Delivery at St. Charles

Yesterday DH and I went for our hospital tour/ child birth education at St. Charles. It's the only place my doctor delivers and I live not even 10 minutes from the hospital, plus I have twins being born in the dead of winter, logically it makes most sense, plus my mother works for the hospital as a nurse in the ER, so I've always had that "extra care." However, to say I was underwhelmed is an understatement. I was not impressed by any means of the rooms, aesthetics and the fact that there can be a shared room, although I was told with twins it will be next to impossible for me to have a shared room unless there is some mass baby boom when I have them. I just didn't get that "clean feeling" more like a feeling of giving birth in an old lady's bedroom to be honest.
I have seen LIJs rooms a few times and was highly impressed so I guess I was expecting the same?
Many of the nurses I met were much much older and didn't seem to have patience. Could have been when we went but it concerned me. Also on the postpartum end there was no nurse by the nurses station. I was also unable to see inside the nursery/ their NICU- which I really wanted especially since I'm at risk for preterm delivery.
Can anyone share their experience there? I'm completely freaked out. Also are there visiting hours as strict as they stated?

Message edited 11/7/2016 8:12:10 AM.

Re: Delivery at St. Charles

I delivered there in May of 2015 and had a really great experience.

We ended up with our own room but I was definitely worried about that beforehand.

The visiting hours weren't as strict as they said - I never had more than 1-3 people in my room at a time and no one bothered us.

Good luck!!

Delivery at St. Charles

I just delivered a singleton there last week and had a great experience. The nurses were very attentive and the lactation staff really worked with me to ensure I was successful! I was nervous about a shared room as well but ended up in a private room. However I also delivered my twins two years ago at Stony Brook and had a positive experience there as well. My twins were premature and ended up with a 3 week NICU stay. The NICU was amazing...brand new, all private. Same with the postpartum rooms. I'm so glad I delivered the twins at Stony Brook due to the NICU, but St. Charles also has a lot of positives! Good luck!

Re: Delivery at St. Charles

I looooved St. Charles...had a really wonderful experience there with both my children. They took really good care of me and my babies. I had a single room both times. I didn't want to leave!!

Re: Delivery at St. Charles

I delivered both my babies there. Nothing but good for me! I never had a roommate. They are all older nurses mostly. My cousin is a night nurse on the mother baby side and she's amazing! I preferred the night nurses over the day ones. They seemed to be a little younger and enjoyed their jobs! The visiting hours got a little less strict from my first visit. They won't care if you have a couple people all day. You just can't have like 10 when it's not visiting hours. I liked having a smaller hospital. It gave me more of a personal feel. Also, the night before you leave they watch the baby/ies and you get a surf & turf meal with dh in the dining area! lol I was excited about that!

Delivery at St. Charles

Thank you all so much for the positive feed back!!! Definitely puts my mind at ease! I talked to my mom too since she works there and she said there's always going to be some not so friendly nurses but for the most part she said everyone is attentive on the floor! Hopefully my experience is just as positive!