A Personal Account of Giving Birth at Sisters Hospital in Buffalo, New York

As a woman who has given birth to two children at Sisters Hospital in Buffalo, New York I would recommend the facility to any woman in the area trying to make a decision in regards to where she wants to have her baby.

My son was born in March 2007. I was a week past my due date and my doctor decided to schedule an induction. This was my first baby and naturally I was very frightened. From the moment I entered Labor and Delivery at 5:30 AM until my son was delivered later in the afternoon the staff treated me with patience, kindness and understanding.

I chose to have my son naturally and this decision was respected by the hospital staff. I was not pressured to get an epidural or pain medication. My assigned nurse checked on me frequently and even rubbed my back. She chatted casually with my husband and I and helped to keep us calm. When my water broke, flooded the floor, and soaked her shoes she joked about it which helped to ease my terror and eliminate my embarrassment. When the pain got really bad and I started yelling at her that the baby was going to fall out on the floor and screamed at her for not doing anything she still remained calm and focused.

My doctor was supposed to be there for the birth but she came down with a stomach virus the day before and I had to have one of the on staff doctors deliver my baby. I was extremely nervous about this as I had counted on my own doctor being the one to take care of everything. The staff doctor was kind and professional talked us through everything that was happening. When the baby crowned she asked my husband if he wanted to watch, which surprisingly he did with glee. When my son came out sunny side up rather than face down as was safer the staff quickly took him and suctioned the fluid out of his lungs. It was not long before I heard the beautiful sound of his cry.

I was quite pleased that one of the first things the hospital does after making sure the baby is okay is attach a security device to him. This prevents anyone from taking the baby out of the hospital unnoticed. The baby is given a wristband with a unique number on it and mom and dad are given one with the same number. Only those with wrist bands with corresponding numbers are allowed to get the baby from the nursery.

On the maternity floor had to share a room for about an hour and then was moved to a private room. My husband would have been allowed to stay the night but I told him to go home and get a good nights sleep. Soon enough he would be sleep deprived.

Sisters Hospital has a lactation consultant on staff and the nurses on the maternity ward provide breastfeeding support. When my son had trouble latching they came in and assessed the problem, taught me different positions to hold him in, and gave me a nipple shield that allowed him to finally nurse.

I was allowed to keep my baby in the room with me all night and a nurse came in every half an hour or so to check on both of us.

Sisters Hospital did a wonderful job taking care of me when I had my second child as well. I went into labor with my daughter three weeks early and had a tougher time with her than I did with my son. From the very beginning the pain was unbearable. I could not take the pain the second time around and ended up having an epidural. I was terrified of having a needle stuck into my spine but the anesthesiologist explained everything he was doing and made jokes during the insertion. I honestly did not feel a thing and was surprised at how easy the procedure was. After the epidural the pain lessened until the very end when there is not really anything that can be done to take it away.

In the middle of my labor my contractions weakened and I had to be given Pitocin to help get them going again. My uterus was getting lazy because I had been in labor for so long and needed a bit of a boost. My heart rate went up and I had to be placed on a heart monitor. This scared my husband and me but the nurse explained it was just a precaution. My oxygen levels went down to 88% and I had to be given a breathing treatment as it seemed my asthma was starting to act up from the stress. Everything that was happening was explained to us and we were told that while what was happening to me was not typical it did happen occasionally and the baby and I would be fine.

When I was nine centimeters dilated at 5:45 AM the nurse called my doctor and he tried as hard as he could to get to the hospital to deliver my daughter. Unfortunately she really wanted out and in fifteen minutes I dilated to ten, gave a few hard pushes and out she came. Yet another child was delivered by the doctor on staff. She was strong and healthy and almost eight pounds, large considering she was early. My husband again watched her come out, cut the umbilical cord.

Things went smoothly and similar to what happened after the birth of my first child for about eight hours. Then I stood up to go to the bathroom and had a sensation like my water was breaking again. I was standing in a puddle of blood and called for the nurse. I was having a massive postpartum hemorrhage and time was of the essence. My husband rushed the baby to the nursery while doctors and nurses came into and out of the room. Everything happened very fast and I do not remember a lot of details but my husband tells me that within minutes I was taken to an OR and put under general anesthesia. I remember a nurse praying with me as I fell asleep and when I woke up my husband was standing next to me in the recovery room. He actually slept on the floor of the recovery room that night and the nurse gave him a blanket and pillow so he would be more comfortable.

Thanks to the fast action of my doctor who was there when I started to hemorrhage and to the nurses and the support staff on the maternity and the labor and delivery floors I survived what not all women have. My doctor had a really hard time stopping the bleeding, even after scraping pieces of retained placenta that appeared to have caused the bleeding from my uterus. At one point he went to the waiting room to get a consent from my husband to do a hysterectomy if needed. My husband told me that the doctor hugged him before going back into the operating room. I was extremely lucky in that my doctor tried one more thing before taking my uterus. He packed the entire uterus with sterile gauze and kept me on Pitocin to help the uterus clamp down around the gauze. That worked and the bleeding finally stopped.

I was in the hospital a few days longer with my daughter than I was with my son because of the hemorrhage and the surgery. Throughout the entire stay the nurses were very kind and helpful and understanding. I could not see my daughter for a while after the surgery and the staff on the maternity ward let my husband come up at three in the morning to feed her, not something that fathers are typically allowed to do. We did not want her to be all by herself in the nursery while Mommy was downstairs in recovery and we wanted her to start the bonding process. The staff really went out of their way to make this happen and even brought our daughter down to the surgical recovery room for a few minutes so I could see her and talk to her.

I truly believe the staff at Sisters Hospital in Buffalo, New York saved my life after I had my daughter. They made the process of labor and delivery with both of my children wonderful experiences and I would recommend this hospital to anyone trying to decide where they want to give birth. If we ever have another baby I know I will choose to deliver at Sisters Hospital.