induced, my water broke at home. Long story short - I never progressed, even with the loads of Pitocin that I was given because I wanted to try as long as they would let me for a 'natural' birth. I ended up having a C-section.
The night shift nurses there are what really made the difference. My husband and I have NO family anywhere near here, so us first-timers were flying solo all the way. I was so happy that the staff was more than supportive of my not wanting to use any suppliment (ie formula) and even more glad that they never tried to talk me out of having my daughter stay in the room even after the C-sect. In fact, they were really supportive of me just calling if I needed help in positioning, etc.
The only thing I wish I would have known - the BIG BED??? I thought we were lucky to get a real twin size bed for my husband (who was there the entire time, never left... poor guy).

be well.

anne

[4under6]

Had all three at Abbott.
Loved the nurses and staff.

[stargazer]

I had my ds at Long Prairie Hospital of all places. I lived in St. Paul at the time and puposefully chose Long Prairie to deliver our ds. They were able to take Health Partners which was great. The main reason I chose them was because they offer water births. I knew when I got pregnant I wanted to give birth in the water. I don't know why to this day, I never questioned it (I did the research of course) but it all made sense to me. I had a great experience at this hospital. They have two midwives on staff and they are in charge of all births except when there is a c-section needed which I am told is very rare. They were pro natural birth all the way. My dh and I used the Bradley method for birthing and they did not have a problem with that either. I would highly recommend them. I think the small town also made it great for us too. The two birthing rooms were very private and that was where you delivered and stayed the rest of the time. Also I very much enjoyed how my ds never left the room! Wow was that a blessing. There was no need to stand up for my desires to have as natural a birth process as possible bc that is what they believe too. One of my memories was when my ds was almost out. I felt my body start to want to push. I looked at my midwife and she said do you feel like pushing? I said yes and she said "do what your body is telling you to do". She didn't stop me and check me to make sure I was dialated enough she trusted my body and that in turn empowered me soooo much. I wish I could have our next child there but we live too far away now. I learned a lot though about the natural process of birth and to have confidence in myself and I think I will have a good experience the second time bc of it.
:)