UCH V. St. Joe's

I've answered this one a few times - I delivered at both, my first at St joes and my second at UCH. I will choose UCH again! St Joes took real good care of me and I had no complaits but something about UCH I'd choose again. And the food is really good. I started to cry when they were wheeling me out when my stay was over - I had a repeat c section. I didn't want to leave! Great care and 3 meals a day - it was a mini vacation of sorts and I got to bond with my baby! Best of luck to you all!!
A.

Both of my girls were born at St Joe's and I had a wonderful experience each time. With my second they had just opened a new delivery area which was really nice. Staff was excellent. My only complaint was that my second child was small and had to have a test done to make sure she was big enough to ride safely in her car seat. That procedure was done at odd times (11pm, 5am, etc) so it interrupted sleep that was desperately needed, but hopefully you will not need to have that done. I have not had any experience at UCH other than visiting my niece when she was born. The facility was very nice and clean, my sister-in-law had no complaints. I don't think you can go wrong at either facility. Which is more convenient to your home?

they are all good hospitals and of course in any situation the dr. is your key figure.
i have had 2 great grand children born at tgh, 2 at st. joes and 3 at uch. i have been there for all of them and believe it or not the one my children (as grand parents) and my grand children as parents and aunts and uncles, seem to prefer is the private birthing rooms at tgh. again they are all good, ive lived in the tampa bay area since 1966 and i would not and will not recommend brandon band aid hospital though.
good luck ask your dr where he or she wants to deliver the baby............as i said your dr is the key figure........GMAJ J.

I would reccomend UCH. I have delivered twice there and very good experiences both times. I have heard St. Joe's is a "baby factory" and might be a little more c-section happy. I'm sure people have had good experiences there too though.

Though UCH is right down the street, I'd never considered it. I had surgery there and thought it seemed dirty, though the nurses were awesome. I had my son at Tampa General, and can't wait to go back there now that they've redone their labor and delivery. They are supposed to go to the electronic birth certificate system in February, so it will be awesome to walk out with our baby's birth certificate and SS# without waiting for it to come in the mail...we are just starting to work on #2 ourselves.

While I'm not here to scare you away in anyway, I will relate my best friend's two experiences with St. Joe's. The first time she lost a lot of blood and almost needed a transfusion, but the nurses had to be threatened to help her. She was passing out all over the place, and no one thought she needed help. It was scary to read an article not 6 months later about the Storm coach's wife that died there from blood loss after a normal vaginal birth. The second time around a friend came to visit her, and her young daughter had a potty accident in the bathroom. The nurse on duty REFUSED to send someone to clean it. She told my friend, "We don't have a cleaning service!" It was about 6 or 7 hours later that someone finally cleaned it. I don't understand why a nurse would say something so unprofessional--like hospitals do not have janitors that are supposed to santize rooms. Her overall opinion is that St. Joe's is okay, but you feel like you're a burden and everyone there is too busy to care how you are. She's looking forward to hearing about my next experience with Tampa General, since she plans on not going back to St. Joe's a third time if she can help it.

St Joe's!!!! Personally I would never go to UCH for anything. At St Joes labor, delivery and recovery are all in your private room. After recovery they then move you to your room. The rooms are all private and spacious compared to most hospitals. There is a couch in the room for someone to sleep if you want someone to stay with you.Your baby would stay in the room with you if you want or the nursery is available. The bathrooms are made for making it easier for the mom to get around. I have had two kids two yrs apart. Each time the nurses were very helpful, friendly and ready to help with whatever you needed. Hopefully you would never need the NICU, but if you did you know your baby would be in the hands of a caring staff.My daughter spent just a couple of days there (luckly nothing major). The doctor kept us informed without needing to track him down. Now he always gave us the worst case scenrio. What I liked best about the NICU was all the nurses their would give you the update of your child closer to the truth (although I understand the doctor not wanting there to be any surprises)The nurses helped you whenever you came to visit your child. Best yet every nurse I met their knew each of their patients first name without looking at their file each time.Each nurse had their own set of patients. Amazing my nurse always let us know what she seemed to perfer. He knew my daughter liked darkness and never wanted a night light on whenever she slept. She liked to be wrapped up tight. She liked her Binky. I really appreiated how her nurse took the time to get to know each of his patients likes and dislikes. It helped us to know this when we went home with her.

Hi L.,

I delivered all my kids at St. Joseph's Women's Hospital and had positive experiences each time.

God bless,

N.

My sister delivered at St. Joes and LOVED it. She had all three kids there and didn't want to leave. I have heard the same from many other women. Good luck in making your decision but I would go to St. Joe's if I hade to choose.

I delivered at St. Joe's Women's. LOVED it! Don't have one bad thing to say about it there. I had a rough delivery and not sure if I would have ever made it through, without those wonderful nurses I had!! And the environment was comfortable - delivery rooms weren't too "hospital-like". No experience with UCH, but a girlfriend delivered there -- I think she had a positive experience. Which are you closer to?

I also delivered both my girls there and had a great experience. I got the new rooms with the hard wood floors both times :) My OB Dr's go there so that too was a plus. The nursing staff and on call Dr's were great too.

Hi L.,
CONGRATULATIONS on the wonderful and upcoming addition to your beautiful family. I do not have any info on St. Joe's as far as maternity but in other areas they are a good hospital.
I delivered my son 12 years ago at UCH's Women's Center on Fletcher Avenue and could not have been happier. The staff was wonderful and the care I recieved was outstanding, it was great having my son with us and the private room made the experience so much nicer. I am sure you could arrange to take a tour of both hospitals as this would give you more to base your decision on.
M.

I delivered my first son at UCH Womens in 07 and absolutly LOVED it, the nurses are wonderful and the rooms are very nice. The one memory I wont forget is the nurse that I started out with had to leave to go help another doctor deliver another baby and she told me "dont have your son without me here" Well after so long it was time to have him and about 5 min after I gave birth, she came running in and congraulated me and wished she could of been back in time. I thought that was so nice of her!! I will def. be back when #2 is ready!!!

Like one of the other posters said, go check out both hospitals and get a feel for the one that suits you.

I had my son at UCH and had an awesome experience. My nurses were wonderful!!!!! My son has also been in the hospital twice at UCH and we had really great experiences both times. UCH is where I would go!!!

Hi L.,
I have 1st hand experience with UCH because I am one of the Labor & Delivery nurses there. I honestly have never worked at St. Joe's, so I can't truly comment on their practices. I can tell you that SEVERAL patients give us comments that their experience with us is much more pleasant. The "baby factory" rumor does go around, but they are a much bigger unit with more labor rooms, etc. We, at UCH, have 10 labor rooms and I believe offer a little more personalized service. If a C/S is needed, your labor nurse follows you throughout the entire process (pre-op, surgery, recovery) until you are transferred upstairs to Mother Baby. Your baby also never has to leave your side, even in recovery, as long as there are no complications. I have heard that St. Joe's utilizes an OR team (not assocated with labor & delivery) to go back with the pt if a C/S is called. I could be wrong about that, though. You should first make sure your OB goes to both hospitals. We only have 2 OB groups that go to both. They are the Women's Group (Wahba, Barriero, Sanchez, Butler, etc.) & also the group with Dr's Bray, Morris, Soloman, Perkins, and Young. My insurance would allow me to go to either hospital, but my OB (Dr. Dillon) only went to UCH. If you indeed find out you can go to either one, call up and take a tour. St. Joes might require you to schedule one. If you just want to look around and ask questions, you can call UCH Labor & Delivery on a weekend day and one of the nurses can walk you around and show you what to expect. The # to UCH Labor & Delivery is ###-###-####. I am working Sunday, so I would call first just to be sure we are not crazy busy:). Best of luck!

Carla

I had my daughter at the beginning of 04 and my son at the end of 05. I had an absolutely wonderful experience both times that I will never forget. I was totally happy with the treatment from the nurses. They treated me like family. When I was getting my epidural, my nurse gave me the biggest hug ever and told me not to move. After the birth and we were ready to go to the mother baby rooms, all of the nurses stood in the hallway to see the babies and commented on how cute they were. My sister in law just had her baby there this past weekend. Even though the hospital has changed a lot, it was definitely for the better. They even have jacuzzi style tubs in the labor & delivery rooms (I don't know if it's in all of them, but I definitely would ask.)

Go and visit the labor ward and nursery in both hospitals and talk to the people there. It will help you more than anything because everyone feels differently about hospitals. One that you may like others may not. It is your preference that counts. Also you could look online to and check them out for further information.