Maternity Tour

Tonight Bryan and I got to tour the hospital's maternity ward.  What's really exciting about that is our hospital is only about two weeks old.  It literally JUST opened.  We started out in a classroom with about fifteen other couples.  While we were in there the woman giving our tour went over some basics:

• If you go into labor between the hours of 11pm-6am you have to go to the ER and they will let you up to labor and delivery.
• After delivery, Harper will be armed with an anti-theft leg band.
• Only Bryan and I have permission to be left alone with her while in the hospital.
• Vaginal delivery - 48 hour hospital stay; C-Section delivery - 72 hour hospital stay
• Bryan, Harper, and I will get digital hospital bracelets that can be scanned if we're going in or out of the maternity ward, which is locked at all times.
• Anyone who comes to visit us while we're in the hospital have to have their picture taken for a temporary hospital badge (it's a sticker with your face on it - pretty cool!)
• She also went over some vaccination options while we're in the hospital.

After our "classroom" session we were off on our tour.  First stop was the actual delivery room.  It was actually really nice and not typical to what you see on TV.  Color on the walls, nicely "decorated", very spacious room just for me to deliver the baby in.  If I deliver vaginally they'll take her over to the baby warmer (also in the room) to get her all cleaned up (they better not put sloppy, placenta-covered Harper on me.  Clean, shiney, baby-smelling Harper is more than welcome) and then we get to keep her in the room for the first hour.  After the hour is up, Bryan is allowed to go with her to the nursery to watch her get weighed, her first check up, and her first bath.  He's already been put in charge of photographing all of these events.  If for some reason I have to have a C-Section we'll only get to keep her in the room for 30 minutes and then she's off to the nursery.

We ended the tour by seeing the mommy & baby rooms.  That's where I'll go after giving birth.  Those rooms are really nice too.  Flat screen TV that is compatible with Playstation and XBox.  Who do you think loved that idea?  There was also a couch-bed and private bathroom with shower.  The woman told us that at the other hospital (where I would have had to deliver if this one hadn't opened) some women had to share their rooms with other women.  No thanks.

So that was pretty much it.  On the way out we grabbed paperwork so that we could preregister at the hospital.  It will definitely save us time when it counts!