Seewalds 42: Trying to Stay Relevant

[Flossie]

18 hours ago, Emma said:

Thirty years ago I checked into labor and delivery at the old (now long since closed) hospital for the birth of my second son. All the rooms were full so they put me in the janitor’s closet until a room opened up. Baby didn’t want to wait that long so was born in the janitor’s closet! The doctor just had time to put on her gloves and catch him. Everything went fine and this is one of his favorite stories. ?

You're kidding!  This is so similar to my own birth story, which took place in the '60's.  Mom never felt she was in labor, but she felt a lot of pressure and went to the hospital.  It was a busy night and all the regular rooms were full of 'truly' laboring women, so Mom was put in a linen closet with a student nurse and a nun (Catholic hospital).

Suddenly Mom told them, "The baby's coming NOW!"  She was right, I was crowning.  The nun grabbed a passing nurse and told her to take over while she went to get a doctor.  Unfortunately, the nurse was not trained in OB.  She was on loan from another ward and was functioning as a low level backup, fetching supplies and the like.  She took one look at my emerging head and tried to slow things down by shoving me back inside.  Mom screamed and suddenly had lots of medical help available.  

I still have a scar on my head from where one of the nurses' longish fingernails punctured my scalp.  Mom never knew about it until days later when they got me home.  She only got to see me during feeding times, I always had a hat on, and a nurse was there the whole time.  She was told it was because she needed her rest after such a trying delivery.

The hospital is still in business, but it closed down its OB and pediatric wards years ago.

[Sullie06]

I'm in upstate NY. Here if you are less then 20 weeks and have a non-pregnancy related issue you are treated in the ER. If you are having a pregnancy related issue they assess you and then send you to L&D. If you are more than 20 weeks and you check into the ER, they will send you to L&D. If you are in labor you go to Maternity Triage. You also go to Triage, to wait,  if you are having a scheduled CSection. I also always called my doctors on-call line anytime I had an issue and they advised me what to do. With Little Sullie 1, I fell down a flight of stairs at 31 weeks and called the doctor on the way to the hospital and they had me go right to L&D instead of checking into the ER and being sent upstairs on their time. 

[justoneoftwo]

I think a lot of the advice about where to check in has to do with check-in times. If you're going to take a long time to be seen in one spot my doctor will advise you to go to another.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

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