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Yep, I wasn't a fan of my second delivery nurse (I was there for 2 shifts) but everyone else was amazing! The food, the room, the NICU doctors, ect. were great to us.

Yepp- I had 2 VERY positive hospital births. Wouldn't want it any other way.

Yes! With DS, one of the nurses copped an attitude with me for choosing to put him in the nursery for the night. Other than her it was great. With DD, the LC(I believe she was the head one) made a comment I was offended by. But other than her, it was good

Yes and no. I didn't care for the L&D nurses. I felt they didn't give me the support and instruction that I needed. The OB and c-section nurses and staff and postpartum nurses and staff were awesome. The L&D room was great but PP was tiny and shared and crowded. All in all, it was what it was.

I did for sure. Besides arriving and not having a room right away, and the anesthesiologist not being available when I asked for an epidural (which turned out to be a blessing because I had hoped to avoid it, and LO was born within the hour of asking) it was totally fine. I'm from a fairly "hippie" province, so our hospitals are likely more similar to birthing centers than some hospitals I hear about. They had a tub available to labour in, and I had a lovely private ocean view room that had a bed available for DH, and plenty of room for visitors. Intervention free birth is encouraged, and labour/delivery/recovery were all in the same space. The room looked very homey as all the medical equipment is hidden behind cabinets until it's needed, and then put away once the baby is born. Delayed cord clamping and immediate skin to skin are the standard. Afterwards, rooming in and exclusive breast feeding was encouraged, and a couple different LC's were sent to my room to help at no added cost. Nurses came maybe twice a day to do their thing, otherwise they stayed out unless you called for them, so it was very peaceful. My nurses were all seemingly very kind.

Mostly. Labour and delivery went really really well. I got great support and advice whilst deciding whether to get the epi (I got it!) and I attribute being able to push her out in 45mins with no tearing to the amazing midwives that delivered her I had to stay in overnight though because of an infection and the discharge process took sooo long, it was really frustrating as I just wanted to get home. Also whilst I did get a lot of help with BF from the midwives, there was some "help" which wasn't helpful at all--there was this one lady who kept trying to get LO to feed in a position I wasn't comfortable with at all and also when I got her up during the night to feed, there was often no one to help me.

YES

Yes, aside from on OB in triage that I didn't care for. The nurses and LCs were a huge help.

Yes! I had such a good experience and am happy to be delivering at that hospital again.

Even the food was good, and I'm picky!

@locavore_mama: why did you hate the LC? I don't remember this story..

I loved the hospital and the nurses were really nice, but the NICU nurse we met was the most helpful nurse ever!! We loved her!!

I would probably give our experience a B or B+. I think the issues I had were mostly due to the fact that they randomly were pretty much at capacity for births that day, somehow. I was in triage for almost 8 hours because there were no rooms. I stayed there until my water broke. But our nurse there was great and I didn't mind. Our nurse in L&D was NOT great. She seemed frazzled and annoyed at the number of babies I guess? She was also at the end of her shift. She would act annoyed when we'd buzz her to come in, and DH had to go get her a few times. An hour or two before LO was born we had a shift change and the new nurse (same name as the first one- if I liked it it may have been part of LO's name haha) was AWESOME and made such a difference!!! I know it helped me avoid a c-section.

In recovery we had the same issue- not feeling like nurses were acting ffast when we needed them (you know how you feel when your baby is coughing on amniotic fluid and you think they are DYING and the nurse slowly walks in like no big deal? OMG.) I also felt like the LC's were in short supply and I got not enough help at all, which set me up for failure on our BF experience. (I was told "OH SHES GREAT, GREAT LATCH" and turns out it was NOT, and she wasn't getting anyting, and practically didn't eat for 3 days.)

Besides the issues with the slow/annoyed nurses and lacking LC staff, it was AMAZING. Food was great and cheap, quality of non-annoyed nurses were EXCELLENT, and there were great accomodations for DH. I definitely plan to deliver there again.

Yes! The actual birth didn't go the way I hoped (just because of back labour/48 hours of contractions), but the actual hospital experience was great. I loved the nurses - especially the one who 'caught' LO because neither the OB or the midwife could get to the room fast enough.

Yes, very positive. The only complaint was the first nurse who was on duty when I got there. She was definitely feeling over the whole being kind to people in pain thing. She just wanted to finish her shift. Everything else went perfectly and I was very pleased. It was much calmer than I expected it all to be.

An absolutely positive experience even though I was induced somewhat unexpectedly 2 weeks before my due date. The staff was wonderful throughout and we have already said that we are sad that we might be moving before we have baby #2!

Yes. I had a great labor and delivery experience with LO and the hospital. Once I was admitted, the nurses were great in triage. They checked me and got me ready for an epidural before being taken to a labor & delivery room.

The nurses during labor & delivery were awesome. They were so nice and helpful. I had a set of nurses while laboring and then the shift change happened. I had a new nurse who helped with immediate pp. I still remember how nice they were for those 10 or so hours. They were prepared for the worst, but LO arrived in a normal birth scenario. I think it helped that I was given advice to be flexible and not have high expectations of a perfect birth experience. It made the whole thing go smoothly.

I hated my pp nurses since we were newbie parents totally deer in headlights, changing diapers, paperwork, etc. DH got so stressed that he ended up in the emergency room after I gave birth. They weren't helpful to him, but focused on LO and myself. Even then, I wasn't too fond of them.

If I give birth there again, I'm hoping that pp nurses are nicer. It'll help that we'll be experienced parents by that point. I also will have a ton of food and drinks for DH to get through the night.

Yup, it was wonderful. In fact, I loved my L&D nurses so much that I wrote a letter to the L&D nurse manager, who emailed me back and said that she was placing my letter in their personnel files. They were amazing. I really wanted to go med-free, but after 17 hours of labor with zero progress (was STILL at 2cm!) and 30 hours of no sleep, I needed the epidural to help me sleep. I agonized over the decision, and my nurses just sat there and let me cry and encouraged me that whatever decision I made would be the right decision for me and baby. They were incredible. I still get all verklempt just thinking about it.

My only issue was that my epi actually fell out, and when the anesthesiologist re-placed it, it didn't take. But it actually made it so that I was able to feel the contractions and push when I needed to, so...blessing in disguise, I guess?

For the first one - ABSOLUTELY.
For the 2nd one - Not really.

It all depends on the nurses, seriously!! They can make or break the experience. I had smooth labors and my 2nd labor was faster than my first, but the experience was still unpleasant because of an incompetent nurse.

not with charlie.... labor ward was overcrowded with a record number of women in labor so i had to wait a long long time for my epidural and the staff was so rude. also had a horrible labor nurse.

i had olive there too, but had a great experience the second time around! amazing doctors and nurses too!

@Mrs. Bee: I had a friend who had to wait while in labor in the reception room of triage before being looked at. When I told her it was empty for LO's birth, she was jealous. I still remember how she talked about laboring in a full reception room. Her first was born in July which is one of the busiest birth months in that hospital.