Best hospital to have a baby?

[HockDad]

Originally Posted by mSooner

Bottom line, when it comes to hospitals with nice amenities, new moms have lots of wonderful options. However, I'd encourage moms to look beyond that. Almost any hospital stay will be nice, but there are a lot of differences in policies, etc. Baylor Dallas is known to be natural birth friendly, not so much Dallas Presby. Some hospitals still require mandatory newborn stays in the nursery. Others allow rooming in the entire time. Some have better NICUs, though the regional hospitals are quickly catching up. Choose based on your birth preferences, preferred doctor/midwife, and location.

How in the world do you determine that Baylor is more natural birth friendly? Do you have statistics to offer? If it is simply a subjective feeling, I will tell you that Presby never encouraged us to have anything but natural births. But when I say Presby, it is really the doctors involved.

My gut feeling, which is not based on objective facts, is that the older the doctor the more likely that he/she will push for a "scheduled" birth. That has always been my feeling, but once again, I think it is just an old saying around the old Campbell house.

[mSooner]

How in the world do you determine that Baylor is more natural birth friendly? Do you have statistics to offer? If it is simply a subjective feeling, I will tell you that Presby never encouraged us to have anything but natural births. But when I say Presby, it is really the doctors involved

My best resource? Doulas that have assisted laboring moms at most of the hospitals in the DFW area. Of course that is subjective, but the agreement seemed to be that you were going to get the least resistance from nursing/hospital staff in having a natural birth at Baylor Dallas, at least a few years ago. Don't forget that most OBs are not there to physically manage a labor. Granted, a situation happened at BUMC in the last year that makes me wonder if they may be changing directions a bit, though they still have some midwives with delivery privileges.

They also participated in the March of Dimes study concerning babies born earlier than 39 weeks and took steps to limit elective births before 39 weeks in their hospital:

Baylor Hospital Among 25 that Dramatically Lower Pre-term Births « D Healthcare Daily

You can also look at C-section rates, although these can be really doctor/patient population dependent.

The 2010 rates are here:

http://www.cesareanrates.com/storage...ate_Report.pdf

It's pretty darn scary how high Texas is as compared to the rest of the US. Interestingly, a lot of the Presbys (Allen, Dallas, Plano) are closer to 50% (holy ****) while the Baylors are in the high 30s and low 40s--still too high, but better.

Outside of natural birth, rooming in was a big deal to me. I believe Plano Presby JUST instituted this within the past few years, probably when they earned their "Baby Friendly" Designation in 2010. I couldn't speak for Presby Dallas for sure, but I want to say they don't.

It's also interesting to look at what hospitals have the Baby Friendly designation (mostly around breastfeeding). Texas Health does great here. What you have to do to get the Baby Friendly Designation:

The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding were developed by a team of global experts and consist of evidence-based practices that have been shown to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration. Baby-Friendly hospitals and birthing facilities must adhere to the Ten Steps to receive, and retain, a Baby-Friendly designation.
The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding are:

1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.
2. Train all health care staff in the skills necessary to implement this policy.
3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are separated from their infants.
6. Give infants no food or drink other than breast-milk, unless medically indicated.
7. Practice rooming in - allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day.
8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
9. Give no pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants.
10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or birth center.

These are the DFW area hospitals that have them:

Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital, Arlington, TX (04/10)

Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX (01/10)

Texas Health Harris Methodist HEB Hospital, Bedford, TX (03/09)

Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Cleburne, Cleburne, TX (03/12)

Texas Health Harris Methodist Stephenville, Stephenville, TX (03/09)

Texas Health Presbyterian Allen, Allen, TX (10/08)

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano, Plano, TX (09/10)

Interestingly, Presby Dallas isn't on the list--odd considering their sister hospitals are. BUMC isn't--I remember hearing something about it when I was getting ready to deliver there. They did almost everything on the list anyway. I think it had something to do with formula samples, but they may have been working towards it. Baylor All Saints is working towards it as well.

The DFW Area Moms Pregnancy and Childbirth board is actually a great resource for finding out more about hospitals too.

Of course in the end, a lot of it depends on your doctor or midwife. There's no getting around that.

[stephwin]

Originally Posted by HockDad

How in the world do you determine that Baylor is more natural birth friendly? Do you have statistics to offer?

I can't speak about specific stats or anything related to Baylor Dallas, but I think how natural birth friendly a hospital is can be related to the policies they enforce.

Some hospitals require an IV, no question about it. Some don't, but require a hep lock. Some don't require either. The ones that don't require either or just the hep lock are more natural birth friendly because if you are birthing naturally, you usually don't require an IV unless you become dehydrated. Having an IV can limit your movement, which is essential if you are aiming for a natural birth because movement helps with pain management.

Some hospitals also offer birth balls, squatting bars, and tubs/showers in the labor rooms, among other things. These are things that are very important to a mother trying to birth naturally, and even for those that know they are getting an epidural but are trying to prolong that process. All of these are great pain management tools.

So just by looking at the hospital policies, you can get a feel for how natural friendly the hospital might be. Of course there are always some nurses that are great and will advocate for you, and others that will be difficult to deal with. The OB/midwife will obviously play into this as well, but if the hospital has very strict policies, that's not something you can usually get past.

[bencronin04]

DallasChild - Best for Moms & Babies 2013

[TheOverdog]

1. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
2. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are separated from their infants.
3. Give infants no food or drink other than breast-milk, unless medically indicated.
4. Practice rooming in - allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day.
5. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
6. Give no pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants.

IMO several of the polices listed are godawful ways to treat a new mother in a hospital setting, while trying to recover from a medical scenario, who went through anything but the best of circumstances.. You should really make sure that you are ready for and want to accept the responsibilities they imply. Mothers and babies together 24X7 is one of the ones that sounds great in practice but sucks in reality, especially if mom went through close to 24 hours of labor. Sorry mom, but no rest for you!

("No nursery - there's you $$ savings right there bencronin!") 24X7 nursery staff is way more expensive than a chef.

[mSooner]

Mothers and babies together 24X7 is one of the ones that sounds great in practice but sucks in reality, especially if mom went through close to 24 hours of labor

They still have nurseries...they just don't require mandatory nursery time, which is what I had a problem with. A new mom can still send the baby to the nursery if they like. Mandatory nursery time is easier on the hospital because they can do newborn checks en masse and without parents hovering.

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

IMO several of the polices listed are godawful ways to treat a new mother in a hospital setting, while trying to recover from a medical scenario, who went through anything but the best of circumstances.. You should really make sure that you are ready for and want to accept the responsibilities they imply. Mothers and babies together 24X7 is one of the ones that sounds great in practice but sucks in reality, especially if mom went through close to 24 hours of labor. Sorry mom, but no rest for you!

("No nursery - there's you $$ savings right there bencronin!") 24X7 nursery staff is way more expensive than a chef.

It's certainly up to the parents what they wish to do, but if one is set on BFing, as I was, the above is very important. I'm not a breast Nazi, people have to make their own choices, but having a "helpful" nurse giving the baby a bottle can totally screw up the process.

[Back2Texas]

Originally Posted by TXNGL

It's certainly up to the parents what they wish to do, but if one is set on BFing, as I was, the above is very important. I'm not a breast Nazi, people have to make their own choices, but having a "helpful" nurse giving the baby a bottle can totally screw up the process.

Yep, and the nurses are gonna have to wake you up to nurse regularly anyway... it's not like sending the baby to the nursery means you get to sleep for 12 hours straight.

Dallas Birth Network meetings are a great place to learn more about childbirth, talk to area doulas about hospitals/providers who might be a good fit for you, etc. Meetings are usually the first Thurs of the month at SMU Plano.
Dallas Birth Network
https://www.facebook.com/DallasBirthNetwork