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The thought of leaving her familiar office and staff to have my baby at the local hospital was a daunting thought. A myriad of questions went running through my head like, "will anyone speak English?" and "will they respect my birth plan?" and all the millions of "what-ifs" that could happen. So I found out there was an English tour of the hospital that was sponsored by the Army Community Service women and I was super excited, although, I honestly didn't expect much.
We arrived and congregated in the lobby of the hospital Wednesday evening. I'm sure people were wondering why all the English speaking pregnant ladies were hanging around- I'm sure they assumed we'd been told there would be free chocolate tastings or something. Ha. A sight we were.
The tour started with the head of the Obstetrics Department giving us a lovely powerpoint presentation. His English was pretty good, except for a few mispronunciations which I could barely contain my giggles over. My favorite was the "bath tube" that you can use to relax in. I may never call it a bathtub again!
He quickly gained my trust and attention when he stated, "this is your birth, we are merely here to guide you through it" repeatedly in the first 5 minutes of his talk. My comfort level went through the roof and my stress melted away. He explained that that have a group of midwives that run things for the majority of the birthing process. They have a birthing tub you can use for relaxing and pain management, or if you are interested it can be used to have the baby. He did mention that he thinks it's tough to have the baby in the tub they have, but it had just been done the previous weekend by a tough mama. Awesome. Speaking of pain management, they can use acupuncture for you instead of diving right into an epidural. Score!
They do have an operating room right next to the birthing rooms in case of emergency and there is also a NICU right down the hall if baby needs some extra TLC after birth. Everything was clean and calm and very comforting, which I found slightly odd since we were in a hospital.
The hospital rooms were neat and tidy and had a decent amount of room. The dads are more than welcome to stay overnight just as long as your (possible) roommate is ok with that. Roommate be damned, my baby daddy is sticking around! ;)
Overall I was really pleased with the tour we got and all of the lovely information. I am certain this is going to be a great experience come January!
What was your first birth experience like? Were you happy with it, or did you want it to go a different way?
