Ukulele, Part IV

The Final Installment

This post will be the last post on the incompetence (and incompetents) of the hospital where Ukulele was born. Please understand that I am sure she received more-than-adequate care. The "incompetency" was in the hospital's handling of an adoption situation.

Pediatrician
For those of you that recall, we had quite a time finding a pediatrician. We prevailed, and got a pediatrician that we were quite pleased with. So the night of Ukulele's birth, the hospital was informed of who her attending pediatrician was. However, in the delivery room, some hospital "person" asked the FirstMom who the pediatrician was. Of course she did not know. So this "person" asked her if she wanted the on-call pediatrician, and she said yes. So that is who Ukulele received. NOT our pediatrician of choice. AT ALL. So, because Dr. Not Ours was the pediatrician at the birth, that doctor remained her pediatrician for her whole stay. Our Pediatrician was not allowed to examine her - despite his repeated requests - because he was not the doctor of record. Now we have to go through the red-tape of having her records transferred to our doctor. Sound easy? Not so fast. Her records are not under the name we gave her. Nor do we believe they are under Baby Jane Doe. We believe they are under FirstMom's name. And the records have been "sealed" because this was a closed adoption. Can you see where all the problems are starting???

Hearing Test
Every newborn gets a hearing test. The parents are allowed to be there and ask questions and witness the test. The testers came up while I was feeding Ukulele. They were told I would be finished in a couple of minutes. As I was burping her, I watched them watch me, then walk over to a nurse, talk, and then leave. I was informed that they were going to go down to the maternity ward and do the "other" babies first. They'd get back with me if they had time. They ended up coming back when we were not there, not waiting for us, and then performing the test without us present. They left her results stuck to the inside of her crib. (She passed, by the way.)

Newborn Pictures
Every newborn gets to have his/her picture taken in the hospital. Well, when the call was made to find out when Ukulele's picture would be taken, the nurse was told that they would get to her sometime on Saturday (her discharge day), and that if we wanted pictures, we could not go through the hospital because we were not her biological parents, but we would be more than welcome to go to their website and order pictures. Well, they never did show up before her discharge on Saturday. So she does not have her newborn hospital pictures.

Nurse Attention
There were three nurses that we absolutely adored who took really good care of her. Because we were not the biological parents, we were not given a room of our own (the other hospital DOES do this in adoption situations). Ukulele was placed in the special care nursery with the other preemies. Three nurses were very careful to make sure she was always near them. If they were on the computer entering data, she was right next to them. If they were near another baby, she went along in her roller-crib. They really looked after her if we were not there. However, on discharge day, we buzzed the nurse station to get in. A new nurse answered and said she would come out and get the carseat from us (Ukulele had to pass the carseat test before she could be released).

I asked her if we were allowed to go back and see her. Nurse Kratchet said "She's sleeping."

So I said "Are you telling us we cannot go back and see our daughter?"

Kratchet responded, "She's sleeping. I'll come out and get the carseat and you can come back later."

I again stated "Are you telling me I cannot see my daughter right now?"

"She's sleeping."

"Well, we are not going to wake her up."

"Fine." So she came out and let us in. When we walked back to where Ukulele was, she was pushed against a wall all by herself. No one else was around.... it was like they left her over there because she was the red-headed-step-child.

We walked over to her, and I lightly laid my hand on her thickly-swaddled body (she obviously would not feel it, but at least I could lightly touch her body.)

And get this, Kratchet says... get ready....

"Don't touch her."

WTF????

Yes, she said that to me. GatorMan did not hear it, thankfully. I just stared at her. In complete disbelief, I just stared. Nurse Kratchet is getting a special shout-out in my board letter. How DARE this woman try to forbid me to see my child, and then tell me not to touch her. Bitch.

Other Hospital Personnel
One of my favorite nurses told me what had happened during a brief period of time we were not there. Another worker in the hospital, apparently a secretary-of-sorts, came up to see Ukulele. Thankfully the nursery Ukulele was in was restricted to certain personnel. So Secretary comes up and requests admittance. Favorite Nurse asks why. Secretary says "Because I am friends with the birthmother, and I would like to see the baby." Favorite Nurse says "You are not allowed in unless you are with the adoptive parents." Secretary states "But I work here." Favorite Nurse says "Too bad." Favorite Nurse has reported Secretary. Yay Favorite Nurse. Here's the kicker. Attorney knows Secretary, and said Secretary goes to Our Church. Can you only imagine what would have happened if she was allowed in and saw us sitting with Juno's child? So much for a closed-adoption. This is one of the very few things the hospital actually got right.

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There are two things that have really bothered us. One is the fact that the hospital did not respect our guardianship status. Thankfully, nothing medical-related happened so that we would be forced to exercise it. The second, however, that made us most angry is how our choice of pediatrician was handled. If there was a medical emergency, our doctor would not have been the one to see her. Oh, and our follow-up discharge appointment? Had to be done with the on-call doctor that was assigned to her. I took Ukulele to her office. I will NEVER go back. When I got there, I requested to be put in a separate room from the rest of the waiting area. There were sick kids everywhere, and their parent was letting them run around while they ate their Wendy's/McDonald's/Wherever lunch. Yes, the parents were eating lunch in the waiting room. More than one parent. It was appalling on a number of levels. I don't want to sound all high-and-mighty, but I am not exposing my preemie to a room full of sick kids who are parented by people who find it appropriate to eat in a doctor's waiting room. Maybe it's just me.

Anyway, that's the story. Sorry it's so long, but I did not want to drag it out.... just wanted to get it over with.

Tomorrow's topic: My Thoughts on a *Sick* Baby