Hospital Delivery? A few things to consider when choosing your hospital...

An excerpt from Penny Simkin's book:
Each hospital varies in the services they offer, staff's attitudes toward patients, and their philosophy of care. If you have a choice it's best to learn about several hospitals and choose one that best meets your needs.

Some questions you may want to ask:
-Does the hospital offer maternity and neonatal service to both low-risk and high-risk obstetrical patients?
-Is the hospital family-centered? Can your husband or partner stay the night with you or will they be expected to leave for the evening?
-Can your baby stay the night in the room with you?
-Does the hospital have a Labour, Delivery and Postpartum (LDRP) set-up where birthing and postpartum care takes place all in one room? Or do you deliver your baby in one room and move to a communal recovery room?
-Is the environment non-institutional, clean, and comfortable in feel? You can take a tour to establish your own opinion.
-Do you have access to a private shower and/or jacuzzi tub for labour?

Vancouver has many great hospitals to choose from. I was torn between BC Women's and St. Paul's. BC Women's takes care of the entire provinces high risk deliveries so I was worried about the environment being overly stressful. Not to mention... what if they didn't have a room for me once I arrived. So in the end I chose Saint Paul's Hospital because of their family-centered approach, LDRP rooms w/ private jacuzzi tubs, and low stress environment. If I were to make this decision again I would choose Women's Hospital. The staff at St. Paul's were nice enough. However when we arrived at the hospital the hot water for the jacuzzi tubs wasn't working. Apparently this happens all the time. With my injured hip I REALLY needed that tub. Not to mention I was glued to my hot water bottles. It felt like a very painful eternity before the hot water system was fixed. Also they had no ice-cube machines! Ice chips are a must for a labouring woman. My room was alright. But I would have really liked a room with a window. Something I most likely could have had at Women's. Oh well. In the end Spencer came into this world healthy and strong. We arrived at St. Paul's by 3:00am Spencer was born by 8:55am the following morning and we left the hospital by 4:30pm the same day!