O'Connor Hospital Family Center

Elite '08

195

1007

Rachel R.

Santa Clara, CA

I gave birth to a healthy girl here in June 2008.  The worst part of the experience has to be that they take you to a preliminary room, have you undress, have you pee in a cup, and examine you just to be admitted.  Then you have to be transfered to an actual delivery room.  Being transfered, and wasting time, when you are in labor, is not fun!

The delivery rooms are nice.  There is a big chair for your partner to sleep in, but my husband said it was very uncomfortable (though not compared to squeezing out a baby).

They would not let me wear my t-shirt for delivery and absolutely insisted I change into a gown (I wore my t-shirt when I delivered at El Camino Hospital).

They handled it well when my epidural wore off completely and I was very unhappy and very vocal about it.  Ouch!

The nurses were very nice, but as with my other delivery, they wanted to give me medicine I didn't need, so I had to keep asking what they were doing, and saying "No" to anything I didn't want.  One nurse tried to give me Petocin without asking me.  Petocin artificially causes contractions, often more intense than natural ones, and thus increases the chances of fetal distress (and thus the need for additional interventions).  When I said I didn't want it, she asked why.  I shouldn't have to explain, so I said, "Because I don't want it."  I had been in labor for a week and I wound up having insanely intense contractions naturally (baby was delivered with 15 minutes of pushing as opposed to 2.5 hours with my first one) and I kept thinking afterward that I was so glad I had turned down the Petocin.

In the recovery room, I had to refuse more medicines I didn't need.  When I said I didn't want the stool softener, I was again asked why, and I was told, "It makes the poopie soft" as though I was some idiot who did not understand the concept.  I do not want any medicine in anticipation of a problem I don't yet have!

The recovery rooms are decent, with a little, noisy cot for your partner to sleep on.  The staff comes in frequently, to the point where I was averaging 3 people an hour!  These visitors included nurses checking your vitals and baby's vitals, people bringing food, people asking if you're done with your food yet, records recorder, person asking about special "celebration dinner" menu, person soliciting for "first photos", pediatrician who checks on your child, person coming to administer biliruben test,  person coming to administer hearing test, etc.  We opted to leave the hospital a day early in favor of getting some extra rest at home.

The food is terrible (particularly compared to El Camino Hospital) and they could not understand my vegan diet.  I had to continually explain that Ranch dressing and whatever dessert they were serving were not vegan.  They had no soy milk nor any non-dairy substitutes.

What I really liked about delivering my baby here was two things:

(1) When I asked around about this hospital, I found that the main complaint people have is that they have you keep your baby with you the whole time and make you feel guilty if you want a break.  I hated that El Camino kept taking my baby away to the nursery; I wanted her with me the whole time, so I really liked that O'Connor let you keep your baby and did almost all procedures in front of you, in your room.

(2) With my first delivery I got in serious trouble for sleeping with my newborn next to me in bed.  I got in trouble for going to the bathroom without calling the nurse.  I got in trouble for going to the bathroom by myself when I did call the nurse and she didn't show up after 15 minutes.  Here at O'Connor, I didn't get in trouble for anything.  The whole attitude was less scolding (besides the pressure to take medications I didn't want) and that was a welcome relief.

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