[Previous entry: "Balance"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Practicing Punctual Perinatologists"]
05/26/2002 Archived Entry: "Touring Hospitals"
Last weekend Geoff & I took the maternity ward tour at Reston Hospital, in Northern VA. Today we went on a similar tour at Sibley Memorial in DC.
Of the two, I much prefer Sibley. The facilities are much more modern; I could picture myself delivering there. The woman giving the tour was not shocked when I asked about intensive neonatal care & respirators for babies who will be transferred to Children's Hospital. (The Reston nurse couldn't get over how calmly I asked the questions. And she really couldn't answer them. And the maternity ward nurses were unfriendly.) Sibley has a neonatalist *in house* 24 hours -- not just on-call. So no matter whether my delivery is scheduled or spontaneous, someone WOULD be in the room during delivery to get her stabilized as quickly as possible.
The idea of transporting her is still scary, but that's something that Geoff & I talked to Rhonda about last week. The transport team would come from Children's, and they are very experienced at moving infants with respiratory problems.
We still are going to tour Fairfax Hospital and Georgetown, but if we chose to go to either of those places, we might not be able to transfer the baby to Children's after birth. Fairfax and Georgetown both have extensive NICU facilities, and may wish to take over the management of my pregnancy themselves.
Our focus will always be on what's best for the baby. But I already know & trust the dr's at Children's Hospital -- and that goes a long way.