I'm pregnant for the first time though I also work in a hospital (though not the one I'll deliver in) and am familiar with hospital environments. I am interested in doing a birthing center tour - seems like the thing to do. But my husband doesn't see the point, though he's totally willing to go. Did you think it was helpful to tour your birthing center?
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Didn't do it and it wasn't an issue at all. We parked and followed the signs to L&D.
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We did it (although it was part of our parenting class we took) but I wouldn't have scheduled an independent tour, I know which hospital I wanted (only 2 to choose from in my city) and I had visited it enough times from friends/family delivering there. I had actually visited both and knew from those visits which one I wanted.
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Our hospital only does virtual tours for security reasons. Watching a video with 100 other people in the hospitals auditorium was not worth it to me, but because our hospital campus is so large, I was glad that I visited to get the lay of the land and figure out where we needed to go. It would have sucked to be arguing about which elevator to take in labor!
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Not necessary but it helped me to be able to envision what it was going to be like. Was also a good opportunity to ask questions.
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My freestanding birth center mandated a tour/orientation. It was fairly useful, since it's a pretty unique environment. I also toured the backup hospital, and found that tour pretty boring and uninformative. Most useful part was learning where to park and how to get to L&D.
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We had a tour scheduled but ended up having our baby before the tour. It didn't make a difference to us but we were a little familiar with the hospital from visiting friends there when they had babies. (The hospital we delivered at is just for OB/GYN stuff)
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We did it and it was helpful to know where to go and what to expect. With my second we didn't make it to our hospital in time so obviously no tour of the one I went to. I arrived by ambulance which was fine for me but DH wasn't at all familiar with the hospital and parked at the wrong entrance, had no idea where to go, almost missed the birth. So I say it's worthwhile!
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I liked taking the tour-- they were able to answer some questions and it gave us a good idea of what we can expect. That said, with my first we did not take a tour because we had planned to give birth at an independent birth center. We ended up transferring to hospital due to high bp, and it really didn't affect our experience that we hadn't toured.
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Yes, I liked taking a tour. It was helpful to hear about some of their policies and procedures for while we would be in labor.
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I found the tour helpful since I didn't know anything about how the hospital or procedures. Taking the tour allowed me to voice my birthing desires from a place of knowledge.
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I liked it and needed it! As a first time mom I felt more prepared knowing where to park, where to go, what the rooms looked like, etc.
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We didn't exactly..... but a little past 20 weeks I experienced some abdominal pain, and went to emergency. THey sent us over to the childrens/Womens hospital and we went though the building to get checked out.
We took parenting classes, and one was at the hospital so people could get pre registered to make delivery day easier. But there was no tour. -
I took one and it was fine but it was definitely not a necessity.
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i didn't do it at either hospital I delivered at... I just asked where to go when I was in labor!
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I did it, and it was useful. I delivered at a downtown hospital that's busy with tons of traffic around, and parking nightmares. It made us a lot less anxious to know the best entrance, how parking worked, which doors were locked after a certain point in the evening, and where to go once inside. It was also nice to see the rooms and know what to expect in general.
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I was hospitalized and put on hospital bed rest at 28 weeks so I didn't have an official hospital tour. The nurses did give me a tour when I asked.
I didn't have any issues with the hospital. I was pretty much go with the flow and only had a few items on my birth plan, which couldn't follow due to me having premature twins. All was good, no regrets.
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@Mrs. Beemer: It was fun and a highlight of our prep. Totally unnecessary but very settling and I'm glad we did it.
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I liked the tour, it helped to visualize where we would be for the birth. It was included as part of our birth class at the hospital. I remember seeing a mom in the waiting room in labor, and the birth class teacher was like, she'll be going home! ha! It was a good indicator at least that that wasn't what it's-time-for-the-hospital labor looks like
My hospital has two maternity floors, one is newer and much nicer so on the tour they're only allowed to show the older floor! So when we ended up on the newer floor I knew how good we had it!
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I didn't do one with either pregnancy (different hospitals). For my first, I had planned one, but then was hospitalized for preterm labor at 30w, so didn't need one. With my second, I didn't think it was all that important, even though it was at a different hospital.
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@Mrs. Beemer: we took a childbirth class at my hospital which introduced us to the hospital policy. It is good to know how the hospital deals with procedures and their policies so you know what to expect during labor. For example their rate of episiotomies, if they allow food, visitor policy, if they let you walk, and their c-section / induction rate.
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I did and it did make me feel better to know where to go and everything. But, the main reason we took it is because I had a lot of anxiety about people that I didn't want coming into the delivery room. It helped to assure me that no one could just come back if I didn't want them too.
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We did an in person tour and it was so helpful to me. I like to know as much in advance as I can and it helped us be prepared.
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We didn't do it. We went to L&D a few times for other health situations and while we never needed to go past triage and thus was never admitted, that was enough for us to know where to park and how to sign in. I ended up staying in the hospital for a week and had to truck through the L&D ward, the OR for my emergency C-section, the NICU, and mother/baby recovery ward (all on different floors) it was a non-issue.
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Have your husband do it. I can't believe I ever forgave mine for ditching ours. He parked on the wrong side of the hospital, couldn't find a wheel chair, and then we did one of those movie scenes where the woman is crowning as she's being pushed in a wheel chair through the hospital. Granted that was my second birth and that's unlikely with your first.
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@petitenoisette: so true. I listen to hypnobirth tapes nightly and immediately imagine myself in the L&D room from the tour.
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We did it with our first. Husband should def pay more attention.
We didn't with second bc it was same hospital just three years later. Well, we had a really fast birth where my water broke in the lobby (but we were in wrong lobby), hubby parked on wrong level and he had to go move the car during delivery, etc etc.
If the hospital is big and complicated, I would do a tour.
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We did it. We were also able to fill in some paperwork ahead of time which was great. DH liked that he knew exactly where to go and what to expect, although I'm sure we could have figured that out.
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I did it both times (different hospitals), but could have done without. The most important thing for me was to know exactly how to get to L&D. The first time it was useful. The second time I took an ambulance so they wheeled me to L&D and I didn't have to think about it.
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We never got around to it and it was fine. But my OB is in the Women's Hospital so I was kind of familiar with the area anyway. I did get sent down at 36 weeks for a NST because my blood pressure was high so I did get a little mini tour of the area.
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It was an absolute must on my end. I needed to see everything before I got there to give me piece of mind.
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Interesting, you learn what to expect which for me is calming, especially because I had a couple health issues pop up my second pregnancy and I wanted to ask a couple relevant questions. But not necessary at all.
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I did for my first and it was super helpful. I didn't for my second (different hospital) but I had been there so many times for monitoring (OB is in the exact same building as the hospital) plus my DH now works at this second hospital so he knew the ropes of where to go.
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I told my husband that it was completely his responsibility to get me to L&D in the most direct way possible. If he could figure that out from the website, so be it. But I warned him that if I was in labor and we showed up and he didn't know where to go and we had to walk all over the hospital, I would be pissed. He then chose to do a tour.
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It was helpful so we knew where to go and where to check in and what to do if we have to go after hours (different entrance) . But i think we would've figured it out without the tour, eventually.
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We did it with #1 and it helped. We did not do one with #2 (different hospital--we moved) and it probably would have been wise. We had been to that hospital building for other surgeries. It was fine though. Information told us what floor and which elevator to take and they let us double park since I was in so much pain. DH moved the car after I was in triage.
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I thought the tour was interesting and useful, I'd think as a first time mom you'd interested. But it's not necessary, you will eventually figure out or be told everything they go over on the tour.
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I didn't do it and had no problem finding my way to L&D when the time came. I didn't see the point in it to be honest. There's always someone around at a hospital to point you in the right direction. I would have found it more helpful to do tours before I decided where I was going to deliver so I could comparison shop.
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