ST. Luke's Lamaze Room

ally1003

Can anyone describe the Lamaze room at St. Luke's? and any experience giving birth there? plus their fees...thanks!!

riodomino

The lamaze room in St. Luke's is quite small, compared to a delivery room or a recovery room. It has a special bed in the center, supposedly facing the OB-GYN while your back faces the door. There's a round mirror on your upper left which helps you to see the actual delivery. You can ask the nurses to remove it if you don't want to see it. On walls are pictures of babies and happy parents. Thus, you can concentrate on these while you're on active labor. I particularly remember the face of a very cute baby girl. Near the door, on the right side is a special area for the babies, when they come out and the pediatrician and nurses need to clean them.
Overall, the room is quite simple and bare. it is not intimidating.
I gave birth to two children in this room. My eldest is 8.8 pounds and my second one is 6.9 pounds. Hopefully, this would dispel the myth that if the baby is huge, you cannot go lamaze anymore. I thank my ob-gyn (Dra. Reyes) who believed in me and particularly in the natural birth method. She could have decided to go the CS way but she let me go into trial labor. And seeing that I can do it, she let me. I truly thank her for that.
For us couple, the cost was not that much because my pediatrician is family member. And the PF of the OBGYN was heavily discounted. During my first delivery, we stayed for three days and we paid only 34,000+. More or less the figure is the same with my second delivery.
More than the expenses, I appreciate the fact that I didn't take a large dose of anesthesia during these deliveries, except for a local anesthesia (less then P200) for the episiotomy.
In delivering by lamaze method, I recommend that you have a heart to heart talk with your OBGYNe. I think that these doctors belong to several schools of though regarding a woman's delivery. I am very grateful that my doctor was an advocate of natural delivery method.

ally1003

riodomino wrote: »

The lamaze room in St. Luke's is quite small, compared to a delivery room or a recovery room. It has a special bed in the center, supposedly facing the OB-GYN while your back faces the door. There's a round mirror on your upper left which helps you to see the actual delivery. You can ask the nurses to remove it if you don't want to see it. On walls are pictures of babies and happy parents. Thus, you can concentrate on these while you're on active labor. I particularly remember the face of a very cute baby girl. Near the door, on the right side is a special area for the babies, when they come out and the pediatrician and nurses need to clean them.
Overall, the room is quite simple and bare. it is not intimidating.
I gave birth to two children in this room. My eldest is 8.8 pounds and my second one is 6.9 pounds. Hopefully, this would dispel the myth that if the baby is huge, you cannot go lamaze anymore. I thank my ob-gyn (Dra. Reyes) who believed in me and particularly in the natural birth method. She could have decided to go the CS way but she let me go into trial labor. And seeing that I can do it, she let me. I truly thank her for that.
For us couple, the cost was not that much because my pediatrician is family member. And the PF of the OBGYN was heavily discounted. During my first delivery, we stayed for three days and we paid only 34,000+. More or less the figure is the same with my second delivery.
More than the expenses, I appreciate the fact that I didn't take a large dose of anesthesia during these deliveries, except for a local anesthesia (less then P200) for the episiotomy.
In delivering by lamaze method, I recommend that you have a heart to heart talk with your OBGYNe. I think that these doctors belong to several schools of though regarding a woman's delivery. I am very grateful that my doctor was an advocate of natural delivery method.

I would be giving birth soon, hopefully in a week's time and will go through lamaze. I am quite nervous though and I keep praying that I can endure the pain. How long did you labor?

ally1003

and when did you give birth, if you dont mind me asking? are the nurses at st. luke's supportive of natural birth? Does the lamaze room has a tv and a bean bag?

riodomino

I gave birth to my eldest on December 25, 2003. Perhaps, the last-minute shopping on Christmas Eve paved the way for a relatively fast labor. I finished my shopping around 7 p.m. Then we walked for a bit at then newly-built Baywalk. We went home around 8 and then, I cooked spaghetti. After we had our Noche Buena, I went to the comfort room and found that my urine was reddish. I kid my husband that I might deliver tomorrow. I slept.
Around 4:30 in the morning, I woke up to find my bed soaked. My water broke. I woke up my husband, took a bath and prepared to go to the hospital. We left the house around 6 a.m. My water kept on breaking so we had to put towels on the car seat. We arrived at St. Lukes around 6:40 a.m. They weren’t any Christmas traffic by that time. I went straight to the delivery room, was IEd, and discovered I was already 6 cm dilated. Went to the labor room, was IEd numerous times by a cold OBGYNe resident. She told everyone to prep me for CS and when I told her that I was going to do Lamaze, she was not impressed; as if I would it was inevitable that I would end up in the operating room. Fortunately, they wouldn’t want to supersede my doctor, a known consultant in their department. They called her. She’s in Batangas with her family. She drove to Manila ASAP.
Around 10 a.m., I was ushered to the Lamaze room. My husband, who paid for a room downstairs, followed me. Around 10 to 12, I was having the most tremendous pain I have ever felt. I was in active labor, yet I was withholding the baby because I wasn’t fully dilated. The contractions were on minute intervals already. By 12 noon, my doctor came. I was fully dilated and was told to push already. I pushed and pushed during contractions but I was so weak. I was so tired that I fall into sleep in between 30 second contractions. By 2 p.m, my doctor told me that if I can’t push the baby, they might have to transfer me to the operating room. And so with all my might and the encouragement of my husband, I pushed and pushed until my baby came out. The resident doctor used fundal pressure on my belly so that the baby’s head wouldn’t go back in. In the end, she was very helpful. She has been helping deliver babies in straight sixteen hours already.
There was a tremendous relief after the baby came out. He was whisked to an area on the back. My pediatrician and the resident pedia cleaned her up, along with nurses.
The nurses were great. They were a bit more mature than the doctors, who all looked young. Afterwards, I had to deliver the ‘inunan.’ Then an episiotomy was done on me, so there was still pain. There was only a local anesthesia so you could imagine it. But the pain is not that much compared to the actual delivery.
Afterwards, when the doctor cleaned me up, I was transferred by a muscled nursing aide to a different bed. I was thankful that he didn’t feel icky about seeing my blood all over. In the end, I was thankful to everyone, including those who helped me in my delivery. Alone in my room, I couldn’t fall sleep because of my adrenaline. Also, I suddenly got so cold. My doctor said it was muscle spasms. My husband had to give me blankets because I was shaking.
Finally I was able to sleep after eight hours.
For my second delivery, this time on May 24, 2005, my labor was very quick. By the time that I felt a sharp pain on my abdomen (there was no breaking of water this time) and the time that I got to the hospital, I was already 7 to 8 cm. Because of this, the time I spent at the Lamaze room was short. I arrived at the hospital around 11 a.m., Then I walked and walked inside the room. By 1:30 p.m., I called for my doctor and pediatrician, they couldn’t believe it that my labor was that fast. I asked my husband to help me up the bed. At around 2 p.m. when the doctors arrive, it was time to push. I pushed and pushed and after three contractions, my baby came out. It was 2:40 p.m. the “inunan” and the episiotomy followed as usual. I was at my room around 4. After two days, we went home.
My two-cents advice is just relax. Breathe. And know when to push. Don’t worry. Your doctor and the others will guide you.
Also, don’t be alarmed if there’s so many people inside the room. In my case, my doctor brought a lot of her students to observe how a Lamaze birth looked like. (There aren’t so much I heard)
Does the Lamaze Room have TV? I’m not so sure now but I do remember seeing a TV (a National Geographic program) while walking in the room. I don’t remember any bean bag though. Just have your husband or partner massage you while in back labor. If possible, include in your birth plan (or tell your OBgyn not to put an IV on you so that you can walk around). Bring a Gatorade too so that you have strength even though they won’t let you eat.
It’s very important to relax but at the same time, to be nimble, so that your labor will proceed as quickly as possible.
Again, don’t worry. Kaya mo yan!