Hospitals

I've decided now after being in 2 different hospitals it doesn't matter what hospital you're in, but more importantly about the care you have while being there. The nurses make or break your experience. Thankfully for the most part we had fantastic nurses. Methodists nurses overall seemed to be younger, but just as qualfied.

We have now dealt with receptionists, case workers, triage nurses, L&D nurses, nurse educators, nurse practioners, neonatologists, OB doctors, and high risk doctors... we for the most part were pleased with all of them. It can be very overwhelming and sometimes scary especially when your babies are less than 30 weeks, but all of these people at both hospitals were gracious, truthful, and encouraging.

The only complaint we had came from our experience of when we got diverted from Baptist to Methodist Germantown. Obviously it is not Baptist's NICU fault that they were full, but having to switch to a hospital you are unfamiliar with was a little weird. We were use to walking in to Baptist's triage and in less than 5 minutes I was on a bed and hooked up to monitors plus they brought all the paperwork to me while I was on the bed getting my babies checked out. They have always been quick to take care of us. Not quite the same story at Methodist. We had to go to the hospital per our doctor's orders because I was having too many contractions that were picked up on our home monitoring system. Too many contractions plus an already shortened cervix could lead to more problems especially at 28 weeks.

Once in Methodist, we had to sit in the waiting area to be seen by the receptionist. After 15 minutes of waiting, she finally finished with the person in front of us and called us up. I sat in a chair there in front of her and filled out the paperwork. Then we had to go sit and wait even longer in the waiting area. 45 mintes to an hour from arriving we were finally in a room and getting hooked up to monitors that confirmed I was having contractions 3-4 minutes apart. Daniel Jerkins was not a happy camper. I'm sure there were other women who needed to take priority over me, but 45 min to an hour?! Thankfully the sweet nurses made up for the lack of immediate care.

Here are some random pictures we took in both hospitals...

These "boots" that aren't really boots massaged my legs to keep me from getting blood clots.

In the ante pardom wing, we got bigger rooms with a refrigerator.

And we got D hooked up with an extra long bed.

At Methodist, after the mag drip, I got to slowly eat again. Chicken broth, orange jello, and sprite never tasted so good!

When we got transferred from Methodist back to Baptist, the high risk dr. made me go by ambulance... which was ridiculous, but apparently funny.

D clearly followed right behind us. I think you can see my head in there leaning to look at him.

In Baptist triage, hooked up checking on those boys.

Poor D froze in the hospital. He kept a jacket on or a blanket on him at all times. I think we were waiting to go for an ultrasound here and he shared his blanket.

It pays to know the ultrasound tech.

When hooked up to monitors, I looked like an alien. I had 3 different monitor heads on. 1 for each baby and then 1 to monitor contractions.

Hands down, D's favorite part about Baptist Women's... their blue bell ice cream. 

We've clearly had our share of hospital time. We are so thankful for technology and medicine that have enabled us to continue to keep our boys cooking. We are also very appreciative of all the precious people who have taken care of us at both hospitals. 

Hopefully we won't have to walk back in one until it's time for the babies!