Feb 15

“I Need You To Sign This And Provide Your Finger Prints Now.”

“I need you to sign this and provide your finger prints now.” – L&D Nurse to mother, shoving birth certificate paperwork in front of her, while the mother was cradling her newborn and had not yet delivered the placenta.

56 people dislike these words.

There are 50 comments to this post.

Alyson Miers had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 10:27 am (Quote)

Autopilot, perhaps? Sounds like someone needs a nap.

[Reply]

Details had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 10:28 am (Quote)

Placenta not yet deliveried. Doc you want to handle this idiot? Or would you like my husband to remove her from the room permanently?

[Reply]

Jessica had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 10:34 am (Quote)

I doubt I’ll be discharged before I finish the entire birthing process, so you can take that paperwork and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine until I’m damn good and ready to sign it.

[Reply]

RM Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 11:11 am RM(Quote)

For the WIN!

[Reply]

Jadzia@Toddlerisms had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 10:46 am (Quote)

Lady, can’t you see I’m in the MIDDLE of something? Yeesh.

[Reply]

Sarah had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 11:09 am (Quote)

Don’t you all know the universe will implode if this nurse doesn’t get that signature and those fingerprints this. very. minute?!?

[Reply]

Jane had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 11:14 am (Quote)

Guys, have you no compassion! That nurse’s shift was ending in four minutes and she couldn’t go home until all the paperwork was filled out!

I dunno, but right after a birth, there might be blood on the mom’s hands — so she’d get blood on the ink pad, blood on the paperwork… Yeah, brilliant timing. I hope the doctor told the nurse to get out of the room.

[Reply]

Lisa Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 11:49 am Lisa(Quote)

Oh no…if the mom has any blood on her hands, she obviously compromised the dr’s sterile field! :-p

[Reply]

Katy Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 1:09 pm Katy(Quote)

But I thought you were SUPPOSED to sign those things in blood…

[Reply]

Alexis Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 9:57 am Alexis(Quote)

win

[Reply]

Arzt4Empfaenger Reply:
February 17th, 2012 at 8:47 am Arzt4Empfaenger(Quote)

How about waiting and putting a big ol’ good placenta stamp on the form? To seal the deal so to speak. At least that’s what should have been suggested to this nurse.

[Reply]

Nicole Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 6:19 am Nicole(Quote)

Is it sick that I read this and thought “I’d probably put a big ol’ bloody handprint right in the middle of the page”? Lol.

[Reply]

Brittany Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 2:50 pm Brittany(Quote)

That would have been better! Had I not been so exhausted and in the middle of meeting my new baby, I might have thought to do that. This nurse was a jerk from the second I came in… ugh..

[Reply]

Nica had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 11:16 am (Quote)

Ummmm, no. Come back later. I’M BUSY!

[Reply]

Lisa had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 11:18 am (Quote)

What state requires fingerprints? I’ve had 3 babies with 2 different care providers and never once had to give up my prints.

[Reply]

road2vba2c Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 11:26 am road2vba2c(Quote)

It’s a security thing. Baby gets a bracelet and anklet, mom and dad (SO, grandma, whoever is with mom) get matching bracelets. Mom gets fingerprinted at birth when they do baby’s footprint. At discharge, mom and baby are printed again, and compared to make sure baby goes home with right mom.

[Reply]

Katie B. Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 11:43 am Katie B.(Quote)

I’ve gotten the tags (and aren’t they clunky on a newborn ankle!), but never had the matching prints. I also wanna know what state! Or maybe it’s hospital policy?

[Reply]

road2vba2c Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 11:58 am road2vba2c(Quote)

It’s a state thing. I’ve had 3 kids in 3 different hospitals and it was all the same (FL).

[Reply]

Laura Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 11:43 am Laura(Quote)

Huh! New one for me…we get the bracelets here and they take baby’s foot print but I was never fingerprinted. They just matched our bracelets.

[Reply]

Nica Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 1:56 pm Nica(Quote)

Same here – matching bracelets only. No fingerprints.

[Reply]

Dreamy Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 3:24 pm Dreamy(Quote)

I have to say, it’s a teensy, tiiiinsy benefit of homebirth– maybe .01% of why I want a homebirth– but still kinda nice not to have to worry about all that mess. Not to mention– though it’s extraordinarily rare, of course– no risk at all of babies being switched at birth.

[Reply]

Darsy Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 6:56 am Darsy(Quote)

I worried about that up until I saw my daughter for the first time at a minute old and she had my exact dark, dark brown eyes, and I thought–haha, no one could believe she was anyone else’s! But I totally get what you’re saying, and when that really is a worry, eye color is the last thing those incompetent people look at anyway. I just thought it was amusing to have my fears assuaged like that.

[Reply]

Elizabeth S Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 8:18 am Elizabeth S(Quote)

But if you do birth in a hospital (I did), one that doesn’t have a nursery greatly reduces those chances. DS never left my sight.

[Reply]

Dreamy Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 1:06 pm Dreamy(Quote)

Oh, no doubt! That’s why it’s such a tiny advantage of homebirth, since there exist a number of hospitals that “get it right.”

[Reply]

Kit Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 1:52 pm Kit(Quote)

DH and I have a rule- LO doesn’t go anywhere without one or the other of us going along. Our hospital has never given us any issue with that rule. The nurses did look at me like I was crazy when I got out of bed at 11:30 at night because that’s when they wanted to do DS’s hearing test and DH was asleep. They didn’t say anything though, they just chatted with me while they did what they needed to do. (And I wasn’t going to complain about the timing because we were trying to get released early and I didn’t want to delay anything.)

[Reply]

Mama_de_Gabi_y_Mari Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 3:36 pm Mama_de_Gabi_y_Mari(Quote)

I live in Iowa and I had to give my right thumbprint (I think) when my babies were born. However, the only thing that was compared for security purposes was the bracelets.

[Reply]

Lindsay Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 5:13 pm Lindsay(Quote)

In Michigan, I was required to do it. Each thumb and both index fingers. The funny thing was, my son was in the NICU over a half hour away. They just needed to check that box apparently.

[Reply]

Knitted in the Womb Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 7:29 pm Knitted in the Womb(Quote)

You know, I was required to do it in the hospital, but I don’t think I did it for my homebirths. I never thought of that before now.

[Reply]

Lizzie K Reply:
February 17th, 2012 at 8:58 am Lizzie K(Quote)

I wasn’t required to give a fingerprint and I had all three of my sons in different places-NC, CA, and CA. Different cities in CA, my husband and I had a habit of getting pregnant at one duty station, then having the baby at the next, only to get pregnant before moving again. I was actually surprised not to get pregnant before my husband got out. Well, I did, twice, but they both ended up as miscarriages.

[Reply]

road2vba2c had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 11:25 am (Quote)

I always gave my fingerprint during labor. This is crazy.

[Reply]

Teri had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 11:59 am (Quote)

Here you have 4 weeks to register your babys birth and you sign all the birth certificate then. I didn’t have to sign anything until I was being discharged. This is just insane.

[Reply]

Lisa had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 12:06 pm (Quote)

I did a home birth, so maybe it’s different, but my midwife did everything for the birth certificate, and I think she waited for the 24 hour visit to get all the info she needed.

[Reply]

Stelvis had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 12:06 pm (Quote)

I did fingerprints right after birth and they did a baby footprint too…I *think* it was after the placenta was delivered but honestly I can’t remember for sure. .I don’t think that’s an inappropriate practice at all, I think it’s good security to do it along with bracelets, etc. before there’s any chance of mom and baby being separated. However I had a fabulous L&D nurse who was just awesome the whole way through. It sounds like OP’s nurse had a serious tone problem. I am in PA and did fingerprints with both kids.

[Reply]

Darsy Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 6:57 am Darsy(Quote)

I am in PA and we didn’t have to do fingerprints! Interesting.

[Reply]

Bazile had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 12:45 pm (Quote)

My daughter must of had an identity crises since they didn’t bring me any of the forms that I needed to fill out for her birth certificate until the next day. They gave her an anklet and bracelet (which was good since her bracelet was too big and it got lost) with our last name and an id number, and gave my husband and I matching ones in the operating room. When they took or brought her from the nursery (the pediatricians insisted on doing rounds in the nursery, and I was in too much pain/high after the c-section to fight them on it) they checked her bracelet against mine, but no fingerprints. Probably depends on the state.

[Reply]

Jessica had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 12:52 pm (Quote)

RIGHT now? What, the doc looses women to pp hemorrhage that often?

[Reply]

sigrid had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 1:30 pm (Quote)

I agree that the urgency is a little ridiculous, but there is an identification paper that has to be filled out in its entirety before the newborn nurse can leave the delivery room (as well as placing the ID bands on mom and baby). In NYS, it includes: mom and baby’s medical record numbers, mom’s full name and DOB, baby’s gender, date and time of birth, ethnicity, weight, delivering doctor, nurse’s signature, baby’s footprints, and mom’s right index finger print.

I’m assuming that this was the paperwork referenced in the submitted quote, not birth certificate paperwork. As long as the birth certificate packet is filled out before discharge, it’s all good.

[Reply]

Stelvis Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 2:34 pm Stelvis(Quote)

Yes, this is how it was for me. The birth certificate paperwork was separate but the nurse couldn’t step out of te room until the ID paper was filled out.

[Reply]

Brittany Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 3:21 pm Brittany(Quote)

It was for the birth certificate. Then, after they transferred me to the post partum room, it took about 5 minutes for the nurse to come in and collect all my signed, printed and read paperwork.

[Reply]

Joanna had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 1:35 pm (Quote)

I never had to give my finger prints for having a baby. Nor did I have to fill out birth certificate paperwork at the hospital. They sent me home with what I needed and I had 31 days to do it at my leisure. Where the hell did this all happen?

[Reply]

Brittany Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 3:21 pm Brittany(Quote)

Southcrest Hospital in Tulsa, OK

[Reply]

Sugaryfun had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 2:27 pm (Quote)

Talk about bad timing!

I’m in Australia, and they didn’t do the fingerprint thing where I gave birth (I don’t think they do anywhere over here), just the bracelets. Though I was fortunate enough never to have to let my baby leave my sight (except to pee, when DH held her) until we went home so it didn’t really matter.

[Reply]

Christie Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:39 pm Christie(Quote)

im also in Aus, my hospital doesnt even have a nursery so baby never left my sight except one night the midwife took him between feed so i could sleep (only 4 babies in the hospital so she wasnt exactly busy) they did put a bit of tape on his back when he was born with our name and his id number i guess incase he got lost between the theater (c section) and our room to get his anklets lol, never been asked for my fingerprints for ANYTHING

[Reply]

Jade Reply:
February 20th, 2012 at 5:08 am Jade(Quote)

Another Aussie who has never had to give fingerprints for anything EVER let alone for having a baby. I also work as a doula and have never seen a client have to do it. For my hospital baby I had a bracelet on and bub had anklet and bracelet and it has been the same for my clients.

[Reply]

Michelle had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 2:33 pm (Quote)

I’m in Texas, and we never did the fingerprint thing. Frankly, it sounds like security paranoia to me.

[Reply]

Serene Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 5:17 am Serene(Quote)

thats what I was thinking! When I had ALL of mine, the babies were given a copy of MY ID band that was placed on their ankles, so it was obvious WHO was their mother, but FINGERPRINTS???

[Reply]

Kate had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 2:55 pm (Quote)

Why would you ever need the fingerprints of the mother?

I gave birth at home, but I would NOT have been pleased with any of that nonsense in the hospital. The ankle sensor and umbilical stump sensor, plus having to be let into the ward at all by the parents of the baby, is enough, thank you very much.

[Reply]

Jade Reply:
February 20th, 2012 at 5:10 am Jade(Quote)

wth is an umbilical stump sensor? I know what an ankle sensor is and why it would be used (although I have never seen one used in Australia)

[Reply]

Angelica had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 5:08 pm (Quote)

My hospital allows one hour of alone time with the baby after the placenta is delivered. Maybe i should consider myself lucky t birth there! Both my kids were born at night, in different hospitals, and no one gave me any paperwork til the next morning! crazy….

[Reply]