St. Mary’s Maternity
Recently we toured this special place at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach. It brought back so many memories of becoming parents. While we had an amazing experience, we were somewhat oblivious to all of the amazing support just steps away. Our first child was born at 42 weeks. I was SURE she would arrive early. From 36 weeks on if someone called me in the morning to see if I wanted to do lunch with them, my response would be “as long as I’m not in labor…” Fast forward SIX weeks and we headed over to St. Marys to be induced. Labor is called that for a reason, it is hard work! Delivery is the intense, exciting, majorly rewarding party. All of the rooms are private, and the suites have TWO bathrooms. Do you know the magic of having your OWN bathroom while recovering?
One thing to note is the special triage area for pregnant women. If you are experiencing something that send you to the emergency room while you are expecting, you will be whisked up to the maternity floor to be seen and treated by doctors who are trained just for this. If you haven’t been 8 month pregnant and dehydrated with food poisoning in a triage area between a gunshot wound and a homeless man being treated for road rash, this might not sound as incredible as it really is. Pregnant hormonal ladies do not need additional stress. Ha.
If things don’t go as planned, or if you are aware you or your baby might need some extra TLC, it certainly is reassuring to know that the operating room is literally steps away. No elevator, no waiting on anesthesia.
The NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) is a level III – the highest designation in Florida. It is the most wonderful place you never want to go. For the critical babies the ratio of care to baby cannot be beat. It is right next to the maternity area so you can bond with your baby after delivery.
We delivered our 3rd baby at another hospital and ended up needing NICU services. I won’t bore you with details, however, having the NICU team there would have saved us DAYS. We spent countless hours waiting on the doctors to come over from another hospital with a more advanced NICU as there were no specialists on staff, waiting on the results to get to or from the lab at St, Marys, and debating with many tears if they would transfer the baby and not me, to St. Marys. So many hormonal tears shed and not very much rest for mom and dad. If more children join our family we will be back to St. Mary’s without hesitation.
*Article sponsored by St. Marys Medical Center, opinions are our own.
