Seems wrong to restrict siblings from coming.  I know the best part of being in the hospital when Haley was born was watching Addy come in and meet her for the first time.  

Our hospital restricts children visiting all the time - only siblings are aloud to come in, so my BFF's kids couldn't come visit until we were home.

I've heard about this.  I haven't heard anything from my hospital yet about it.  I'm also concerned because some hospitals are limiting your birth support person to ONE person.  So I've paid a lot of money to hire a doula, and I would have to choose between the doula and my husband? 

I understand if someone is sick they shouldn't be there, but it isn't right to separate children from their moms or make a mom choose between two support people.

I think it is awful, but to some degree I think it is important to protect those teeny tiny little babies from flu. I think limiting non immediate family members is one thing, but restricting a sibling is harsh. I hope that they are done with these types of restrictions by April when I am due or I'd be very sad for my daughter.

I'd have had to leave the hospital when Audrey was about 12 hours old if they'd had that restriction.  I couldn't have had our family split up that way.  If I'd had any real health issues, or a c-section, I guess I wouldn't have had much choice, but it would have sucked.  Especially as it would also have meant dh couldn't visit and bond with Audrey since he was the one home with Ariel.

JoanBZHost wrote:I understand if someone is sick they shouldn't be there, but it isn't right to separate children from their moms or make a mom choose between two support people.

 
ITA

I can understand it, but I don't like it.  I wonder if they'll leave it in place after flu season or not...cause frankly, little kids are germy all year, not just during flu season

ON the other hand...I won't have to listen to my kids scream for 3 whole days (I have a scheduled c/s)???  Hmmmmmmmm (I kid, I kid)

I don't see what it helps, when the children are member's of the household anyway.  I can see closing the playroom or family room, or whatever it's called, but not the patient's room.

There is an influx of sick people - with the flu or not - that are making their way to the hospitals when normally they would stay home and treat themselves.  This is happening because of the swine flu.  They want healthy visitors to stay home, especially those at most risk of complications, to keep them healthy.  I completely understand the logic.  If I didn't work at the hospital, I wouldn't go near it with a ten foot pole unless I HAD to.  I certainly won't be bringing my healthy child there - especially in my hospital in particular, where the main entrance for visitors has been closed due to construction and ALL people going to the hospital have to enter through the emergency entrance, therefore the emergency waiting room.

This is less about protecting the patients of the hospital and more about protecting the healthy people.

I'm curious to know if people actually follow this? No one follows the rules at the hospitals here! Everyone would just bring in their kids anyway, and no one really enforces anything. Maybe they do other places. I can remember not being allowed to see my baby cousin when I was a child and my mom saying, We're going in anyway, and we did! I can remember 6 of us cramming into a recovery curtain c-section area when only 1 other person was allowed. I guess I didn't know people actually followed those rules!

Live.Love.Laugh wrote:I'm curious to know if people actually follow this? No one follows the rules at the hospitals here! Everyone would just bring in their kids anyway, and no one really enforces anything. Maybe they do other places. I can remember not being allowed to see my baby cousin when I was a child and my mom saying, We're going in anyway, and we did! I can remember 6 of us cramming into a recovery curtain c-section area when only 1 other person was allowed. I guess I didn't know people actually followed those rules!

 

Well this particular rule wasn't in place when I had G a year ago but my hospital was very strict on rules and inforced them. I was not happy because I didn't have G until almost 5:30 in the evening so then there is all the clean up yada yada yada by the time we were settled into a room K had like 30 minutes to see her new little brother before the nurse came in and said visitation time was over. I was slightly irritated.

I dont like having my kids go to the hospital anyways.  When my aunt had surgery 2 years ago I left my kids home with Jeremy when I went to visit her.  I didnt need to expose them to whatever was floating around in the hospital.  Yes, the introduction of my boys to their baby sister was a wonderful moment, but if there was an influx of a serious disease then I would have had my mother keep them at home.  I do think there are certain situations when the rule should be bent a bit.  If someone is dying, being removed from life support, etc there should be provisions in place to allow admission for all of the family members who choose to be present.  Also in cases where there is a womens center/birthing center perhaps the rules wouldnt need to be as strict as they are in a hospital where the maternity ward isnt really seperated much from the general hospital population.
 
Tracey

Dot1-2-3-4 wrote:ON the other hand...I won't have to listen to my kids scream for 3 whole days (I have a scheduled c/s)???  Hmmmmmmmm (I kid, I kid)

 

i didnt want my kids around me after i had Gatlin...i enjoyed just having the baby...

I recall growing up that the general hospital policies in my areas were no visitors under 14, period.  I was surprised when I was permitted to have Juliet visit when I had Oliver.  I'd prefer to let my kids visi when I have these kids, but if it avoids germ exposure to limit visitors, I'm OK with that.
 
I do think that for formal support providers like a doula or a counselor or something like that, exceptions ought to be made.

cherrytea wrote:

ON the other hand...I won't have to listen to my kids scream for 3 whole days (I have a scheduled c/s)???  Hmmmmmmmm (I kid, I kid)

  
i didnt want my kids around me after i had Gatlin...i enjoyed just having the baby...

 

I would've been ok waiting and just calling them on the phone...but the docs insisted she had to go to NICU in Spokane...so my mom brought them in.  I think they were there for about 10 minutes because they were on lunch break at school lol

This time around...I'm debating it.  For more reasons than one.

Dot1-2-3-4 wrote:

ON the other hand...I won't have to listen to my kids scream for 3 whole days (I have a scheduled c/s)???  Hmmmmmmmm (I kid, I kid)

    
i didnt want my kids around me after i had Gatlin...i enjoyed just having the baby...

   
I would've been ok waiting and just calling them on the phone...but the docs insisted she had to go to NICU in Spokane...so my mom brought them in.  I think they were there for about 10 minutes because they were on lunch break at school lol
This time around...I'm debating it.  For more reasons than one.

It's pretty hard to talk to an 18 month-old on the phone...

maria84 wrote:

ON the other hand...I won't have to listen to my kids scream for 3 whole days (I have a scheduled c/s)???  Hmmmmmmmm (I kid, I kid)

     
i didnt want my kids around me after i had Gatlin...i enjoyed just having the baby...

    
I would've been ok waiting and just calling them on the phone...but the docs insisted she had to go to NICU in Spokane...so my mom brought them in.  I think they were there for about 10 minutes because they were on lunch break at school lol
This time around...I'm debating it.  For more reasons than one.

It's pretty hard to talk to an 18 month-old on the phone...

It's also pretty hard for them to remember meeting someone at that age too....

Dot1-2-3-4 wrote:

ON the other hand...I won't have to listen to my kids scream for 3 whole days (I have a scheduled c/s)???  Hmmmmmmmm (I kid, I kid)

      
i didnt want my kids around me after i had Gatlin...i enjoyed just having the baby...

     
I would've been ok waiting and just calling them on the phone...but the docs insisted she had to go to NICU in Spokane...so my mom brought them in.  I think they were there for about 10 minutes because they were on lunch break at school lol
This time around...I'm debating it.  For more reasons than one.

It's pretty hard to talk to an 18 month-old on the phone...

It's also pretty hard for them to remember meeting someone at that age too....

True, but I'll remember.  And the last time I went away (one night) he was mad at me and wouldn't come to me for an entire day.  How's it going to be when he's with nana and papa for 3 days, can't even visit, and I come home with another baby.
I don't want him to have negative feelings towards this baby.  THe hospital is doing it to protect patients, what difference does it make if I'm going to be bringing the baby home, where his sibling is, within the next couple days?

Dot1-2-3-4 wrote:

ON the other hand...I won't have to listen to my kids scream for 3 whole days (I have a scheduled c/s)???  Hmmmmmmmm (I kid, I kid)

   
i didnt want my kids around me after i had Gatlin...i enjoyed just having the baby...

  
I would've been ok waiting and just calling them on the phone...but the docs insisted she had to go to NICU in Spokane...so my mom brought them in.  I think they were there for about 10 minutes because they were on lunch break at school lol
This time around...I'm debating it.  For more reasons than one.

When Jackson went to the NICU in Missoula, the older two were still in school, so my mom kept them up here and got them to school and back...They came up on the sunday after he was born, but we wouldnt let them into the room because of all the equipment and stuff Jackson was hooked up to..My mom and dad visited me and the baby and Tim took the boys to the Ronald McDonald house and they hung out for a while. Then we all went to Cracker Barrel for supper, after that my folks took the boys back home and we didnt see them again til we (with baby) came home for good..

maria84 wrote:

ON the other hand...I won't have to listen to my kids scream for 3 whole days (I have a scheduled c/s)???  Hmmmmmmmm (I kid, I kid)

       
i didnt want my kids around me after i had Gatlin...i enjoyed just having the baby...

      
I would've been ok waiting and just calling them on the phone...but the docs insisted she had to go to NICU in Spokane...so my mom brought them in.  I think they were there for about 10 minutes because they were on lunch break at school lol
This time around...I'm debating it.  For more reasons than one.

It's pretty hard to talk to an 18 month-old on the phone...

It's also pretty hard for them to remember meeting someone at that age too....

True, but I'll remember.  And the last time I went away (one night) he was mad at me and wouldn't come to me for an entire day.  How's it going to be when he's with nana and papa for 3 days, can't even visit, and I come home with another baby.
I don't want him to have negative feelings towards this baby.  THe hospital is doing it to protect patients, what difference does it make if I'm going to be bringing the baby home, where his sibling is, within the next couple days?

The difference it makes is that you can't SEE germs...he may (or may not) be sick, and could very well expose you, the nurses, the doctors and the baby to something that may make the baby have to stay in the NICU.  Ever been there?  It's not a fun happy place.  He'll get over it and so will you.  Trust me, a day or 2 (or even 3) without you won't kill him.  I'd rather my baby come home healthy than have an extended stay in an NICU that could have possibly been prevented. 

And I understand that he (the baby) could catch something afterwards and end up there...but it's not as likely.

Maria, I was just told the same exact thing by my midwife this morning--no visitors under 18.  I'm absolutely heartbroken that Flynn can't come and meet his new sibling at the hospital.  And I know that for me at least, it means I'll definitely be up and out of that hospital probably earlier than I should be so I can get home to my little guy.  But I do understand the rationale behind it.  It's not just *your* baby they're protecting, but all the newborns whose little immune systems just can't fight anything off yet.  My midwife actually said that at the hospital I'm delivering at, if the laboring mom has even a HINT of being sick (like the sniffles), they're putting the mamas on Tamiflu and enforcing isolation from their babies for the first 48 hours.  That one she's mad as hell about since it really impacts baby and mama's ability to bond, nurse etc.  So just be glad that's not you, eh?  Let's all try and stay healthy.

Havent read replys but I was in the hospital with my 11 month old a couple weeks ago and my DD couldnt come and visit me (she is 5). I was pretty upset but thought about the fact that they are mostly protecting HER. She would come in that hospital and could possibly get something, especially since it was full of sickies. So I am in a way grateful that they didnt let her visit. I know it stinks for you but in the end it is probably better.

Meg-a-la-Mama wrote: My midwife actually said that at the hospital I'm delivering at, if the laboring mom has even a HINT of being sick (like the sniffles), they're enforcing isolation of the baby away from the mother for 48 hours.  

 

That's a load of horse shite.  I can understand isolating them TOGETHER...but how the hell can you BF if you're not anywhere near your baby????? WTF

Dot1-2-3-4 wrote:

 My midwife actually said that at the hospital I'm delivering at, if the laboring mom has even a HINT of being sick (like the sniffles), they're enforcing isolation of the baby away from the mother for 48 hours.  

  
That's a load of horse shite.  I can understand isolating them TOGETHER...but how the hell can you BF if you're not anywhere near your baby????? WTF

 
I know Dot.  I think it's total shite too, as does my midwife. She said that she currently has two patients for whom this is the case and that one of them they did the H1N1 test for and it came back negative.  So my midwife was like, "Well, it's negative so she can see her baby right?"  And they were like, "No, there's just so many false negatives with the test we really can't trust the results."  WTF?!  It's like, then why did you even bother to run the test to begin with??!!  Makes you wonder who's running the show out there.  Scary.