Posts tagged News

So this isn’t a normal kind of review for this site, but it’s note worthy. 

Recently as most of you might know, my wife and I had a son. Brandon Xavier was born 4 weeks early (for some strange reason) and we were more than a little nervous about that. This is just a quick run down of how things happened, and about the absolutely WONDERFUL doctors and nurses that helped us though everything. 

Friday April 24, 2009 was a day like any other for my wife and I, at least as it started out. Both of us went to work thinking that we still had several more weeks of preparation before the baby’s big day. Little did we know that would all change by 6pm that evening.  When I got home from work, I went upstairs to find my wife in a slight state of panic. She informed me that she thought her water had broken. To which I quickly laughed and said “Yeah Right!” However I knew by the look on her face that she was, in fact, NOT JOKING in the least. 

We called the Doctor, who also was a little skeptical that Mindy had begun the early stages of labor. Again we were, at that point, still four weeks away from the due date. But the Dr. told us to go ahead and come in so that she could get checked out and make sure that the baby was ok. Frantically we packed a bag with essentials, and hopped in the car headed to the hospital. Neither my wife nor myself were really concerned I guess you could say. We were joking about them sending us home and then going to Target and the grocery store as our “big Friday night” event. 

Once we got to the hospital they took Mindy up and put her through the regular check up, and found out that yes she WAS in the early stages of labor. The nurse actually told us that we “weren’t leaving the hospital with out a baby.” (Which as it turns out was only half true…) Hooked up to monitors, sensors, IVs, and drips, we waited… A LOT. It was about 7:30pm or 8 by the time we actually got all checked in and saw the Dr. and NOTHING happened for the next eight hours. 

Mostly my wife and I watched TV and just kinda talked and hung out. Then about 3 or 4 in the morning Mindy couldn’t take it any more (not the pain mind you, the boredom) and asked to get the epidural so that she could get comfortable enough to sleep. And that folks, was all it took. From the time it took me to go downstairs to talk to my family and get back to the room she had gone from 6cm to 9cm dilated. It was just about Go Time! She started pushing at about 5:45am and then at 6:39am little Brandon made his official entrance into this world. Probably the most chill and calm labor I have ever heard of. Yeah, that’s right, movies and TV depictions of labor and birth… mostly all LIES.

Long story short, Brandon was a tiny, early baby. He had some “issues” but never any “complications”. He never spent a second in the NICU, and was able to spend all his time in the regular nursery. His “issues” however were enough to keep him from going home right away. Thus begins the actual “review” part of this article. 

St Mary’s of Richmond has by far the absolute nicest nurses and doctors I have ever had to deal with, period. We ended up having to spend an entire week in the hospital with the little guy while he worked through some things. We had the privilege to see probably about 5 or 6 different doctors and honestly more nurses than I can remember. Every single one of them bent over backwards to help us out and make us feel as comfortable and relaxed as we could in a kinda tense and uncomfortable situation. 

At first we had to deal with the fact that we were in the L&D and Postpartum sections of the hospital during what can only be described as a localized “baby boom.” When Brandon was born at 6am, he was the 6th baby that our Dr had delivered since midnight, and he wasn’t the only Dr on call either. We were constantly wondering if and when we would lose our room. The nurses were always there to reassure us that even if we had to move they would find a place for us to stay so that we could be close to Brandon. When all was said and done we stayed in three different rooms over the course of the week. I wish hotels were this accommodating. 

Never once did I have to worry about my son, and if he would be taken care of. Everyone there was more than willing to help us out, be that with feedings, changing diapers, getting us food (or discounts), most anything we needed the found a way to get it for us. If you are ever in the area and find yourself in need of a hospital, I suggest St. Mary’s. It could have been such a horrible week, waiting for our infant son to be released from the hospital, but it ended up being almost completely painless. It’s no wonder that this hospital is top ranked in pretty much everything that a hospital can be “ranked” in.