Touring the Hospital

We started taking classes at the maternity center two weeks ago. The maternity pavilion at St. Ann's Hospital is absolutely fantastic. I really like the maternity center at the hospital because the moment you enter the labor and delivery floor you would never know you're in a hospital. It's a very modern maternity unit and is pretty much everything a woman would hope for in a labor and delivery ward. The labor/delivery/recovery room itself is deceiving. It doesn't look like a hospital room. Everything is hidden away in armorers and cabinets - even the baby bed and warmer folds out from an armorer! Most of the monitoring equipment is hidden in the wall, covered by a framed picture on the wall that slides upward. Pretty neat stuff!

The rooms themselves are huge. You could seriously host a decent sized party in one of them. They are equipped with every type of chair you would possibly want (rockers, gliders, etc.) and each room has a very large shower that you can labor in. Birthing balls are available in all the rooms (which they even suggest using in the shower). PLUS there are rooms that have tubs for hydrotherapy, I definitely am going to request one of the hydrotherapy rooms! Laboring in the tub sounds ideal to me. I am so comforted by being in the water, whether it be a tub, shower, pool, etc. I love the water. I am really hoping that hydrotherapy will work for me through the natural labor process that I have selected for myself. I am also so grateful that my husband is 100% with me on my decision to labor naturally with no medication. I could not imagine going through this whole process without a loving and caring support like he is. He may be a lot more squeamish about things than I am but overall we are a pretty swell team.