St Joe's - Questions About Their Policies Etc

If you don't get an epidural they won't need to give you IV fluids and should only hook you up to a fetal monitor for 30 minutes every couple of hours. If you get the epi or need pitocin you are stuck in bed. Just make sure you talk to your doctor about how you want your labor to go and get her feedback. If she or he doesn't agree with your wishes you might want to interview some other doctors. You could get a doctor or a midwife, they both preform the same function. If you would like additional support from someone consider hiring a doula. She will be there for your entire labor and coach you thru it, help you get as comfortable as possible. If you are interested in having a home birth then you would need to go with a midwife, and also consider taking The Bradley Method childbirth classes. They will definetly prepare you for a natural birth in a hospital or a home birth. From my experience, if you truly want a birth free from monitors and people trying to give you meds or instructing you how to push, go to a birthing center. I have heard wonderful things about Labor of Love. Good luck to you, feel free to e-mail me with any questions.

As of right now, St. Joe's doesn't allow midwives. They will let you get up and walk around. St. Joe's is a hospital. Who is your OB? I am a nurse at there. I work on the GYN Med/Surg floor. I think it is the nicest place to have a baby. Our patients don't wait to leave when they are dishcharged to go home. Best of luck to you. How far along are you?

Hey C.~

I delivered at St. Joe's and was not thrilled with my experience. When we arrived, I was sent to triage until they could establish whether or not I was in labor. I KNEW I was in labor, but they wanted to monitor the baby's activity. They did let me walk around, but it was only after I told them to unhook me from the monitors and let me walk. I think as long as you ask them to let you walk, they will let you. My issue was that my labor went much quicker than anyone anticipated. By the time they realized what was going on, my body had already begun to push. They rushed me to labor and delivery and called someone in to do the epidural (sp?). We weren't in labor/delivery an hour and my son was born. I actually ended up having to wait for the epidural to kick in before I could push. If I had known that I was 10cm already, I would have forgone the epidural all together. We also ended up sleeping in the labor and delivery room for the night (my husband slept in a chair) because there were no rooms available. When it came time to be discharged, no one could tell me when they would discharge me. We ended up waiting around all day, literally, all day to be released. They said my son had to have a wet diaper before we could be discharged. They also did the PKU test on him before he was 48 hours old, so we had to do the test again after discharge, because the results came back inconclusive. It was a nightmare.

Now, with ALL of that being said. All of those things could happen at any hospital and everyone's labor/delivery is different. We packed a whole bag of things to help me with labor and didn't even have time to open it up. Some women are in labor for 36 hours or more.

I would definitely consider the use of a midwife and birthing center, but also tour the hospitals to see what you feel more comfortable with.

As they say, you can have the best laid birthing plan, but things NEVER go according to plan.

Good Luck. Sorry this was so long :)

There is a birth center in Lutz. I go to the one in Lakeland. The mw are all great! http://laborluv.com/

Hi C.,

I have attended one birth at St. Joe's as a doula. The woman was made to lie in bed was given an epidural and pitocin, was on monitors, not allowed to get up, and only allowed ice chips for nourishment.

If you would like to look into alternatives I suggest contacting the Labor of Love birthing center on US 41 in Lutz.

I have delivered my five children with midwives and wouldn't have it any other way. I hope you get the kind of birth you feel is right for you.

Both of my kids were delivered by C-section at St joes. It is a great hospital. Almost all the nurses are great. They helped me alot with the first since I had never been to a hospital before let alone surgery. During the second they were very understanding and took me to see my daughter in NICU everytime Nicu allowed us in. The hospital itself is kept clean and their food is not to bad. Their couches that are also used as beds for the Dads were ok. My husband said they were ok for sleeping. The big plus about St Joes is all the rooms are private. A friend had her baby at Tampa General. The maternity ward did not look to clean and my friend had to share a room with another women and her baby. I don't think I would like this. Also the rooms only had chairs for the Dad to sleep in. St Joes rooms were bigger also.More room for you to walk around in without waking baby. They also had a rocking chair in all the rooms.