Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Nov
8
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Thoughtful Thursday! “I Am So Sorry…Would You Like Me To Clean Your Room & Change Your Sheets?”
“I am so sorry about what you are going through. Would you like me to clean your room and change your sheets?” – Housekeeping staff, who also left a tray of food. Mother was in a guest accommodation program in a hospital room because she had been discharged before her baby was. It was against the hospital’s policy to clean the room/ change the sheets, provide food or answer the nurse call button because the insurance was not being charged for the service.
There are 23 comments to this post.
How the hell is this “thoughtful”? Leaving rotting food around and dirty sheets, talk about a breedindground for bacteria/germs. Another reason I chose to homebirth. Hospitals are all about litigation and money. GROSS!
[Reply]
Missy Reply:
November 8th, 2012 at 10:56 am (Quote)
I think when it says they “left a tray of food” it meant they brought her a tray of food to eat, not that they left old food in the room.
[Reply]
Wow, that hospital policy is horrid. When my third baby had to go into the hospital for a couple days, I stayed in her room and meals were included, which was hospital policy.
[Reply]
Can’t answer the call button? Wouldn’t that be a liability? What a horrible policy!
[Reply]
Amy Reply:
November 9th, 2012 at 1:50 am (Quote)
Especially considering that this is a freshly postpartum mom who could theoretically develop some birth related illness…
[Reply]
Carolyn Reply:
November 9th, 2012 at 10:57 am (Quote)
The nurses at the nurses’ station did say that they would “accidentally” answer the call button if I had a real emergency because they would “forget” that there was no paying patient in that room, but it was against policy for them to do it. When I did need help my husband had to push me to the ER in a wheel chair. They did answer the button, but then they just told him what floor to push me to.
[Reply]
Maybe I’m just overly emotional tonight but this one brought tears to my eyes! I can’t imagine how scary it must be to have your child in the NICU. Those parents often need even more support than new Moms of healthy babies. (In my opinion.) It is so sweet to know that this staff member reached out and did what she could to make Mom more comfortable. Clean sheets and a meal might not seem like much but I’d be willing to bet they were everything in the moment.
[Reply]
Robyn Reply:
November 8th, 2012 at 11:38 pm (Quote)
The OP doesn’t say that the baby was in the NICU; simply that the mother was discharged before the baby was. When I had my son, he was jaundiced. It was normal newborn jaundice, but the doctor said that because I was a negative blood type and baby was positive they wanted to keep him at the hospital on the bili lights. I, however, was discharged because I had a normal, healthy, vaginal birth and they couldn’t bill my insurance for me to stay any longer. What they ended up doing was moving my son to the pediatric ward. He was in the bassinet with the bili lights over him and I got to stay with him and sleep in the bed in “his” room.
[Reply]
Tee Reply:
November 9th, 2012 at 9:54 am (Quote)
Ooh, good point. When I think of a Mom being discharged without her baby, I automatically think NICU. Thanks for correcting me! I still stand by my original thoughts, though. It has to be seriously stressful to have your child in the hospital without you and I’m imagine that a little bit of care and kindness went a long way.
[Reply]
I was also discharged before my baby. He was born healthy and I don’t know why they discharged me first. My doc said I could go home if I wanted, made it seem like a favor! Um no, I will be staying the extra night with my ebf baby! The next day hospital services showed up to as me how my stay was going “since you’ve been here FIVE days” I replied: Great, now get out of my room.
[Reply]
I posted a longer pink link but it disappeared. I will try again with less detail.
According to policy I wasn’t a patient anymore so I was on my own; no room cleaning whatsoever, no new sheets or towels, no food, no call button. They did not have to let me stay and could take the room away without warning if they needed to. The lactation consultant said that I should be grateful because most hospitals don’t have a nice program like this for new breastfeeding out of town moms.
I was very weak because I had a fever and was bleeding a lot. I could hardly stand on my own, and I was embarrassed because I had no bladder control at all because of the Foley catheter injury I’d gotten during labor. So to not clean my room would have been a huge slip and fall hazard and to not allow clean sheets and towels would have been just gross, but that was policy.
This housekeeper stopped in twice a day every single day that I was there to clean, leave me towels, change my sheets, ask how I was doing and to tell me that she was praying for us. I embarrassed by the mess I was constantly making, but she never made me feel like it was anything at all. She said more kind words to me and spent more time caring my needs than the rest of the hospital staff combined, and she was risking her job to do it. She even brought food when there were extra patient meals on the floor. My husband and I tried to tell her how grateful we were for her kindness, but I don’t think we could ever adequately express what a blessing she was to us.
[Reply]
TriskeleMom Reply:
November 11th, 2012 at 7:10 am (Quote)
I’m so glad you had an amazing person taking care of you when you needed it. I don’t understand how the hospital discharged you with the symptoms you described, especially the fever. That’s horrible.
[Reply]
Naturomommy2 had this to say,
Nov 10, 2012 @ 3:03 pm (Quote)
That’s so sad that they don’t have a room-in policy, where mom can stay in a room while baby gets well. When I brought my son in to be seen just hours after being born at home, I was able to stay there for 3 days and they brought me meals. A nurse even asked if I wanted her to check me out because I looked faint and pale and they gave me extra strength ibuprofen for my afterpains.
[Reply]
My son had to stay in the NICU for ten days after he was born to complete a full course of antibiotics (I developed a fever which I suspect was related to the epidural, I got to take my meds home but he didn’t). I had to leave after four days. I received no accommodations, nothing was even discussed about me being able to stay with him. My husband couldn’t drive at that time, so for me that meant I was driving (five days after a c/s that was NOT healing well) to the hospital four times a day to breastfeed and/or deliver pumped milk. I was so happy the day I was able to bring him home!
[Reply]
Add Your Comment.
Previous Post
« Thoughtful Thursday! “We Usually Go Over The Birth With You…You Really Don’t Seem Up For It. How About We…Make Another Appointment…” Next Post
Thoughtful Thursday! “Wow! You’re Getting Colostrum Out…I Bet…We Could Get Enough To Feed Your Daughter While We Work On Getting Her To The Breast.” »
« Thoughtful Thursday! “We Usually Go Over The Birth With You…You Really Don’t Seem Up For It. How About We…Make Another Appointment…” Next Post
Thoughtful Thursday! “Wow! You’re Getting Colostrum Out…I Bet…We Could Get Enough To Feed Your Daughter While We Work On Getting Her To The Breast.” »
That hospital sucks..when my girls where in the nicu I got 3 meals a day, they cleaned the room, and the nurses would get me towels for baths.
[Reply]