Any Kasier South Sacramento Births?

My SIL gave birth to all 3 of her kids there and seemed to have a good experience. #1 was C-section but #2 & 3 were VBAC with no drugs at all. She used a doula and couldn't say enough great things about that as well. I'm not sure what BF is... I'm not sure if this is all that helpful but her experience was a good one for each of her kiddos. All the best to you!

I had my son at South Sac, and I was very pleased. I was trying for a natural birth, but it didn't work out that way due to a few complications. BUT, I felt like Kaiser gave me every opportunity to TRY for a natural birth. In the end, it was my decision to use a couple interventions. (For the record, I did deliver vaginally and without forceps or vacuum--I just ended up having to use Pitocin and then, because the contractions were horrendous after the Pitocin was started, I opted to have an epidural.) I had a long labor and went through three midwifes on changing shifts, and I was very pleased with all of them. Apparently the doctor on call was pushing for a C-section with me, but the midwife who ultimately delivered my son stepped in and said no--that I wanted a vaginal birth and she supported me. So even though my son's birth was a difficult one, I have nothing but good to say about South Sac Kaiser. The complications really didn't have anything to do with them, and in the end I had a healthy baby.

I think they sent in someone to talk about BF, but I was in an exhausted haze, so I don't really remember for sure. And the only thing I DIDN'T have access to during birth was a bathtub. But the birthing/labor rooms were very nice and roomy, and I was allowed to walk the halls as much as I wanted during labor.

Good luck!

I loved South Sac. I had my daughter there in Dec 2008 and am going back there some time in the next month or so for #2.

The nurses were completely supportive of my decision to avoid pain meds and I was able to have a natural unmedicated vaginal delivery. I had a very quick labor and the midwife only came in for the pushing stage, but she was also good. One complaint is that I wanted to be a bit more upright for the pushing stage (i.e. use the squatting bar!) but I ended up lying down for it at the midwife's urging. This time I'm going to ask for the bar to be put up as soon as they say it's OK for me to push so that I have more of an option to get upright. They also gave me a routine shot of pitocin after she was born to help with the placenta delivery - I'm going to see if we can wait a bit this time to give it a chance to do it on its own. Since we're going to BF that should give me PLENTY of oxytocin to shrink my uterus down without additional help.

They do have one room with a tub now. If you ask for it they will put you in there if it is available. (You are _not_ allowed to go into labor before me and sneak in there! I want that tub!) :) But they won't let you actually deliver in the tub - once it's time to push you have to move to the bed.

All of the rooms are private and have their own bathroom with a shower with a seat in it.

If you want a birthing ball you have to bring your own, but there is plenty of room for it in the rooms. They are HUGE!

The paperwork they give you will say that you have to have either an IV or a heplock. I had a heplock for my first, but my friend who delivered seven months later refused even that and the nurses had no problem with it. I asked at my tour a month or so ago if I could refuse the IV completely and they said if I could show that I was hydrated and did not need it then they would not make me get it.

They do intermittent monitoring. My labor was so fast that they only got one strip on me before pushing, but it wouldn't have been that big of a deal to get back into bed for more.

Let's see, what else? They will let you eat and drink during labor. There is a mini kitchen down the hall where you can keep food for yourself and your support person.

They have a pretty good standard form for a Birth Plan that you will get if you are receiving the weekly pregnancy emails. If you're not getting them, send me a msg with your email address and I'll send you a copy. I liked it because it had a lot of NUCB friendly items on it and I figured that the nurses were used to seeing it so they would know what I wanted with a quick glance and wouldn't have to spend a bunch of time reading through a hand written birth plan.

The BF help I received was unfortunately a little spotty. I had my LO on my chest for the first hour and she tried nursing but didn't seem to want to latch onto my left breast. I asked to see the consultant, but for whatever reason (perhaps because they took about 11 hours to move me into the post-delivery area vs. the two they say it usually takes - apparently they didn't have a clean room?) I didn't get to see her until the next morning. By that time I'd already freaked out about her losing weight and started a little formula supplementation. And then when the LC came in it was just after I'd tried nursing and I was on to giving her some formula so instead of watching me try to nurse she just took the baby from me and gave her her bottle. Not Terribly Helpful. HOWEVER, the nurse practitioner we saw three times in the next week (LO lost 13% of her body weight initially but once my milk came in I stopped formula supplementation and she gained it back rapidly) was AMAZING and after my LO hit one week old we never looked back - still BF'ing at 21 months and me 37 weeks pregnant.

The post-delivery rooms are private - I think they have two beds in them (or at least one bed and one pull out chair like in the delivery rooms) but you won't have a roomie except for your hubby if he chooses to stay.

I am pretty sure you can have up to five visitors in the delivery room, but we actually had ten in there after I'd delivered and it wasn't a problem. The post-delivery rooms they supposedly limit you to two visitors.

OK, so that was probably more information than you really wanted. :) I hope this helps - I really can't recommend South Sac enough!

I gave birth to my son (now 4) at Kaiser South Sacramento. i had a great experience.

The birthing room was VERY large. in addition to the hospital bed had a table and chairs, a couch, a rocking chair etc. Also the attached bathroom had a shower (no tub).

I ended up getting an epidural which I had NOT planned or wanted prior but because of some other issues with my son, I had to stay on the monitor and couldn't move around which made my labor way more painful and exhausting than I could handle. Anyway, the anesthesiologist was fantastic. He listened to my fears and talked about what he was going to be doing. He when through the whole process for pretend and only when I was comfortable with it did he actually do it.

My son was delivered by a midwife (that's who was on call) and they put him directly on my chest.

The nurses wiped him off without taking him off of me and they helped me nurse him immediately.

The recovery room was much smaller, but still nice (I had a private one although there are some doubles). Nurses came in frequently to check on us and help with nursing.

There was a respite nursery (if you wanted to send your baby) but I didn't use it. I liked having him with me.

HTH

T.

I too had a very long labor there and I knew I wanted a midwife. When I arrived I had to see the doctor who was there and she was beasty, but as soon as my midwife came in we were thrilled - Deborah was incredible and honored all of my requests. Due to the length of my labor, my exhaustion, and lack of progression I ended up agreeing to the epidural (so that I could sleep for a while), and pitocin to get me to progress. She allowed me to take my time to decide and just gave me all of the facts without pushing me. Overall, everything went extremely well, and I was pleased with the way they were organized and ran things. The only thing I wished for was a tub! ....but I have heard that they are either getting them soon, or have already gotten some in.

It was great, the delivery room was big enough for my whole family, had a mini kitchen (i think) and private bathroom, couch and dining table, TV. I chose an epidural. Kaiser is very pro-breastfeeding and skin to skin. The recovery room was tiny, but we were only there for 24 hours (bc I was in the labor room for 24 hours!).