Saturday, March 01, 2003
blogger down again, so lots of offline posting going on.
this morning we went to 2 hospitals. Frances Perry House at the RWH has a good rep – several friends have had babies there. it’s also my only option with neonatal intensive care onsite.
it was let down a lot by them having a part-time admin girl, who was very young and uncertain, do the tours. she really couldn’t answer my questions or give us a feel for how things would be in practice.
at the Freemason’s, there was a gang of us touring; very preg. women with kids. the nurse who did the tour was older, Irish and matter of fact, to the point of firmness.
the drawback there is the chance of being put over to the main campus, which I found way depressing, if I go in before the birth for some reason. also no neonatal icu, though there is a nursery for special needs babies. the whole feel was a bit more like an integrated unit. there are six delivery rooms and a theatre at the end of the hall; only one bath, but it was roomy. when I asked about moving around (beanbags etc) and baths, the nurse – a different one by then – asked if it was my first baby, and felt she had to mention that they did need to monitor the babies. she must have picked me for a hippy natural birth type. which I’m not really, but I do want something a bit less grim than my friend went through, in retrospect.
I also asked that nurse about the dr I have and the male dr I could get. she said he’s very good, but clearly has reservations about his bedside manner and how busy he is. I’ve seen him work, so I know about the former. she also said my dr is lovely – I said I knew that, it was more the practice I was concerned about – and she said I could have full confidence. so.
unless something dramatic strikes me at St V's on Tuesday night, I’ll stick with the dr I have and the Freemason’s.
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