Seeking Info About Valley Hospital

Hi A.,

Welcome to Las Vegas and congratulations! I had my daughter at Valley Hospital 2 years ago. While the hospital is not the nicest in terms of upgraded "comforts" it is one of the better hospitals in town. It has one of the best neonatal centers, which is reassuring in the event there are any complications with your baby after birth. From what I've been told by several Dr.'s and nurses I know, the older hospitals in town (Valley, Sunrise, Desert Springs & UMC) have better staff than the newer ones. The older, more experienced staff have preferred to stay at thier original hospitals, so when the new hospitals open up, they are staffed with less experienced nurses & Dr.'s. For me, that's reason enough to trade a bit comfort!!! Good luck!

little late seeing your message :-) Hope your experience was great!

Hi,
I've had 2 kids 2 Valley Hospital. I really liked it. They have have a very attentive staff and a great NICU. The nurses are very nice. I had my 3rd baby @ valley 3.5 months ago.

I had my twins at Valley Hostpital. They had great care there for my babies. It isn't the best to look at, but it is a great place, with a caring staff. I had my last baby at Summerlin Hospital and loved it there. They had single occupancy rooms, which for me was a great comfort. The nurses were great too.

A.,
Congrats on your soon to be new little one!
The only experience I have with Valley is that my friends son was transferred to the NICU there when he was one day old due to complications they couldn't handle where he was born. Everything seemed OK, but the staff I dealt with when I visited did seem a little uptight.

A couple of the major things to consider when choosing the hospital would be

1. are you at risk for a complicated delivery or complications with the baby? If you think you might need to use the NICU, I would really HIGHLY recomend Sunrise. They are the top rated NICU in Nevada. Both of my sons were Sunrise NICU babies and I would recommend them hands down!!!! Having seen both Sunrise and Valley NICU's (my sons and my friends baby) I would use Sunrise, if that is a consideration.

2. LOCATION--- If you had a normal pregnancy and don't have a high level of risk for delivery, choose a hospital that is convieniant for you, location wise. Especially since you have an older child too, you don't want your husband to have to spend tons of time driving to get to you and the new baby.

3. Sleeping arangements-- I mean for your husband and older one. I would recommend St. Rose (especially the Sienna campus at St. Rose and Eastern). They have beautiful, private rooms that allow you to stay in the same room from beginning to end. They have all the birthing equipment installed in every room (hidden behind very pretty cabinets) and each room has a bed your husband can use and he can stay the entire time if he wants too. I know they let siblings visit, but I'm not sure what the policy would be for them to stay over.

As for staff, most everyone I dealt with at Sunrise was great, with the exception of one horrid nurse (mine, not the baby's) that my family and friends all dubbed the Wicked Witch (I was too sick after delivery to really notice anything) BUT because it is more crowded (2 people per room, more rooms per floor), it can take longer to get things and the nurses tend to be less attentive (not less caring) becasue they are so busy.

At St. Rose, you are in a private room, and the nurses aren't as overworked so they can usually get to you quicker when you need something. Also it is a smaller hospital and the staff there is wonderful!!! We have used St. Rose many times (both the regular hospital and the ER, for my son who has asthma) and have never had any issues with the staff.

I know it's kind of long, but I hope this helps. I'm not saying other hospitals aren't good, I'm just wrighting from personal experience.

I would only go to Valley if you're planning to have a "routine" birth.
I transported there, and was unpleasantely surprised with the restrictions they put me under, I wasn't even "allowed" to go the bathroom.

I found the staff to me be mean, demeaning, and outright b$tchy, on the 'labor' area. The dr. on call who took my case was also an absolute a$$ of a woman and I would never ever want to see her again.

THe postpartum nurses where very nice though.

DD went to the NICU, and the staff there was also very 'in the box'.

I also wouldn't recommend that hospital if you want to breastfeed. The LC I 'saw' wasn't helpful AT ALL, gave me the wrong advice, wasn't available to help me latch DD... just gave me some papers to read and told me to pump. I actually called a private Lactation Consultant and she came to see me right away and helped me bf dd.

In the NICU they advocating pumping, but not actually BFing. We had to stick to our guns to refuse supplementation -though she really didn't need it- because it made it "convenient" for the nurses instead of having to call me to come feed DD. Once they actually gave her a bottle against our wishes. And they act like you're doing something indicent if you are actually BFIng in the NICU, put me behind a curtain and all.

If you want a hospital that's more accomodating, I'd go to summerlin. But it also has to do with your DR. on what the nurses "let" you do. However, summerlin has been having more experience with other comfort measures besides medications.

www.thebirthsource.com actually has reviews of hospitals and dr.s in the area, you may want to check that out.

I delivered both of my kids (ages 3 & 1) at Valley. With my daughter I had to have an emergency c-section that went fine. My problem with that stay in the hospital was maybe on day 2 or 3. They took my daughter to the nursery to bathe her and change her clothes/blankets and maybe an hour later, they brought someone else's baby back to me. I'm a light skinned Black woman, and I could tell the baby they brought me was white. They checked our arm bands and the nurse realized that baby belonged across the hall. I was eventually given the right baby! When I delivered my son, I was scheduled for another c-section and the nurse came in and asked for a urine sample and took a blood sample. Well, she never took those samples to the lab. When I got into the er for delivery, they were giving me a spinal when they noticed I started bleeding (from the spinal). They found out that my platelets were only 52 when they should be well over 100,000 so I had to be put so sleep. My problem with that was if the nurse had sent my samples to the lab, they would have known before hand that my platelets were low and could have done something to prevent me having to go to sleep for the delivery. Just be careful and be VERY aware of what's going on around you. The staff can be a little "rushed" because they delivery babies all day everyday, but this is something special for you so make sure they take their time and do it right!

Hi. I had my son at Valley two years ago. My labor and delivery staff was great, BUT the nursery after I had the baby was awful. They took my son for his bath and shots, etc. and never brought him back. After several hours and 3 requests to have my baby brought to my room, I finally walked to the nursery to get him. I saw him laying alone, to the side with a bunch of spit up all over him. That upset me, but I understand it happens, they have alot of babies in there. What really bothered me was, I had been requesting him so I could breatfeed him, and instead of bringing him to me, they fed him a bottle. After I took him to the room, he started choking and turning blue. I ran out into the hall and got a nurse, who grabbed the baby and yelled "If you need someone to help you every time your baby coughs, you might as well leave him here" and then she proceeded to take him to the nursery with no explination. I freaked out and started crying hysterically, thinking I must be the worlds worst mother. After all that, I requested a LC several times, and no one ever came, AND when I asked for a nurse to help me to the bathroom (I was alone in the hospital and had several stiches) they told me "if we can find someone who's not busy" and then never sent anyone. After that I grabbed my son and checked myself out. However, my son got very sick at 5 weeks and spent a week at St. Rose Dominican. The staff there was incredible! They were very supportive with me, and with my son! I would highly recommend this hospital!