Visiting Labor & Delivery
©1992 Beth Weiss, Posted to misc.kids Usenet newsgroup, April 27, 1992
I was a month from my due date when I wrote this.
Saturday morning, I spent 4 hours at the hospital in the observation room of
Labor & Delivery. (I'm 6 1/2 months pregnant and was having sharp pains in
my upper abdomen--the baby's heartbeat is fine, I'm scheduled for more
tests--they think it's my gallbladder)
I just wanted to share some of what I observed--it was a very interesting
visit.
The nurse there was wonderful--answered questions, offered juice and crackers
(which I couldn't have because I have a 3 hour glucose test tomorrow morning),
chatted when she had time, etc.
The doctor on call was uncommunicative and almost unpleasant. (not my
regular OB) It's kind of scary to think I could end up with someone like
her delivering my baby.
In the time I was there, four different women came in who thought they were
in labor. One was, and she was moved into a labor room. (The
observation room was set up like an emergency room, with 6 little cubicles with
curtains) The other three were not in labor, and ended up going home.
I eavesdropped, and here's some of what I heard:
One was 3 centimeters dilated; she was there the longest. But, when
after walking around for an hour, she didn't show any signs of progressing, the
doctor told her to go home, but to come back if she felt it was necessary.
One of the women thought her water had broken, so they did an ultrasound, and
saw that there was still plenty of fluid there (she's having a boy--I heard the
doctor point out the scrotum and penis). She was very young and didn't
want the pictures the doctor offered her. They told her to go home and to
come back if her water did break, or if her contractions were 5 minutes or less
apart.
They had me hooked up to a monitor for a while, and it was much less
restrictive than I thought it would be. It was also very soothing to lay
there and listen to my baby's heartbeat and know that it's okay. I could easily
unplug it myself and get up and walk around--it didn't get in the way at all.
The one woman who was in labor wore her own nightgown. I'm going to go
out and buy one myself, I think. She said she bought it to preserve some
dignity. The hospital gown I was wearing was past ready to be torn up for
rags!
In the observation room at this particular hospital, they don't put an ID
bracelet on you. When the people from the lab came to take my blood, they
messed up and put the wrong tags on it (which extended my stay by about 2
hours). So, I'd recommend verifying whose blood they think they're drawing
before you let them take any. I did verify what tests they were doing, and
they were the tests I expected, so I assumed they had the name right, but they
didn't.
Anyway, it was an interesting experience--and gave me a more realistic view
of what happens when you go to the hospital before you're really in labor
(they're really nice to you, they talk to you, and send you home), what the
monitors are like (after they're on, hardly noticable), and what the lab is like
(unorganized) (but it wasn't the hospital I'll be delivering at).
Hope this was of interest to some other first-time pregnant couples....
              
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