Questions & Answers

Maybe I need a new OB...she seemed largely uninterested in my desire to just have a baby and go home in the simplest manner possible. My husband's aunt is a NICU nurse and she told me they laugh at people who come in with birth plans. That certainly didn't give me a warm and fuzzy about hospital staff respecting my wishes, either. Part of me hopes we wait too long to go to the hospital so we can just birth at home :)

I am not sure where you live or what the hospital policies are but my ob has advised me to type up a birth plan. They will put it in my file and try to accommodate everything on the list, unless there is an emergency. In my birth plan I will request that the cord is delayed in cutting, that the baby stays on my chest for several hours before weighing or vaccinating or prodding the baby, and that my placenta is saved for encapsulating. I would talk to your ob about your concerns and ask her what options you have.

When I had my daughter, I didn't want her out of my sight either. There was a small alcove off of the labor and delivery room where they did the apgar tests and the weight and all that, but I was two feet away and could see her the whole time. The only time she was gone was for 1/2 an hour to get a bath and that was like three or four hours after I had her. They didn't put the eye stuff on her, but I know they did the shots, which sucks. That 1/2 hour was the only time that she was out of my sight and room the entire time I was at the hospital.

I believe they usually will hand the baby to you first now and if you want they will wait until after you have breast fed and bonded with the baby before taking it away for testing and a bath. That's what I'm going to request.

I have read the eye thing isn't necessary unless you tested positive for any cultures. For the vaccines I was going to do the vitamin k but I read it was perfectly safe to wait a week or so for the others. I definitely believe they are important and I don't want my baby to get mumps or any other childhood disease that could be prevented but the baby was born ten minutes ago-give it a minute for heaven's sake! I can't get to the original article but here is a cached one that talks about things they will want to do and why and what you can opt out of safely. I thought it was helpful: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2012/02/1o-decisions-for-parents-of-newborns.html

Kelliers I am having the same issue!! I feel like he is MY baby not the hospitals and I am not sure if my anxiety is hormones or irrational but I do NOT want my baby out of my room. Also I know for a fact that I am not allowing him to have the Heb B vaccine at birth. Vaccines that early is crazy to me. I've read that the vitamin K is for their best interest but I am not sure about the other tests they run.