A Statue Turned its Head

I was very apprehensive but stared thinking of ways to make it better right from the start. Right away I decided that I wanted to use a doula and so started looking in to hiring one. I also had no idea how to find a good doctor, so I figured that a doula might be a good source, and so I combined my search with asking for recommendations. I found my clinic, which I still really like, and started to feel a bit better about things.

I don't know many people here, much less people who have had children recently, so I didn't really have anyone to ask "what's it like in Edmonton hospitals?"

When I was about four months along, my bra started being too uncomfortable to wear, so I went to buy a maternity/nursing bra. Somehow I got into a conversation with the saleslady about which hospital I was going to deliver at, and she mentioned that she'd had her son at the same one not that long ago. I jumped at the chance to find out a bit more about it from someone who'd actually delivered there.

What she told me was not reassuring.

When she went there to have her son it was really, really crowded. A few women had to labor in the halls because all the birthing units were in use. Things were going a little slowly for her, and so she gave into pressure and accepted pitocin to speed her labor up. She now believes that one of the main reasons they pressured her to have it was because they needed her to deliver so that they could put someone else in the room.

Because the pitocin made the pain so much worse, she ended up getting an epidural as well. She now blames the chemicals pumped into her for the fact that her son had to spend time in the NICU right after birth. She's determined to have a midwife for her next child.

Whether the drugs really were at fault or her son would have ended up with problems anyway, the image she painted of the busy, crowded ward haunt me.

To put it quite plainly, she scared the crap out of me.

I've asked other people about it since then, and they have confirmed that it does get that busy sometimes, but other times it can be really quiet. I guess it will just be luck of the draw how it is when I go in. I'd also had some other questions answered about hospital policy and such, but hearsay wasn't quite doing it. I wanted to see things for myself.

And so we come to last Saturday when I finally got to go to the hospital and learn what the actual policies are. It wasn't nearly so bad as I'd feared. I'm feeling better now.

The nurse who lead things started out by showing a video on car seat safety which failed to impress me. The information seemed rather out of date. She also said that the salespeople in the stores would be a good resource for helping us choose a car seat. Considering some of the misinformation I've been given by baby store salespeople, I was not impressed.

Things got better from there.

Several of my main concerns were addressed right away. She explained that once you got to the hospital, for a normal labor and delivery you stayed in the same room from the time you got there until about an hour postpartum. You would not actually have to stay in the room, much less in bed. Changing positions frequently, sitting in the shower, and walking in the halls would be encouraged unless you had an epidural.

After the birth, both mother and baby stay in the birth unit for an hour or so in order for the nurses to be able to keep a better eye on them. The mother would be encouraged to try breastfeeding during this time. After the hour, the mother would be put in a wheelchair and the baby placed in her arms. Together they would be taken down a floor to the room they would stay in for the rest of the time. Then it was hospital policy for the baby to be taken to the nursery for a bath and the normal tests, but that the father or support person was encouraged to come with the baby and stay for all the routine procedures while the mother rested.

I asked if the mom could go along too, and she said that they preferred for the mother to stay and rest, but if she really wanted to and felt up to it she could come to the nursery as well. She said that unless there was a medical emergency, the baby never had to be taken from my sight if I didn't want it to be. How emphatically she said that relieved a lot of my concerns.

Right now, I don't think that I'd want my baby taken from me at all that soon, and so I imagine that I would insist on going along too. But I'm feeling good now as I write this. Who knows how I'll feel on the issue when I've just given birth.

Rooming in is the policy at the hospital, and the nursery is very small. Babies are only kept in the nursery for the short time it takes to do the bath and stuff unless there is a complication with the mother that prevents her from having the baby right away (like general anesthesia) or she requests that her baby be taken. Even after a c-section, rooming in is the default option, though she said that it was a good idea to have a family member or someone there to help you as much as possible after a c-section as moving around was sometimes difficult and emphasized that the nurses would be more than happy to take the baby at your request (bringing it back in a few hours for the next feeding) if you felt you needed some time on your own to sleep and recuperate.

It is the policy of the hospital not to give the baby formula but to encourage breastfeeding. The nurse said that the only time the baby would be given something was if he/she was suffering from low blood sugar and they couldn't get him/her to nurse right away. Even then, she talked about the danger of nipple confusion and said that the baby would be fed from a spoon or cup, not a bottle.

Hospital policy is that the mother can't eat until after the baby is born, but it does allow water, juice, and popsicles or lollipops. She said that it really depended on which nurse you had though as many would fudge on that rule and let you eat if you wanted so long as things were going well. The exception is that once you've had an epidural, they won't allow you to have anything but ice chips – if they even allow that.

Yet another reason I want to avoid the epidural – they don't do walking epidurals here. I'm not sure why not, but I know that they are not done widely in Canada, and not done in Edmonton at all.

With an epidural here comes a catheter and an IV and an order of "nothing by mouth," though if you are lucky you might be allowed ice chips.

Once the epidural is in, they encourage you to shift positions in bed frequently, but there is no way they will let you out of that bed.

They do have a single Jacuzzi tub, but it's on another floor, and they won't let you in it once your membranes have ruptured because of fear of increased risk of infection. It sounds like they are really firm on this policy and that it has never been broken, but I intend to look into it more and maybe try to convince them to make an exception. I can't help but think that the risk can't really be that much considering how many hospitals and birth centers now allow women to stay in tubs throughout their entire labor. I haven't found any studies specifically dealing with the risk of infection in water, but the water birth sites all cite studies which show that the risk of a water birth for a low risk woman is no greater than the risk of a normal birth, and generally in a waterbirth the woman has been in the water for a good portion of her labor.

I don't know that I'd actually use the tub if it were available since I am sure that labor will make me sick to my stomach (everything else does, so why shouldn't it?) and I can't stand the slight movement of water in a tub when I am feeling ill. I also know that being in the water doesn’t help every woman, but I've read so many stories and posts by women who have said that the instant they got in the water the pain just melted away that I really want it to at least be an option for me.

My only other real concern now is the possibility that it will be crowded there when I go into labor. It was quiet on the day of the tour, but they do get really, really busy at times. It all depends on the day. Also, while the birth units are all private, they only have a limited number of private rooms for postpartum, and it's first come first serve. I really don't want to have to share.

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