G.S.
I recently delivered at Butler Hospital, my daughter was born September 30, 2007. There were pros and cons. I'll tell you the bad first then the good. Two of the nurses I encountered were absolutely awful! When I first got to the hospital the nurse ask me why I came in, she treated me as if I was stupid or lying about being in labor. She acted surprised every time she checked me and I had progressed. Luckily there was a shift change and the next nurse (Anne) who came in was absolutely wonderful, I was the only woman to deliver that day and she gave me her full attention, she even helped when another nurse insisted on putting a monitor on my baby's head while I was in the middle of a contraction, I was begging her to wait and she wasn't going to until Anne stepped in. I was hooked up to the monitor the entire time, I thought I was going to be allowed off of it, but I never was. They had to put the internal monitor on the baby because they couldn't get a good reading from the external monitor. Another con was that they wouldn't let the baby sleep in my room with me. She was eating every 3 hours and I barely got any sleep because by the time I sent her back to the nursery and got to sleep they were bringing her back in. One morning a nurse came into take my blood at 6:30 am, then someone came in to take my temperature and blood pressure, then the pediatrician, then one of the doctor's from the practice I went to, then another. The morning I was leaving I had seen my doctor by 9:30 am and didn't get to leave until 1:30, the nurse was really slow, I was her last priority since I was leaving and she wanted me and my boyfriend to watch 4 different videos, that we could've watched the day before while we were doing nothing. I couldn't wait to go home. They also never changed my bed linens or removed any dirty laundry. They brought new sheets in and a new gown for me to wear, but they must have forgotten to change them and I was in no shape to do it myself.
Now that you're horrified let me tell you the good parts. There was a nurse who helped me to get my baby latched on, she was wonderful, as was my labor and delivery nurse. I loved my doctor. My epidural was amazing, the doctor who did it was so quick and it helped a lot but I could still wiggle my toes and move my legs and feel to push. It's a smaller hospital so you do get more attention then you would in a large one (I think, I don't have any experience delivering at a large hospital.) Good luck with your search to find a hospital you're comfortable at.