Hospital Tour and Lamaze Question

[JustMare]

I'm scheduled for a two-hour maternity ward tour at the hospital on January 8th. Do you think this is too close to my due date? I'll be 35 weeks at the time. I just marked my calendar to pack my hospital bag at 30 weeks as Beth mentioned in another post! :)

Is lamaze really necessary? My hospital offers a twelve hour course for $220. None of my girlfriends have ever taken it and did fine without it. DH thinks it's a waste of time and money to learn how to breath. I know the nurses will help you out if you tell them you didn't take the course.

What are your opinions?

[egoldber]

If you can take the tour a little sooner, it couldn't hurt! But that's probably fine.

And it never hurts to be as educated as you can possible be. Just remember that a nurse will not be with you in the room at all times. There will be LONG periods of time when it will just be you and DH. There aren't enough nurses to have one per patient. A L&D nurse usually has 2-3 patients. There were plenty of times when I went an hour or more without seeing a nurse. She's run in and say "Sorry I have to prep for an emergency C next door, I'll see you in an hour!"

[JustMare]

So what do they really teach you at Lamaze??

My DR advised me that from the second I get admitted a DR will be with me the entire time and will not leave. How true is this? I don't expect her to sit by my side for 20 hours, but isn't the majority of the time waiting?

Am I watching too much "A Baby Story" to think I'm going to go in, get an epidural, breath a little, wait a lot and have a baby? :)

[Momof3Labs]

I would recommend taking some sort of childbirth class so that you know what to expect. While I didn't use the Lamaze breathing techniques through my labor, it really helped both DH and I to know what my body was going through, and what to expect from our particular hospital.

And don't count on the nurses for anything - I learned that the hard way - especially not for tips on how to get through your labor or the pushing part, or how to make the process go easier. The nurses are rarely like those that you see on TLC! You might get lucky and get a great nurse, and you might not - why take the chance?

[Momof3Labs]

Do you mean a nurse will be with you the entire time and not leave? I wish - I had at least 10 different nurses (each for a few minutes at a time) through my 21 hour labor (2.5 hours of pushing). I checked into the hospital on the busiest day they had had in years - all the rooms were full, and the nurses were going crazy, they were spread so thin. You just never know what you are going to encounter!

Yes, I probably am a little bitter because my hospital experience wasn't what I expected. In fact, it wasn't even what they told us we'd get when we went through Lamaze (taught by one of the head LDRC nurses). If I had been prepped for a lesser experience, I probably wouldn't have been so disappointed. But next time I will be prepared and either go to a different hospital (for more of the same, I'm sure) or bring a doula with me!

[COElizabeth]

I did have an epidural, but I used the breathing techniques quite a bit as I was having very painful contractions before the epidural. Even if you are planning to have an epidural, I think it's worth learning some breathing techniques. You might be able to figure out ways to breathing patterns on your own, but for me, anyway, it was good to have some concrete things I had practiced and could try to remember. The childbirth class will also probably go over the various stages of labor and things like that. I will admit that some of the class was a little boring, but I liked the class and am definitely glad I went.

That's great if the doctor will be with you a lot, but I would clarify that to be sure. It's quite unusual, I think. I agree with Beth that many women may go at least an hour without seeing a nurse or doctor. By far the vast majority of my labor was spent with DH, my sister, and my dad (Dad left for the actual delivery). My OB spent an hour or so with me but then had to go home, and the doctor who attended the actual delivery was there really only about half an hour, as there were two other deliveries she had to attend immediately after mine.

Elizabeth, Mom to James, 9-20-02

[egoldber]

Definitely too much Baby Story! Unless you're holding out on us and giving birth at one of those "hospitals to the stars!" :) A lot of lamaze is general preperation about what to expect during labor.

I saw my doctor for a few minutes when I got to triage, a few minutes in the room after I'd been there a couple hours, a few minutes a few hours later when they started Pitocin, a few minutes a few hours later after I'd been on Pitocin and no progress (a different doctor at this point and different nurses too for that matter), a few minutes a few hours later, and then for the 60 minutes during my C-section, I had her undivided attention! I saw a nurse more frequently than that, but the nurses are NOT able to give you 1-1 attention.

HTH,

[JustMare]

Okay, okay, okay - you all talked me into it, I'll sign up for the class tomorrow!! :)

My DR did say whichever DR is on call to deliver will be with me the entire time. I didn't clarify "entire time". At my next month's visit I will.

As for the hospital, it is a "snooty" one on the upper east side. They offer pre and post delivery massages, manicures, pedicures as well as take out from nearby restaurants. I'm debating if I should consider the private room for $1,000 per night!

Thanks for convincing me!!!

Oh, and I'm not watching anymore "A Baby Story"!!! :)

[ralu]

>Is lamaze really necessary? My hospital offers a twelve hour
>course for $220.

First, your insurance may cover part of the cost.

The Lamaze classes were especially helpful for my DH. I had read before about the birth process and did not get too much new info, except for the breathing techniques. I think they were useful to some extent during labor.

And, as the other posters have said, don't rely on nurses or doctors to be there. Before pushing, I think I was in the same room with a nurse for a total of maybe 20 minutes out of 4h (and that includes the triage). My doctor was called when I was fully dillated and ready to push. A resident examined me in the triage room and that was about it. (And I really liked not having nurses or doctors around while laboring.) Maybe if I had taken medications, they would have followed me more closely.

HTH,

Raluca

[jubilee]

As for lamaze, is depends is you plan on delivering without medication or not. Lamaze is about redirecting the pain without meds or epidural. You said something about an epidural in another post, and I'd say if you plan on a medicated birth then the Lamaze class isn't recommended, but Instead take a "prepared childbirth" class. That class talks about ALL the options of childbirth, does show focused breathing, but also pain management options, epidurals, c-section if necessary, etc. With my first son I took a Lamaze class and delivered natural. With my second son I took a prepared childbirth class because my husband had never seen a birth, and he said it was awesome. It took a lot of the fear away from him, and actually made him a help in the delivery room for me. I recommend you take a class, but depending on your desire for a Lamaze birth or not may help you decide what type of class to take.

[houseof3boys]

I think you should take Lamaze and definitely sign up for a post delivery massage!

That is the funniest thing I ever heard with the massages and mani/pedis.

Stop watching Baby Story....it is soooo fake. :P

[mharling]

Based on what I had heard, I didn't expect to use anything from our class. But I did!! I'm really glad we took the class. At the very least, we got to see the hospital, where we had to go during emergency vs. non-emergency hours, see a room, etc. It wasn't a hospital we were logistically familiar with, so it was very helpful. Even having the SLIGHTEST idea of what to expect was very reassuring.

Mary & Lane 4/6/03
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b3524e54e42d - New 10/3