Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Jan
18
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“Wake Up, I Need To Check Your Incision.”
“Wake up, I need to check your incision.” – Postpartum nurse, at 1:00 am, to a critically ill mother who had *NOT* had a cesarean section.
There are 46 comments to this post.
So many things wrong with this!
I swear, nurses woke me up more than my babies ever did that first night in the hospital. Seriously, what medical reason is there for you to wake me up at 3am to get my blood pressure?
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Stephanie Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 3:09 pm (Quote)
Same here. I wasn’t having trouble or anything, but I was furious when a nurse woke me at 3 am because she wanted some paperwork done. I still don’t know what that paperwork was because my husband shooed her away, and the paperwork didn’t come back at a later point.
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Amanda Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 3:10 pm (Quote)
No kidding. Unless there is some actual medical reason to check blood pressure and take blood at 4am, can’t it wait until the sun is up?! I know your shift just started and all, but I’m freaking asleep.
If someone woke me up when I was critically ill to do something that wasn’t supposed to be done, I would be livid. Sorry, OP!
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Nica Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 3:31 pm (Quote)
Same here. The first and only time I was ever hospitalized was for the birth of DS. It was, BY FAR, the least restful place I have ever been in my life. I had a completely uneventful vaginal birth and the nurses came in every four hours to “check my vitals.” Ummmm, why? When I asked, I was told “it’s hospital procedure,” which is basically a non-answer in my book. 48 hours could not pass quickly enough. I was much happier at home.
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Jewels Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 6:14 pm (Quote)
Lucky! One of the nights while I was at hospital after my sons birth, they woke me up every HOUR! “Wake up, you have to feed your baby in an hour”, “Wake up, you have to feed your baby now”, “Wake up, we need to do a blood test”, “Wake up we need to give the baby antibiotics” “Wake up, you have to feed the baby in an hour”… ALL NIGHT!
Due to a combination of roadworks outside my house, labour & hospital “care”, the night of being woken up every hour marked a week since my last full night’s sleep. The next day my mother in law rang & asked if I was “having a nice holiday?” & told me to “enjoy [my] rest!”. I… ju… what?
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Tee Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 6:27 pm (Quote)
This is not childbirth related but your story gave me a flashback to one of my hospital visits. (Chronic kidney stones.) The nurses did the same thing… woke me up every freaking hour for one thing or another… and I was on the verge of losing it! My Mom had stayed the night at the hospital with me and she finally told the nurses in no uncertain terms that they needed to leave and not come back until seven in the morning. (shift change) That was somewhere around four in the morning.
The nurses honored her request and I finally fell asleep. And then at six o’clock in the morning, the housekeeper came in and flipped on the light so she could empty the trash can. I woke up and started screaming at this poor woman at the top of my lungs. Then of course I felt horrible for screaming at her when she was just doing her job, but seriously? Enough already!
And yes, I apologized to the housekeeper. And then I called as high up the food chain as I could and not so politely told them what I thought of their policies.
Did you silently call your mother in law ugly names because I probably would have!
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Jewels Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 6:49 pm (Quote)
HAHAHAHAHA!
Oh man, I probably would have screamed at the poor housekeeper too! That was the one thing our hospital did well – the bin was kept near the door & between the door & the rest of the room there was a curtain, so if we didn’t want to be disturbed, we could close the curtain & the cleaner didn’t have to disturb us.
And yes, I definitely did! People in the room when I hung up copped a rant about her, haha! Normally we get along great though!
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Tee Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 6:59 pm (Quote)
I’m one of those people that feel very strongly that you shouldn’t take your anger out on the wrong person. It wasn’t the housekeeper’s fault, you know? I didn’t have the right to yell at her. Although to this day, I have yet to figure out why she had to turn the light on. When you opened the door, there was plenty enough light from the hallway for her to see what she was doing.
Your mother in law surely didn’t mean to sound as silly as she did! I’m glad you have a good relationship with her!
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Jewels Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 11:10 pm (Quote)
Oh me too, that’s what I meant, that anyone would have yelled at her after that, even though she didn’t deserve it!
And yes, she meant well, but at that point I was starting to wonder if she’d actually listened to anything I’d told her when she asked how we were, haha!
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I was on hospital bedrest for the final 3 weeks of my twin pregnancy. I was to have 1 hour of fetal monitoring per shift and vitals twice per shift. The night nurses were great about coming in right away at the 11:00 shift change to do my monitoring, and then waiting until after 6:00 to do the second vitals. Except for Nurse Chatty. She’d do all her other work, then show up around 1 or 2, plop down on my bed and talk through the whole hour. It got so bad, if no one had come in by 11:15 I’d hook myself up to the monitor and just hand her the strip when she came in.
Every time she worked she’d say how surprised she was that they hadn’t sectioned me yet. I’d explain that I was NOT going to have a section unless absolutely necessary and even went so far as to show her the HYPITAT study about the much greater surgical risk to PE women. It didn’t sink in.
A few hours after the twins were born, I got very sick. Things were very scary for about 24 hours. I had finally started to recover but was still not well enough even to sit up yet. I had nursed both twins sidelying and was sleeping again when Nurse Chatty woke me up to “check my incision” at 1:00am. I was like, what incision, I didn’t have a section. She said, “Yes you did, you had twins, remember?” She pulled my gown up, and I said, “Does that look like an incision to you?” It was the only time in three weeks she was speechless.
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Nica Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 3:32 pm (Quote)
Sounds like this nurse needed a big ol’ dose of STFU.
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JoAnna Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 3:38 pm (Quote)
I’m sorry you had a difficult experience after birth, but I’m glad you and the twins are okay (and kudos on the vaginal delivery)!
Did you ever report the nurse to her supervisor or anything? I hope she at least learned from the experience, ugh.
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j_holmes09 Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 4:11 pm (Quote)
Have you posted about this before because I remember reading this before
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Jen Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 4:29 pm (Quote)
Yes, I think I mentioned it in a comment on someone else’s submission.
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j_holmes09 Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 5:22 pm (Quote)
Just making sure i wasn’t going crazy….I’m currently 6 months with my own set of twins so that was an option…lol
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StaudtCJ Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 8:40 pm (Quote)
I’m sorry that the nurse didn’t listen, and that she didn’t respect your bodily autonomy. Why do these people think they can just remove clothing, grab you, and tell you what to do?
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Tee Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 9:06 pm (Quote)
I think that’s the part that bothers me more than anything. The very fact that this nurse thought it was okay to lift up a woman’s gown without asking first is disturbing beyond belief. Nobody gets to touch me in any way, shape, form or fashion without permission and if they do, there is hell to pay.
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Kristy Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 9:12 pm (Quote)
**I was like, what incision, I didn’t have a section. She said, “Yes you did, you had twins, remember?”**
Wouldn’t it have been nice if you were awake and well enough to come back with “I did?!? Oh! Well, you can strike the ‘double vision’ complaint from my chart… I guess I’m not as ill as I thought I was!”
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road2vba2c Reply:
January 19th, 2012 at 8:15 am (Quote)
“She pulled my gown up, and I said, “Does that look like an incision to you?””
You handled this a LOT nicer than I would have. If she had pulled my gown up, I would’ve smacked her. What an idiot.
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The Deranged Housewife Reply:
February 3rd, 2012 at 8:05 am (Quote)
You are awesome! And yeah, I bet she immediately just thinks all twins are c-sections, no doubt. Good Lord.
I had this problem after my cesarean – I was itchy from the spinal, wanted to see my baby, and couldn’t sleep – especially because a) the nurse hadn’t installed my IV properly so the pump went off all. night. long and b) they would NOT shut up at the nurses’ station, right outside where my recovery room was. I wanted to die. And of course, she kept coming in to check my tubing, but really wouldn’t examine it too closely because she obviously wanted to get back to the very important conversation at the nurses station about Lord of the Rings. 
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The Deranged Housewife Reply:
February 3rd, 2012 at 8:07 am (Quote)
Oh, and did I mention I had my baby around midnight and by 3 a.m. they were still talking, and I was still awake? LOL
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Okay, let me make sure I’ve got this right. A critically ill woman who desperately needs rest was woken up to check an incision she didn’t even have?
Please, someone… tell me that my reading comprehension sucks and I misunderstood. Please. I’m begging you.
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Kit had this to say,
Jan 18, 2012 @ 5:28 pm (Quote)
This is EXACTLY why I fought tooth and nail to bring my newborn home after 24 hours. I had wonderful nurses my entire hospital stay, but it is absolutely impossible to sleep there. I am happy to say that I am typing this comment at home with my 36-hour-old baby boy snuggled asleep in my arms. Everyone told me I was crazy and I should “enjoy” my time in the hospital where I didn’t have to worry about cooking and cleaning and I would be taken care of. WHAT?!?! Sleep is so much more valuable to me.
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Rachel Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 5:52 pm (Quote)
congrats, although I would rather cook then have to eat the hospital food too 
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Jewels Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 6:44 pm (Quote)
Congrats! Despite what everyone told me, I didn’t get any “rest” (let alone an enjoyable amount!) until I came home! I didn’t get any real food until then either (nor did I have to cook or clean for several weeks!).
I have to wonder, all these people who think that mothers who have just given birth will be expected to cook & clean at home… what exactly do they think the new dad will be doing? Lazing around demanding meals?
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Lizzie K Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 8:29 pm (Quote)
It depends. I didn’t get much rest after having my second because my husband was in school and they only gave him the night after I gave birth off, so he could keep our oldest. He had to go to class and take a test the very next night. (He was supposed to take the test the night of our ds’s birth, but they let him wait a day) With my oldest and youngest, though, my husband got ten days and pretty much spoiled me. This time around, I have a feeling I will get to be even more spoiled, since we are back in his home area and his stepmother will be more than happy to come over and help me out with all four of the kids.
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himom Reply:
January 19th, 2012 at 7:09 am (Quote)
Some dads just don’t get it. I am a very strong independent woman, and my kids’ dad never understood that when I was pregnant and postpartum, I needed some taking care of. The night I came home from the hospital with my second child, he took off for a guitar class, leaving me with a two day old newborn and a two year old to put to bed. I cried most of that evening, along with the kids.
He did not take one day off after my third was born. Thankfully I had wised up by that stage, and had my mother there for a week before the birth, and my stepmother there for almost two weeks after, to help take care of me and the kids. And I was blessed with uncomplicated births, so recovery was *relatively* easy.
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Mandie Reply:
January 19th, 2012 at 11:17 am (Quote)
It seems like the more kids I have the less time off my DH has! He took a full 6 weeks with the first, then finally, with baby #5, he only got a few days! really with 4 other kids at home I could have used him more this time than the other!
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jenni Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 12:29 pm (Quote)
my hubby doesnt have a job that has any kind of paid leave at all, he would have to take unpaid time off and pray they let him keep his job, he did get THE DAY each baby was born off, but he was back at work the next day with each! my parents kept my older one when #2 was born and i know why i think moms are crazy wanting their older kids back, but you miss them!
#2 was born on a monday, hubby was with me all morning, went home for a nap, brought #1 to visit for lunch then we sent her to my parents (his dad was visiting the night before and watched her) and tuesday morning he had to be back at work. due to a tear and some excessive blood loss i did ask to stay another day …. needed some time to let my body replace that…. hubby drove me home on his lunch break wednesday, i got #1 back from my parents that afternoon, and he still had to be in class 2 hours after he got off work, so i just posted on FB that we were home and somebody brought me dinner! and my coworker came over later that week to help clean, but hubby still had to work 
luckily i felt great after just a couple weeks, unlike with #1 where i had a mysteriously straight and unjagged “tear” that took months to feel better…
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Aunt4God Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 12:47 pm (Quote)
You should have him look into getting FMLA (Family and medical leave act) papers filed. If he is your sole support, it would apply. That way, he can call in and claim FMLA and they can’t touch him for it. It’s a thought…..
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jenni Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 9:57 am (Quote)
Thank you for the suggestion, but FMLA only applies to companies that employ more than 75 people, and neither of us work for a place that does that well, he didnt at the time, he does now, so it might have held his job but we still would have had budget issues if he took the time off. And he wasnt our sole support, i worked up until a day or 2 before each was born, and it was only random chance that got me the days off before hand not planning.
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Jade Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 7:02 am (Quote)
I cooked the evening meal 5 hours after my DDs birth. DH only got that day off, had to be back at work the next day after both births. I was back at work 7 days after DS birth and 36 hours after DD birth. I was most certainly expected to cook and clean within a week (those first few days I didn’t do a lot but after a week or so, I was back to doing everything as normal)
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Robyn Reply:
January 24th, 2012 at 8:50 am (Quote)
I practically starved. There were a couple dishes that I’d prepped in advance that he cooked up the first couple nights. When we went to relying on his cooking dinner, I had to go to my parents’ house to get food. Hubby is the kind of guy who would rather go hungry than cook. He would microwave a couple hot dogs and I was tucked away in the bedroom with the baby so I wasn’t really thought of and offered any. I got up because I was hungry and saw him doing hot dogs (which really didn’t interest me), so I packed up the kids and went to visit my Mom where I had a delicious home-cooked meal.
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Jennifer Reply:
January 19th, 2012 at 4:41 am (Quote)
Congratulations on the birth of your son!
People told me the exact same thing! You are crazy to want to go home. I had planned on a Birth Center birth and had to transfer due to fetal distress and had a cesarean. I healed very well after the section and went home a day earlier than they would have liked. I did not worry about cooking and cleaning. My husband, mother and mother in law took care of that. I rested and fed my baby…which went much better than when a nurse was staring at me the whole time in the hospital or interrupting me to take baby’s temperature or my blood pressure. Ugh! Home is so much better!
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Nica Reply:
January 19th, 2012 at 6:57 am (Quote)
Talked to my OB about a 24 hour discharge with my upcoming birth at my initial prenatal appointment! She agreed (barring any unforeseen complications), thank goodness. I’ll be very happy to be in my own bed with my own DH helping me out (and letting me sleep when I need to!).
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Dorothy Kernaghan-Baez had this to say,
Jan 18, 2012 @ 5:44 pm (Quote)
Sleep is delicious.
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Heidi had this to say,
Jan 19, 2012 @ 5:59 am (Quote)
I will admit that it is hard to sleep in the hospital, but I don’t really mind them coming in and checking things, especially the first night when I had given birth at 11 pm. I think, from their perspective, they don’t know everything is okay unless they check on you. With my 4th (the one born at 11 pm), I had bled a lot, so the nurse was checking for clots, and eventually called my doctor to get permission to give me methergine to control the bleeding. I had already had pitocin after the birth.
Two great things about that–I think I bled a lot less and felt a lot better for the entire postpartum period, and I didn’t have the nurse doing extremely hard fundus fiddling anymore!
One idea might be to talk to the night-shift nurse when she comes on and ask how much she can spread out the checks. Also, post a DO NOT DISTURB until 7 am sign on your door. It might not stop the nurse, but let’s hope it stops the housekeeping person!
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Honestly, I can’t say the nurses were to blame for me not getting to sleep that first night with my boys. I was just really wired despite the fact that all three were born after I had got little or no sleep the night before. #1 was born after an all-night labor, my water broke with #2 just as I was getting ready for bed, and I woke up in labor with #3 after only getting about 2 hours of sleep. Plus, all three of them were fussy anytime I put them down in the little plastic bassinet things and heaven forbid I should fall asleep while holding him.
I will say there were more nurses in and out of my room after my first was born than with the other two since I had been running a low-grade fever right before my water broke and it spiked about 12 hours after his birth. I ended up having to stay in the hospital four days and they were constantly checking my vitals and checking my IV fluids.
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Christine had this to say,
Jan 20, 2012 @ 2:02 am (Quote)
Same thing happened to me during the daytime – I need to check your incision, gown pulled up, hands in my belly fat, searching for something that isn’t there. “you had twins, didn’t you? (they were in nicu.) Sorry? What incision? I was very confused and she never once came back into my room. If I knew then what I know now, she would’ve gotten an earful. My current employer is a hospital and they only allow the pts RN / doc in the room during quiet hrs. No housekeeping! (unless requested)
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road2vba2c Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 2:17 pm road2vba2c(Quote)
My thoughts exactly.
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