I ♥ Clarian North Hospital even more

I decided I really needed to do a follow-up posting for my I ♥ Clarian North Hospital post back in June. Our stay at Clarian North was amazing. Absolutely wonderful. I could go on and on...and I think I will.

Brett and my experience with the c-section, birth, and hospital stay with our first baby wasn't exactly stellar. While I felt like I was in good hands, I also felt like the hospital was lacking in some ways.

The c-section surgery was a much better experience than the surgery with Sophia. I guess it helped that we were both a bit calmer since we had been through it all once before. I didn't have to do any prep for the surgery other than fasting and not drinking for 8 hours before, which was great. With Sophia, I had to take two showers (one the night before and one the morning of) with this special soap. I also had to make sure all my nail polish was off and there was no products (hairspray or gel) in my hair. It was such a small thing, but I really ENJOYED having red painted toes for this surgery. The nurses in triage were nice and calm and efficient in getting us ready. Best IV stick I've ever had. Bravo.

Another thing that made the surgery better was the anesthesiologist. I'm so disappointed that I can't remember his name. Granted, I was drugged up half the time he was around. In triage, he went through the whole spinal process for the pain management, and then he answered ALL of my questions...and I had a lot. With Sophia's delivery, I experienced some really weird effects, and he told me which things were typical and which were not. It was nice to finally have answers for what I had experienced before. When we finally got to the operating room and I got my spinal, I was surprised that he did it so quickly. It was a lot less painful (and much less scary) than the first spinal I had. The whole time I was laying there, he kept asking me how I was feeling (as opposed to the anesthesiologist for Sophia's delivery, who barely spoke to me at all). He pumped me full of something when I started feeling nauseous. Best of all, he gave me some sort of long-lasting morphine, which lasted for 24 hours after the surgery, so I didn't have to start the narcotic as early as I had before.

My doctor that did the surgery, Dr. Flora, was also amazing. Even though I spent most of my pregnancy with another doctor, she made me feel so extremely safe in the three weeks that I saw her for appointments and for the c-section. She is perhaps the calmest doctor I have ever met. For Sophia's delivery, they had some med students in the operating room, which didn't bother me a bit. But, as the surgery progressed, I felt more like a guinea pig than a person because my doctor was teaching more than he was talking to me. On the flip side, Dr. Flora kept things nice and calm during the surgery and only really spoke up when she was finally delivering Claire, so I actually got to talk with Brett prior to the delivery moment. It was really nice. She pulled the baby out and didn't tell us what the sex was. All she did was hold her up and let us look for ourselves. ANOTHER GIRL! Yet again, our guess that we were having a boy was completely wrong. Is it awful that the first thing I thought was, "Yes! We can reuse all of Sophia's clothes!" Another great thing about the surgery - no staples, no stiches that had to be removed, and no steri-strips. YES! They used glue - yes I said glue - to patch me up, along with stitches that will dissolve. So now I don't have to go in for an incision check either. Honestly, does it get any better? Oh yes, it does.

Recovery was great. They wheeled me in to the recovery room and handed Claire right to me. It was the best! I started talking to her immediately, and she opened her eyes and looked right at me. Oh, my heart melted! It was the moment when you realize that the last 9 months were actually worth it! We got out in a little less than two hours, as compared with the 4+ hours with Sophia, and Claire spent the entire time with us. They gave her a bath right there in the room. Brett also got to feed her a bottle. Claire had been with us for a little less than 30 minutes, and she downed 2 ounces of formula. Hungry baby! We also got to carry her up to postpartum. It was the best.

Our stay in the postpartum wing was pretty much like staying in a hotel, minus the screaming babies being wheeled up and down the hallways (which we didn't hear all that often since they kept things as quiet as possible). The first night we were there, the nurses said that the postpartum wing was completely full, and some women had to stay in Labor & Delivery for the night. You wouldn't know it. Those nurses were working hard, but you couldn't tell. They took their time every time they came in our room. Best of all, they told me when they were coming back, they checked on how I was doing with pain, and THEY TOLD ME THEIR NAME. I can only remember one nurse's name from Albany - Nancy from recovery. She was the best nurse at that NY hospital by far. The nurses at Clarian wrote their names on this little wipe board in the room every time there was a shift change.

When I had Sophia, the nurses insisted that I get up out of bed and walk a bit the day of my surgery. So, I got up, and they took me to the bathroom about 8 hours after the delivery. That resulted in me almost passing out, a mad rush of nurses, alarms going off, and being taken back to bed in a wheelchair. With Claire's delivery, I didn't get out of bed until 24 hours after the surgery, which made me feel a lot safer about physically getting out of bed. It's not the most pleasurable experience, but it was definitely better than the last. They also did amazing pain management at this hospital. The nurses had me on a schedule for medication. A SCHEDULE! With Sophia, I had to buzz the nurse to get any medication, and I was usually about to cry when I finally buzzed them because I hurt so much. They gave me the same medication that I took in NY, but they gave me twice as much. That must explain why (in NY) I would take my medication, feel fine for about two hours, and then go back to hurting again. At Clarian, I took my medication and then had a blissful 6-8 hours without pain. I was able to get up and walk around a lot more, which made me feel more like a real person and not a bump on a log.

The facilities at this hospital were amazing. Brett actually had a fold-out bed to sleep in, which was MUCH better than the straight back chair and radiator that he slept on in NY. I wanted to take my bed home with me. I slept so well in it. And it was QUIET. The bed in NY bumped and thumped every time you sat up. The lighting in NY was also terrible - my roommate and I had to warn each other when we flipped on the florescent light that made a huge bang when you turned it on. I honestly couldn't count all the light switches in our room at Clarian. There were so many ways to turn on lights! Brett had fun with the mobile computer that was in the room. I was grateful for the mini-fridge and the nutrition room that was stocked with apple and cranberry juice. I was also thankful for the food service. In NY, you got your meal whenever they came around to take your order, and even after you put in your order, you were lucky to see a food tray in an hour. We honestly lived on pastries that Brett had picked up at a bakery on his way back to the hospital one morning. At Clarian, I got a menu, was able to call food service anytime between 6 am and 8:30 pm, and received my meal within about 20 minutes. The bathroom in this room was really nice too. First of all, there was a FULL BATHROOM WITH A SHOWER. So much better than sharing a toilet with a roommate and having to walk down the hall to the shared shower facility. Brett actually got to take a shower in the morning too.

By the time day 4 came around, Brett and I were ready to leave and get back to normal life. I missed Sophia, and even though we did get to see her when she visited us every day, it just wasn't the same. She seems so old now compared to Claire! We officially have a toddler and an infant. It was a great experience having Claire at Clarian North. Maybe her name was subliminally inspired by the name of the hospital! We came home with a bottle of sparkling grape juice and celebratory meals packaged up as a gift from the hospital. All of that wonderful care they provided for the three of us, and then they send us home with a gift. I feel like I should be the one giving something to them for all they did for us. Yes, the facilities were impressive, but it was the people that made our our baby's birth at Clarian North the best we had ever experienced.

So thank you Dr. Flora for a c-section surgery that was the calmest and most fulfilling that I have experienced thus far. Thank you to the anesthesiologist who made made me feel so extremely safe during my c-section. Thank you to a patient and caring nurse staff that took such good care of me, my husband, and our new baby girl. The nurses in Labor & Delivery and Postpartum have such a love for their jobs and their patients, and it shows in every late night conversation, every helping hand out of bed, and every infant diaper change. They are truly gifted.