SubjeBeing assertive in the hospital

I just had to second what Kathy Dettwyler was saying. Parents need to know that
ALL hospital procedures are OPTIONAL. I had my baby at a hospital last May
after planning a homebirth. She was not to be taken away from my husband or
me for any reason. The nurses had never heard of a baby not having a bath,
not getting vitamin k or erythromyacin, not being bulb suctioned, sleeping with
her mother, etc., but they have heard of all those things now. She was weighed
and measured, but my husband accompanied her to the nursery for this (another
supposed first.)

I am still fighting the billing department because we are being billed for
these procedures. (They've never heard of anyone denying them either.) But
I had a great birth experience and so did my daughter. By the way, babies who
aren't bathed smell amazingly wonderful.


Back to lurking,
Julie Brill in Bedford, MA USA