Our hospital tour was actually far from dramatic. It answered a lot of our questions, even ones I had not thought to ask. It was, however, overwhelming in that exciting way that most of this process has been.
Our hospital has a very nice women's center that is attached to the main hospital. We learned where to park to check in, got details on admission policies and were walked through the entire process from beginning to end. It was a lot of information, and I know that both my husband and I had to keep ourselves from whipping out a pen and paper and writing down everything the tour guide said. We managed to refrain ourselves (we didn't want to be that couple)...but I did come home and make notes on everything I could remember.
We got an in-depth look at the "before and during" room--the room where we'll be once we check in and where the baby will be delivered. It wasn't like most hospital rooms I'd ever been in--it was more like a hotel room that can be quickly transformed into a place appropriate to have a baby. It even had a DVD player, so you can bet I'll have "Friends" on in the background.
I liked the policies the hospital has on family time immediately following the birth, as well as the fact that we can keep baby boy with us practically 24/7. If the baby needs attention outside of the birthing room after delivery, my husband can accompany him wherever he goes. This makes me happy.
Once our little guy has arrived and all of our ducks are in a row, we'll be moved to the "after" room--as a family, a touch I liked. The "after" rooms are on different floors with kitchens for the new daddies to hang out in and nurseries for the babies to hang out in. New mommies are pretty much relegated to the rooms, but that's okay.
The "after" wing was a very quiet and peaceful place...the best part of the tour was getting to peek in on the babies in the nursery. Unfortunately, the tour guide continued talking while we were standing in front of the glass windows of the nursery...I don't know about the other moms-to-be on the tour, but I found it extremely difficult to focus on what she was saying while gazing at the teeny tiny newborns. And why she chose that moment to start talking about financial obligations, I'll never know. My husband kept poking me, saying, "are you listening? Did you get that?" and I finally had to turn away from the babies to listen to what she was saying. The lesson I learned from that is to have all the money stuff taken care of waaaay in advance, because if I couldn't focus on it then, there's no way I'm going to be able to when I have my own teeny-tiny newborn to play with.
So the hospital tour was not as scary as I expected it to be. It did not make me want to curl up into a ball and roll away--but it did make everything seem very real. We saw a pair of new parents exiting the building, the mom in a wheelchair holding tight to a car seat containing an itty-bitty baby bundled up so tightly in blankets all you could see was it's face--and it occured to me that in three months, that will be us. There are really no words to describe the overwhelming feelings that brought on.
Oh, and the best part? The 24 hour McDonald's, located right there inside the hospital. Baby's first Happy Meal, anyone?
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