Music To Announce Births?

[shay]

Okay, the NYE baby spurned this on. I have always wondered this, so decided to finally ask. Bear with me.

Vashka25 said:

One thing that is kinda cute at my hospital though is that everytime a baby is born they play Brahm's Lullaby throughout the whole hospital over the PA system.

And Heather333 said:

We also play a lullaby over the PA system when a baby is born but only in the Women's Center

In fact, several of you commented that your hospital has this practice.

Question..........what about the moms who give birth to stillborns? Do you have some system of blocking that out of their room so they won't hear it? I dunno, but I'd think if I was in the hospital to have a dead baby, every time I heard that "lullabye" played I'd feel like it was a slap in the face. And Heather said only in the Women's center, so does that mean your IUFD's deliver outside the women's center?

I know this is kind of an odd question, but I've always wondered. I mean, it's not just live, healthy babies that are born on Labor and Delivery.

So how do y'all work it? FTR, my hospital doesn't do this, and I've never worked at an institution that does. When we have an IUFD mom, we try to keep her on the L&D unit (the walls are soundproofed) in a quiet room and let her go home the same day she delivers if she chooses and is healthy. When we wheel her out we take special care not to wheel her by the NBN.

[emily_mom]

We also do the lullaby, but it is only played in the hallways and common areas. It is possible to hear it in the rooms if the door is open, but usually with IUFD's, we keep their door shut. They really don't want to hear all the commotion of excited family members and babies crying. We also offer them the choice to move to another unit or go home the same day. I've only seen one IUFD that has heard the lullaby, and she cried. She looked at her husband, and he said, "Next time that will be us, babe."

Kristy

[shay]

Originally posted by emily_mom

I've only seen one IUFD that has heard the lullaby, and she cried. She looked at her husband, and he said, "Next time that will be us, babe."

OMG. I would have lost it. That is just so sad and touching. Oh how awful. Wow.

[Heather333]

I don't think it is played in the patient's rooms. Just in the hallway speakers. I work NICU but when I have to go to M/B for any reason I notice that the doors to the patient's rooms are always shut. I don't know how soundproof the room is though. I know that we really don't get a lot of IUFD or stillborns for some reason. We deliver anywhere between 300-350 babies per month. The last night I worked, that lullaby went off about 10 times in 12 hours. Next time I see a M/B nurse, I will ask if they forgo the lullaby for the other patient's when they do have a fetal demise.

Heather

[at your cervix]

I tell my IUFD pt's "We usually play a lullaby over head each time a baby is born. Would you like us to play the lullaby for your baby, or would you prefer that we didn't?" Surprisingly, most moms actually say that they want it. After all, although they said hello and goodbye at the same time, they did just give birth to their baby. I have found that when the baby is not doing well, I still play the lullaby. I had a mother of a very sick micro preemie tell me that since we didn't play the lullaby that she thought that was our way of saying that we knew that her baby was going to die anyway so there was no reason to let people know that she was born.

I think that this is a very individual thing and sometimes you can just tell that you shouldn't even address the issue. As we all know, some people handle it better than others. I had a pt not too long ago that had a lot of family with her and they went around the department practically destroying the place, the took down every picture of anything "baby" related (which was all of them) and brought them to the nurses station and actually threw them down and made comments about how insensitive we were, they requested that the nursery curtains be closed at all times and got very upset when a visitor requested that they be open so that they could see a baby, they even took down the signs in the pt's room that explained discharge times because it indicated that the baby should be seen by the ped before discharge. I am a very sensitive person, however, there are extremes and we have to realize that although these pt's are going through a very hard time, the pt next door is going through a very happy time and there is no reason that we should do anything to take away from that persons joy either. It is a very touchy subject, we just do what we can. My solution is that if I have a mom that is very upset and not doing well, I will probably not play lullabys for the day or so that she is there, but I don't think that we should stop doing it all together just because that same mom may be in the hospital in a year from now visiting a friend and hear the lullaby that would cause her to become upset, after all, we don't tell people not to take their babies in public because someone that may have lost a baby may see their baby and become upset.

I hope that this makes sense because I have been blabing for so long that I may not be coherent anymore!!!!!

[anitame]

Actually that made perfect sense. :) And it never occured to me to offer the IUFD moms the lullabye. I think it would be a good idea for some of them; it's definitely worth thinking about.

[Anaclaire]

The places I've worked offered mothers a room on our GYN floor instead of on our Mother-Baby Unit floor. Moms who even had ectopic pregnancies as well as moms who have their own medical complications and their baby is in the NICU could go to the GYN floor. Our GYN floor was mostly for hysterectomies, mastectomies, and other "female" surgeries not related to giving birth. Our undelivered sickle cell patients were sent to the oncology floor because they seemed able to care for them better there... also they are often longer staying patients and I must say that being undelivered and on the Mother-Baby unit sure does make the moms want to go ahead and deliver sooner than later... They want their baby in their arms like the other moms on the unit.

I suppose all hospitals aren't able to have separate areas due to the size of the hospital, but it's certainly preferable in my opinion.

Oh yes, our baby lullaby music was played very quietly in the halls all over the hospital. If you weren't really listening for it, you often would miss it or just hear the end of it. They only played a few lines of the song rather than the whole tune. We never heard any complaints.

I just LOVE the thought of asking the IFUD moms, the earlier than 23 weeker moms who's babies die in their arms after only a few minutes, and other such moms if they want the lullaby played for their child too. It's incredibly sweet and considerate... should help in their grieving process.

By the way, I've never been an L&D nurse... just Mother-Baby and NICU. If I ever find myself in the lullaby situation, I'll certainly consider offering it to one of my "unfortunate" patients... for sure!