QUEEN'S Birthing Center Tour

After church today, I was scheduled to take a tour of the Labor & Delivery Wing at the Queen's Medical Center where we're having baby. I had not done a tour of Castle Hospital before giving birth to Lole, so this was a new thing for me, and in fact, I dreaded the thought of having to go anywhere else but Castle, since that was all I knew. Bo was supposed to come with, but he had to work, so Lole was my companion and the only child among like 20 other couples also present for the tour. Right away we were gifted some baby magazines that included samples & coupons, as well as a token photo album for our new baby (since we don't have any pics of her yet, we stuck in our family pic)

I was pleasantly surprised and extremely grateful I made the trip because I feel so much more at ease and informed. Last week someone told me that Queen's was like a hotel, and I didn't believe it until I walked into the front lobby...the ambiance was nothing like I had experienced in other hospitals! (Sorry, I was too much in a rush to take a picture) The Maternity Floor is at the very top of the tower (10 stories up) and offers great views of the city and enough separation and safety from the rest of the patients/visitors in the hospital. I don't remember if Castle had this, but the baby's anklets/bracelets are sensored to set off the alarm any time someone tampers with them, or leaves the hospital without proper deactivation, thus automatically locking the double doors--exits and entrances--to prevent baby abduction. Cool! I learned that besides having 2 C-Section ORs, on-site anesthesiologists/pediatricians, and 9 delivery rooms all on the same floor, they also offer twice a day classes to teach you how to bathe your newborns. They even have a class that preps young children (if they're going to be present at the birthing) and one that teaches them the what's and what not's of caring for/holding/touching baby. Castle never had that, nor did they have a lunch cart come to YOU everyday so you don't have to drag your post-partum body to the cafeteria<--also something Castle does not have-->for snacks or whatever...Bo will love it here. However, when I showed him a picture of what will magically turn into HIS BED, he laughed and looked at me like I was crazy.

Good luck hunny! Anyway, the whole thing took like an hour, only because there were so many of us, and we waited around a bit for latecomers. The staff was friendly and I assume a little more personable than maybe those of a hospital like Kapiolani (dubbed the "baby factory") because Queen's averages about 200 births a month, whereas Kapiolani can easily do that in less than a week. Overall, I left completely satisfied with my choice to give birth here. Now I just have to decide whether or not to continue with my original plans to have a VBAC or to opt for a repeat C-section. (Yes, I am having second thoughts!) In the meantime, here is the most recent picture of me and baby girl...almost 38 weeks!