CMC Maternity Center in South Charlotte/Pineville was a better experience 4 yrs ago compared to…read morebirth of our current newborn at Patewood (soon to be called Prisma - part of Palmetto health care). If you're reading this before taking the hospital tour, BE SURE to bring this stuff up during the tour if you want change! I could send an email or letter but I'm sure it would just get buried.
The nurses during recovery don't give us a specific time when they will return. Unlike at CMC the staff from different departments come at sporadic times, all unannounced or give incredibly rough approximations, usually no heads up so we can plan rests, feedings, showers, etc (I'm referring to: hearing test, birth certificate lady, house keeping, circumcision, nurses coming in just to say they're switching nurses, etc). It felt like every hour someone else would come in, unannounced. Why can't they group people to come in within a specific time range? My wife has had 4 hours sleep in the past 54 hours, whereas she could have had about 14 if they coordinated and had consideration. I gave this feedback to one of the final exam nurses and she, as expected, brushed it off to us being tired an cranky and offered to take our baby to the nursery so we could get some rest before leaving (that seems to be their crutch to justify their ho-hum attitude about inconsiderate nurse visits). This seems to me to be a top-down issue from management and culture problem. Again, we didn't have these problems at two other hospitals. If I were you I'd drive an hour and half to the Charlotte hospital. One male STUDENT came in, unaccompanied by a real doctor, to ask questions and do a repeat exam on the baby.
The epidural didn't work unlike my wife's first two pregnancies; she literally felt everything, it was very traumatic, but the nurses did an awesome job encouraging her thru that during the birth, while she screamed. Leading up to the birth, just after the epidural anesthesiologist left, I had to FRANTICALLY GO GET a nurse because my wife was about to pass out because of the botched epidural; her blood pressure was dropping so low she was getting tunnel vision, couldn't breath and was about to pass out, TWICE. If I didn't GO GET a nurse to drop the medicine, something bad could have happened. Her signals should have been continuously monitored by staff in the other room and the staff should be QUICK to respond instead of myself (what happens to single moms with no family in the room?). Both times it took over a minute for a nurse to show up. (Same thing later when we thought our baby was choking on burped up amniotic fluid, it took over a minute for a nurse to show up.) That's a long time to wait when you think a loved one is about to die. The anesthesiologist said he's been here 25 years. He didn't say a word to my wife the whole time, like he didn't care. I'm sure he must be good to be employed that long, but he botched this one.
This facility looks nice, but there were definitely some corners cut. At CMC Maternity Center in Charlotte you stay in the room you give birth in which is very convenient. Here at Patewood they have a limited number of birthing rooms and then after birth they wheel you to much smaller recovery rooms for the rest of your stay, which is nerve racking always worrying if you're going to trip on something while carrying your baby because of lack of sleep and awareness. The beds for dads are very cheap uncomfortable futon type couches instead of decent Murphy beds like at CMC. There is no soft Kleenex to wipe up baby spit up off our baby, and we're not going to use the rough paper towels they have in the bathroom, you have to use the 3 baby blankets provided. Our room has been cold the past 24 hours, making our hands cold, and they haven't used heated exam tables which they just have sitting UNUSED in the birthing rooms, so our baby is unnecessarily crying a lot because of that. More stress and less sleep for mom. A baby wipe warmer would be nice. The cafe is subpar, and the food is not as nice as CMC. Stale pastries, very basic food, long wait in line at the single man grill for something decent, sometimes the check out lady isn't there which is frustrating if your wife wants something immediately. In case your baby does go to the nursery (required for circumcision) there's no large window to look into the nursery like normal hospitals. There's a tiny sliver of glass on the door to look thru.
As for the positives: Dr Kalahan and nurse Monica in the room for the birth were fantastic! Cleanliness of the entire hospital, good security (except sometimes the secretary at the 4th floor door is either on the phone or not there, making you have to wait to get back in).
