Comments on: Visiting people at the hospital.

By: firefoxred

firefoxred — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:50:45 +0000

I love those chairs! Your husband is awesome. Did he name the it too? Mega-Chair? Optimus Chairus? I saw my first transforming chair in July and it was excellent.

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:58:00 +0000

Wow! Climbing into the ceiling to surprise the bed-ridden patient! That’s epic win!

By: greytgrey

greytgrey — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:19:00 +0000

Yeah, the birth of my one (and only, probably because of the hospital thing) child was the worst thing ever. When we decided on the hospital, they showed us the extremely luxurious labor and delivery room, then patently failed to mention that the recovery room would be semi-private (read: not private at all).
My first roommate had a baby with colic whom she wanted with her all of the time. When she finally left, a lady with a LARGE extended family who stayed with her the whole time came in. I’d be trying awkwardly to figure out how to feed my baby (of course, exposing myself quite often in my amatuer efforts) when three adult men would come in. My bed was right by the door. Her bed was right by the restroom door, which meant that I needed to traipse through a party of about eighteen people to go to the toilet. For a giant mob of people, they were surprisingly silent, and I had to sing, turn on the faucet, and make all kinds of racket in there so that they wouldn’t hear my business. Not to mention the fact that it’s almost impossible to be modest post-delivery, anyway, and I’d get into the restroom to find that I was either exposed or worse stuff I won’t describe here.
Eventually, I resorted to deception to get out of the hospital. My child’s pediatrician wouldn’t release us until she had “evacuated” in the liquid format. I finally took that little cleansing bottle they give you and squirted it into her diaper so we could get the heck out of that prison. Ugh.

By: Ariel

Ariel — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:26:00 +0000

your daughter’s name is McRae? sweet!

there’s a boulevard in our city named McRae, so she’s in good company with the people of the great city of El Paso, Texas =)

By: Theresa

Theresa — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:10:00 +0000

My tip would have to be to try not to visit people when they're 7cm in labor. One of the pastor's at my church, only trying to do good & do his duty, came into the hospital room while I was at like 7cm in labor; no medicine, mind you; and asked if he could pray with me. Of course I grimaced and bore through it & don't know to this day what he prayed. I think he could have prayed for a faster delivery b/c it still took hours to get that 10lb baby out!

By: Kyle

Kyle — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:03:00 +0000

My wife is in the hospital right now (not having a baby). I lived point number two last night. It was 10 p.m. and dark outside. Since we didn't have the window seat, it was too dark when I tried to figure out the fold-out chair/cot.

The foot part was easy enough. There was a handle that just had this "pull me" look to it. Out came a drawer with a pull-up cushion. But, what about the back rest (or top third of the "cot?" There weren't any instructions, and in the dark I couldn't figure it out.

I tried sleeping on the thing, and it was comfortable for all of five minutes. Fortunatlely, an interruptive nurse came in around midnight and I immediately asked her to show me how it worked. Viola! Instant chair/cot with protective arms to keep you from falling off.

But, then I had to maneuver the thing into position next to my wife's "aircraft carrier" of a bed, and climb onto the chair/cot. But, only an hour later, and here came the nursing brigade to wake everyone in the room for the nightly vampire session.

More than meets the eye...indeed.

By: Julianna

Julianna — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:30:00 +0000

Ok, I haven’t read everything, but my experience with my first was very good until the family in the room next door had visitors. I think it was the woman who just had a baby’s toddler that was visiting, but she was going nuts. Each time I would get my daughter to sleep or try to feed her seemed to be the next show time. Screaming fits and crying and yelling and everything in between.

So, my advice is to keep your kids quiet, if you must bring them. I had some visit me that did very well, but if you have a ‘terrible 2′ it might be best to leave them at home in order to not disturb others. Or at least not keep them there for extended periods of time.

By: daphne

daphne — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:38:00 +0000

Stephanie, I am sorry your baby died. My first daughter was stillborn. By your comment you showed the goodness of God because you were able to rejoice with others over new life. I now have a non profit that ministers to those who have lost a baby and women without Christ usually never find peace again. It is sad. If you want, email me and I will put your baby's name on the teddy bears I give to moms who lose a baby. Grace & Peace, daphne

By: snowberrylife

snowberrylife — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:07:00 +0000

Another important rule:

Don't make eye contact with any bags of fluid hanging off the side of the bed. And whatever you do, don't reach out, squeeze the bag, and say, "Hey- what's in here?!"

It just makes for very uncomfortable conversation. And an overwhelming urge to scrub your hands raw.

By: Gabriele

Gabriele — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:52:00 +0000

This is less about visitors and more about what hospital staff should not do.

About a year and a half ago I had a total thyroidectomy. As with every medical procedure, the hospital wanted to know what, if any, allergies I had. So I listed them on the form prior to coming to the hospital: yeast, eggs, mustard, cranberry. The last two weren't so important, but the yeast and eggs show up in medicines on occasion.

In the preop, I verbally told the medical staff there about the allergies: still the same. They dutifully listed them in my chart and on a board.

So for supper, still groggy from the great umbrella drink I'd had earlier in the day, I was given spicy soup and a crusty French roll. Keep in mind that I had just had surgery on my throat and felt like my head was on a stick. Even if I had felt like eating, there's no way I could have gotten those down.

The next morning for breakfast, quite hungry, I lifted up the cover on the tray to find: scrambled eggs, toast, and cranberry juice!

I didn't get a really cool survey to fill out like you did, Jon. But I did get a phone call wanting to ask my about my stay.

Poor guy. He got an earful.