Maternity Tour (Part 1)

5 minutes ago I've typed up a long post but the IE crashed while I was almost finished. Well, needless to say, the whole post was gone because I didn't save. Eeee ... so geram, first time kena.

The maternity tour was great. We learnt a whole of the hospital policy and procedures. The tour was almost 2 hours long. Started with a briefing session in the education department. They served some cookies, tea and coffee. Each participant were given some free flyers, magazines and a bag of goodies [pictures will come later, it has two sample newborn huggies diapers and wipes, a sample of johnson johnson lotion, an application of balmex for diaper rash].

There were only 7 expecting mothers, two of them without their significant others. The briefing started 5 minutes past 12. First a doula representing Doula of the South Bay a short presentation about their services. [I will blog about what is a doule in a future blog] Miss Patty Nugent then continue the briefing about the hospital's policy and procedures. She highly recommends for us register or fill up the admission form prior to the due date, preferably by the end of the 6th month of the pregnancy. This avoid the need to do all the paperwork when we come in for labor as the record will be already in their system. A lot easier and less stressful.

These are some of the hospital policies for labor and delivery patients:

1. There are 4 ID tags with the ID number and the mother's last name. The baby will have 1 tag on his ankle and one on his wrist. The mother will have one on her wrist and another person (husband or someone else [there is possibility of single mother giving birth]) will have the 4th tag.

2. Nursery nurses will have a PINK name tage. Do not allow any other nurses without the PINK tag to take your baby away from your room.

3. Each baby will have a security chip secured with a fabric band just right above the socks. The chip will alert the nurse station/nursery when someone with your baby tries to leave the labor, delivery and postpartum area or getting into the elevator. It will also sounds the alarm when the chip is being removed or fell off from the band. [Not sure if they have this security system in Malaysia. I remember reading the Online Stars that a baby in Kedah was taken away from the hospital without anyone's knowing. So by implementing this system, it will avoid unneccessary worry of the mother.]

4. Husband or the significant other will be allowed to room in with the mother on the convertible couch.

5. Baby will room in with the mother after a normal vaginal birth. The baby can be moved to nursery if the mother needs rest. Mother who delivers by C-section will have the baby taken care of in the nursery for the first day or two, or until the doctor confirms the mother's ability to care for the baby.

6. Video taping and photography will be allowed during the labor and delivery with the doctor's consent.

7. Under the state law, a car seat must be installed to bring the baby home safely. [everything else you can wait for the baby's arrival before purchasing but not the car seat]

After the briefing, Miss Nugent showed us a short video clip on Anesthesia and Analgesia. It was only 10 minutes long. It showed the options of different type of pain medication available on request. After the video, we had 5 minutes break - bathroom time.

We started off the tour walking from the education department to the emergency entrance. [It was very tiring for me, DH told me by the time we got to the emergency entrance, my face was red just like the moment I've just finished a glass of wine.] If we need to come in to the hospital between the time of 9pm and 5am, we have to use the emergency room entrance because that is the only entrance that remains open during this time period. We are supposed to inform the person behind the desk that we are there for labor and delivery. [We will not be delivering the baby in the emergency room. Just use the entrance to get inside.] If neccessary a wheel chair will be available and the nurse will take us up to the third floor where the labor and delivery area is located.