Preferred Hospital for Delivery

I had both of my sons at St. Vincents. One was normal delivery and the other an emergency C-section. The nurses were amazing! I don't know how the deliveries would compare with Hamot, but both of my sons were preemies and spent weeks in the NICU. Hamot does not have the level of care for NICU babies as St.Vincents. Again,the nursing staff is so wonderful and so helpful. I hope that helps.

L.,

Hi, I hope this helps. I had a bad experience with Hamot. I had written a birth plan which included detail of preferences for every thing that could possibly occur. Right from the begining it was obvious that few staff personel had any respect for that. A friend of mine recently had her third baby at Millcreek and she said that it was so relaxing and quiet and that nurses were so much more friendly. If you have any special plans, requests or questions you have to call and ask if it will be ok, allowed, or denied etc. For example: I had informed them and repeatedly refused two particular procedures, (eyedrops and vitamin K injection) for my baby and still a resident at Hamot came into my room for the third time where I was stressed exhausted and weak, and insisted that these procedures be done. I gave in to the shot because the baby was slow to nurse and was born smallish. I can't remember the doctors name but he sternly infromed me that. "the baby needs the eye drops because the womans vigina is the most filthy place on the earth." I should've slapped him and ordered him to leave but I was awestricken and just shocked. I informed the nurses I did not want them to bathe the baby, but when I finally conceded to have him stay in the nursery for a few hours at night he came back to me six hours later, (remember he was born small and should've been fed at least every four hours) his hands were cold, and he was freshly bathed and dressed. When I questioned them they told me they could'nt talk to me, and his records were confidential, and after all they don't record times of bathing or things. Finally, they said he had to be bathed because he had dry spit-up on his head. And why did the spitting up go unnoticed for so long that it dried and why did they disreguard my wishes. I was in the hospital for three days because he became jaundiced and they finally let me take him after I balled my eyes out to a Doctor Johnson about how bad I felt there. They sent us home with a mobil bili-light wrap for the ultra-violet treatment, which they could've done in the begining. They all knew I was very uncomfortable thier yet they diliberately disreguarded my birthplan and my requests. Some of the people were caring and nice. One woman actually told me to file complaint about the nursery nurses. I would never go back there to have a baby.

The L&D nurses at St. Vincent were wonderful. The postpartum nurses, on the other hand, not so good. All in all I was pleased with St. Vincent.

HI L.,

I've delivered at both with in the last 3 years. Each has their good points. Looking back i felt the total experience was better at Hamot from my perspective.

Labor and Delivery Rooms were nicer at St V. Nurses were better at Hamot. I would say nurses were Outstanding At Hamot.

I had my own recovery room at St V but the food was bad and it was hard to get a nurse. Not great when you are starving and need help to use the bathroom every half hour. Big Plus was having a shower in my room at ST V's instead of wobbling down the very public hallway at Hamot.

My husband thought the nursery attendants at Hamot were better, but we really didn't use it alot, preferring to have both babies room in with us. Also, St. V's has a full time lactation consultant and offer breastfeeding support group meetings adn a hot line if you have trouble once you get home. Hamot also has a lactation consultant who was soo sweet and kind, but when I delivered she only worked part time and was very hard to reach after I left the hospital. Little hint, you don't have to deliver at ST V's to take advantage of the support group or the hot line. Just call Ask a Nurse or the main switch board at ST V's.

And finally, I pray that you never need it but we found the NeoNatal unit at Hamot was fantastic. My son was premature and spent 2 days in the NICU. It was terrifing but they were so gentle and fabulous to us that it made it all bearable. I don't know about St.V's

This is all just my opinion, obviously. And probably to some extent the way the nurses treat you is probably dependent alot on how busy they are and just luck if you get nice ones or not. I would recommend calling the hospitals and scheduling tours so you can compare them for yourself. You might be able to get some info off their websites too. I'm assuming your Doctor deliverers at both hospitals? Have you checked to see if your pediatrician has privelages at both?

Good Luck to you! And please let me know if I can help with anything else.

Kristi