Postpartum rooms in your hospital, are they all private?

[Natalieboo]

I have been a doula at two hospitals in the area, one has 1 bed and 2 bed, where you have to pay $150 extra a night for the private rooms, and the other hospital has 1 bed, 2 bed and 4 bed wards.

I was just reading a thread in the Nursing Issues/Concerns forum about nurses feelings of double rooms.. no one seems to like them and then my thought of being in a 4 bed postpartum room is just terrible! What do you think?

Then I was surprised, I spoke with a friend from New England who just had her baby and this is something I have never heard of before -- when you get a birthing room that is also the room you stay in for postpartum care! You never get moved to another room or anything, I think that is SO cool (and they are all private obviously).

I was just wondering what your hospital does and how common the whole private room thing is in the states or if it's just these two hospitals in ontario that have 4 bed wards in PP.

[nekhismom]

We do LDR's. The labor room are private, and really nice. FOr PP, we have some private and some semi-private. All of the rooms are dingy, and pts. often request the labor rooms for their PP stay. The private rooms are small, it's hard to squeeze the baby bed in, much less family. The semi-privates are bigger, but a total pain.

I, for one, would NOT want to share PP rooms. Too much exposure.

Actually, with Hipaa, I'm surprised that semi-privates are still legal.

[L&D_RN_OH]

All our rooms are private and exactly the same. We were originallyall LDRP. Now, we keep some pts back in L&D in LDRP's, until the census requires us to transfer pts out to PP. The rooms are exactly the same,minus the monitor.

[lynn27]

At the hospital where I worked, all were private LDRP with own jacuzzi, pullout sleeping bed for dad. A little too much like a hotel--even had a patient's mother ask if we could call room service to bring food for family.

[LauraLou]

The hospital I work at has all private PP rooms. Many of the rooms used to be semi-private, so they still have two beds. Others have a bed and a sleep chair.

The hospital a very traditional setup, seperate L&D, PP and Nursery. Each has its own nurses and they do not share responsibilities. Just last week, I had a new mom who needed help breastfeeding. I asked her PP nurse, but she said that's the nursery nurse's responsibility. I called the nursery but they were too busy to come. It was after 3:00, so the lactation counselors were gone. I'm a student nurse who has never had a baby, so I was no help. Thank goodness Grandma showed up and helped her daugther BF. It struck me as really odd that the PP nurses won't help with breastfeeding, but perhaps that's normal.

[SmilingBluEyes]

The hospital I work at has all private PP rooms. Many of the rooms used to be semi-private, so they still have two beds. Others have a bed and a sleep chair.

The hospital a very traditional setup, seperate L&D, PP and Nursery. Each has its own nurses and they do not share responsibilities. Just last week, I had a new mom who needed help breastfeeding. I asked her PP nurse, but she said that's the nursery nurse's responsibility. I called the nursery but they were too busy to come. It was after 3:00, so the lactation counselors were gone. I'm a student nurse who has never had a baby, so I was no help. Thank goodness Grandma showed up and helped her daugther BF. It struck me as really odd that the PP nurses won't help with breastfeeding, but perhaps that's normal.

ICK sounds awful....where I work ALL nurses share the responsiblity for assisting with breastfeeding. That really is a nasty setup there, one that is FAR from BF friendly. Just know that it is NOT like that EVERYWHERE, believe me!

[mitchsmom]

all of the rooms in the two hospitals in my small town are ldrp's.

i have my first son at a big city women's hospital with ldr's then moved to a pp room on another floor - but it was private. i couldn't imagine being in a semi-private room and i would avoid it at all costs personally unless someone's health depended on it (and speaking of which, i would be leery about all those strangers tromping though my room... at least i know about my own family's germs and i can say "i know you had a cold a couple of days ago... out! lol). i would chose a hospital with ldrp's.

lauralou, about the breastfeeding thing, if you ever get really stuck again you could always refer the woman to a local support group that she could call for help. a phone call isn't as good as someone physically there to help but they may be able to give enough suggestions to get her going in the right direction. i've had people call me from their postpartum bed when they weren't getting the help they needed. 1-800-la-leche (la leche league http://www.lalecheleague.org/) is an international organization with "over 7,200 accredited leaders worldwide are helping mothers breastfeed their babies through monthly meetings, by telephone or e-mail, and by working with health care professionals.", you may also have other resources locally such as the nursing mothers council (http://www.nursingmothers.org/) and private practice ibclc's (lactation consultants) which you can look them up here: http://www.ilca.org/find/index.php or here: http://www.iblce.org/us_regional_registry.htm