Anyone give birth at St. Catherine's?

I am going to be delivering at St. Catherine's in Smithtown, and I have not heard much about it there. Just wondering if anyone else did and what your experience was like? TIA!

Re: Anyone give birth at St. Catherine's?

I was there in April. The nurses in L&D were very nice and once I had to have an emergency c-section I could not have asked for nicer, kinder or more helpful people!!

The people in post-partum were not as great. The first day after my section, someone came in to help me out of bed and to help me get cleaned up. She didn't introduce herself to me, so I don't know if she was a nurse or an aide. She tried to help me but I felt like she was rushing, and not taking into consideration that maybe I was in a little more pain than some other women (I'm a big baby) and I needed a little more time moving around. After that, nobody EVER came to help me. I had to ask any time I wanted pain meds or anything else. It was very frustrating.

Also, I was in a room with TWO OTHER women. One of them snored worse than my DH and she was a slob -- she dripped blood all over the bathroom and never cleaned up after herself (sorry if TMI). Both of them just removed their bloody pads and threw them in the trash. I'm sorry but I don't need to see that when I go to use the bathroom (nor do any visitors who go in there).

The nurses in the nursery were pretty good, but I felt that one of the ones at night wasn't following my instructions as far as feeding my baby. Every night I left her explicit details of when the baby would need to eat (based on what she did all day, as I had her with me all day). I also kept very good records of what she took in and put out all day. Well, I think she just wanted to get rid of her work for the night because she kept bringing the baby to me to eat around 4am even though I told her that I needed to rest at night, and that she should feed the baby and bring her to me in the morning to feed. I usually returned her to the nursery around 11pm or midnight, after just feeding her. I usually told her to feed her once during the night and then she could bring her to me for the next feeding (which I expected around 7 or 8am). On the feeding record, I often showed that she fed the baby at around 1am so then she brought her to me (quiet) around 4 o'clock saying that the baby was crying her head off. Well, 4am is still the middle of the night to me, so I started telling her to take her back and feed her if she was hungry. Besides her, I can't complain about any of the others, they were very nice to me whenever I went in there, and they encouraged my pumping my milk for the baby. They also let me put her in regular clothes every day which I don't think they really like to do.

All in all, if I could have my way, I would choose them again for L&D but not for post-partum.

Re: Anyone give birth at St. Catherine's?

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences!

Re: Anyone give birth at St. Catherine's?

my aunt was just there and had an AWESOME experience on the postpartum unit. She is a nurse at Stony Brook so they treated her very well, but you have to be careful with telling the nurses what to do, most of them have been doing this for a long time, and they will know what to do with the baby, they will follow BFing bs. bottle feeds, but they are the pros, it is just like telling a car mechanic how to fix your car, they know what they are doing. I personallyknow a few nurses on that unit and they are really top notch, they alwasy pass their Jcaho reviews with flying colors. I'm sure your experience will be great.
Regarding having t share a room with 2 other people that is NUTS, I feel so bad for Pharmcat that you had to do that, but unfortunately that usually has to do with insurance, i remember my hubby's cousin had her daughter there and she shared with 3 other ladies . The social worker told her it was because of her insurance coverage.

Message edited 6/4/2006 10:23:01 AM.

Re: Anyone give birth at St. Catherine's?

I really loved St Catherines but I could only speak for those who have a natural delivery there. I felt the nurses and aides were extremely helpful. I had my baby late at night and they helped me a lot with moving around until the next evening. They kept her for feedings both nights so I could rest. The only thing I didn't like was sharing a room but regardless of the insurance company, that is all they offer. I even offered to pay the difference to have my own room but it is not an option there. St Catherines used some of their maternity rooms to build their new NICU so there just isn't enough space. Luckily I only had to share with one other person.

GOOD LUCK!

Re: Anyone give birth at St. Catherine's?

I had my baby there and I had a c-section. I thought they were great!

Good Luck

Re: Anyone give birth at St. Catherine's?

I was there in March and it was terrific. Had no problems and the staff was wonderful!!

Re: Anyone give birth at St. Catherine's?

I had a wonerful experience there

Re: Anyone give birth at St. Catherine's?

Posted by emilain

Regarding having t share a room with 2 other people that is NUTS, I feel so bad for Pharmcat that you had to do that, but unfortunately that usually has to do with insurance, i remember my hubby's cousin had her daughter there and she shared with 3 other ladies . The social worker told her it was because of her insurance coverage.

Re: Anyone give birth at St. Catherine's?

I had my baby there and I had a really good experience. I thought the nurses and the aides were really nice and accomodating. The only gripe I can honestly say I have is that they handed me the wrong baby at like 4:00 a.m. I was half dead (they had just taken the baby back at like 3:00 to the nursery) and they were like "Heeerree's Emily!!!" I was like "Uhhhh, No!" and they were like "Yes, Emily". I was like "Dude, my baby is not Emily"..so I hear a voice across the room "Ummm..she's mine". It was sort of scary because they are supposed to match the bands and stuff. I can only imagine if I started breastfeeding or whatever. But that's pretty much it. It was pretty seamless and I give the nurses/aides ALOT of credit for what they do.

Re: Anyone give birth at St. Catherine's?

I had Abby at St. Catherine's last June by C-section. I had the BEST experience. I had the corner room with the bathroom attached and no roomates. The nurses were incredible, so friendly and willing to help. The Lactation consultants were hit and miss but other than that it was a great experience. My SIL had all three of her children there and had good experiences too.
I am sure you will like it too. They take good care of you and the baby. The only thing I did not like and I think it is policy at all hospitals, I could not walk with my baby in the halls. I could roll her in her bassinet but they would not let me hold her and walk the halls. It annoyed me because I wanted to get out of the room and stretch a little but it was really no big deal.

Good Luck.

Re: Anyone give birth at St. Catherine's?

Thanks for all the responses, ladies! I'm sure every hospital has it's positives and negatives, but it seemed that anyone who asked me where I'm delivering was very quick to give me the negatives about St. Catherine's. So thanks for all the positive input!