Seeking Moms' Group in Chicago Area Stories About Delivery at St.Joseph Hosp.

K., Congrats on the upcoming birth of your baby! I delivered both my children via c-sections at St.Josephs. The first was in 2006 and the c-section was unplanned. My daughters heart rate was dropping and my labor was not progressing. Consider the situation the doctors and nurses were great. I was upset because a c-section was not my birth plan but the doctor assured me this was the best thing for the baby. The anestesologist was great Dr. Solomen(sp?) The worse part of this experience was that the rooms that you have to stay i'm for three days in tiny.
My second c-section was in September 2008. This was planned and ran incredibly smooth! It was so nice I walked in to the hospital at 10:30 and had my son by 12:30. The nurses who were getting me ready for surgery were all so nice. They made me feel very comfortable which helped me relax. The anestesologist this time was not as nice. His bedside manners were not quite there. I do not remember his name. I got lucky this time and got put in a larger room, the rooms used for nonsurgical births.
Over all the experience was good both times. Of course I did not love all my nurses but that can happen any where. I also have BlueCross Blue Advantage so that is how I ended up at St. Joe's.
The hospital has a new Mom's group that meets evey Friday!
If you have any more question send me a message because I would love to answer any more questions. Best of luck A.

Hi K. -

I delivered my son at St. Joseph's in December 2006 and I had a wonderful experience. I didn't have a c-section, but my good friend just had her baby in February there via c-section and she also raved about the experience. From my experience and what I've heard, you get 2-3 times the attention from nurses and staff at St. Joe's than you would at Prentice where you're just one of many. I even delivered my son on a busy night with lots of other births and I never would have known it during the delivery.

On another note, I just recently experienced a miscarriage and had to have a D&C at St. Joe's. Again, the experience was made as pleasant as possible considering the circumstances, mostly due to the great nurses and staff. My son has had to go to the emergency room at St. Joe's 4 times due to asthma, RSV and stitches and we have received great treatment (with no waiting around) each time.

It is definitely smart of you to ask around, especially with a smaller hospital, but I think you will be very happy with the knowledge, care and treatment you receive at St. Joe's.

Congratulations and good luck!

I had my first baby at St Joseph's, but it was 10 years ago! It seems strange having a baby anywhere but prentice in Chicago, I'm sure. So my first was born a month early, I had only taken 2 of my 5 child birth classes, so i was pretty clueless. My water broke early, so I had to be induced, which took awhile to kick in. The nurses were great, my doctor was great, stayed at the hospital all night! Amazing! the thing I didn't like was that it took a really long time for the doctor to arrive who gives the epidurals. At prentice its not wou;d you like an epidural, it's when would you like your epidural? the guy showed up hours after I requestd it, by that time I didn't even need it, but got it anyway. i kept saying I feel like i'm sitting on my babies head while sitting up to get the injection. Since I wasn't showing enough sign of pain no one checked me. 20 minutes later he was born and my doctor said, well that epidural was a waste. It sure was! That's pretty annoying, especially since I'm sure that adds a lot to the hospital bill my insurance paid. I had my 2nd at Prentice, different doctor, the first had retired by then. There wasn't all that much difference except for the epidural experience. I'm sure if I had been screaming they would have had the doc there sooner than they did. I think as long as the nurses are great, you'll be fine. I had bad fibroids too, but had them removed before getting pregnant. I had too, waaaay too much bleeding, so I had to have mine removed (easy proceedure by the way). So sorry I can't help you with what it's like to have a c section there.

I delivered there twice now. My youngest is 9 weeks now so pretty recent. The nurses are really nice and helpful and are pro nursing if you go that route. Also they have a moms group every friday if you need advice, help from a lactation cons. Etc. Good luck!

I had my son at St. Joseph's 3 years ago and will be having my 2nd child there anytime now. I loved it, everyone was great! I didn't have any trouble getting my epidural. The only problem was when I got there I was waiting in the truck while my husband tried to get a wheel chair from the ER, finally a maternity nurse coming back from her break saw me still in the car and came over and she got the wheel chair and brought me up to the fourth floor and took care of me while my husband parked the car. My sister in law had her daughter there 2 years ago and she to was pleased with everyone there.

Hope all goes well for you.

I hate to be a stick in the mud, but both of my experiences with St. Joseph's were terrible. I was getting prenatal treatment there with my first pregnancy in 05 and was treated like a kid, I guess because I was 21 and unmarried? I ended up having a missed miscarriage and everyone, inlcuding the u/s techs, were very insensitive and callous with me. One of the nurses in the clinic even asked me if I had felt the baby move yet right before the doc came in to tell me the baby had died. The nurses were laughing and making jokes with me the day of the d&c and just sent me on my way as if the baby never existed. A few months later I needed my gall bladder out and unfortunately my great surgeon was affiliated with them. The surgery dept was great, but what was terrible for me was the treatment afterwards. I needed to stay overnight for observation and I saw a nurse maybe twice, even when I called for help because I couldn't move myself. The floor only had two other patients, but the only time they came in to see me was to yell at my bf for laying on the other bed that was not going to be occupied. He was my nurse and if he hadn't been there, I prob would have ended up urinating all over myself and not eating. I will NEVER go to St. Joe's again. But I do also realize that it could have been just my shitty luck, as I have a friend who has had all 3 of her boys there and loves it. Good luck to you, either way. All of this happened 4 yrs ago, so maybe things have changed since then.