My son Cameron was born in New York at Columbia Presbyterian hospital – and I have to say my experience at Sibley Hospital here in DC with Violet was much better overall (despite the rather dramatic delivery circumstances!) Below is a post with what is hopefully some useful information if you are planning to deliver your baby at Sibley Hospital:
Pre Registration:
I’m guessing that most hospitals and OBs tell you to fill out pre registration forms before your due date, so mentioning this isn’t exactly ground breaking. I only bring it up because it is so important. You never know if you’ll go into labor early, or if your labor will be super fast like mine! After sending mine in, I checked with the hospital to be sure that they got them. I also called my insurance to be sure that all my ducks were in a row on their end. When I called them I found out that I needed pre authorization from my OB – so it’s a good thing I checked.
Tour Info / Single Rooms:
The Sibley Hospital website has a virtual tour of the labor and delivery area which is good to watch. But you can also take a tour in person which I found to he much more informative. Email childbirth at sibley dot org and tell them your expected due date, the names of the people who would like to attend, your phone number, and your email address, and they will get back to you with tour availability. On the tour they will show you the labor and delivery rooms, the nursery area, the triage room, the snack area, and the postpartum recovery rooms. Even if you’ve had a baby already – if it was at another hospital I would recommend you take the tour. single rooms At Sibley, they have double rooms and single rooms for postpartum recovery. Double rooms are covered by insurance, and single rooms cost extra (I think it was around $250 a night). On the tour I asked if it was hard to get a single room (in New York they were pretty short on them) but the tour guide said they always had more than enough, and could even open up extra rooms on another floor if need be. So as long as you were willing to pay, they would find a single room for you. Personally, I think spending the money on a single room is more than worth it. It allows your significant other to stay overnight (you can’t do this in a double) and it gives you more peace and quiet.
Violet in her hospital garb
Ordering Food:
At Sibley you can place an order for food from the cafeteria any time between 6:30 am and 6:30 pm. There is a fairly extensive menu of choices, and the food is decent (it won’t blow you away, but it certainly wasn’t awful). You can order as many times a day as you like (one day I was hungry mid afternoon so I got an impromptu grilled cheese) and you can also order more than one thing at once (both evenings I was there I got extra sandwiches for my husband and for Cameron). Also, you can place your order in advance and just tell them what time you’d like it delivered. They always tell you it will be 45 minutes for the food, but I never waited more than 30.
Snack Area:
Both the labor and delivery area as well as the postpartum recovery area have a snack room that has various juices, milk, crackers and graham crackers, jello cups, and a few other random bits of food. This room is open 24-7 and is always well stocked. I went many times to grab a quick snack so I found this to be really nice – if you aren’t up and about you can ask your nurse to get you something.
Parking:
There is a parking lot at the hospital, of course, but while there I got a little tip from the tour leader – if you happen to leave after about 9:45 at night, the attendant is off duty and the gate will be up, so you can get by without paying. Also, if you are going to leave in the day and come back at a later time, tell the attendant and he will give you a pass to come and go. This way you can save a little money.
Classes:
One thing that I was really impressed with at Sibley were the classes that were offered, especially the breastfeeding class. This class was lead by a great lactation consultant – it was really informative, and even though this was my second baby and I had breastfed before, I learned a lot. The breastfeeding class takes place every morning at 10:30. FYI there are also lactation consultants on duty all the time, and they drop in your room a few times a day to see how everything is going and give you one on one help. There is also a discharge class offered every evening at 8:30 pm that goes over checking out of the hospital, and some basic baby care information. I think this was more geared towards first time parents, but it was still useful to know the check out process worked so when we were ready to go it all went smoothly and quickly.
Extra Items to Pack:
I’m sure you have a hospital back packed – but I have a few additions you might want to include besides the usual comfy clothes and toiletry items. The post partum recovery area is a busy place, and your room might be a little loud – especially if it’s near the nurses station like mine. I was so glad that I brought my eye mask and ear plugs with me, so that when Violet was in the nursery I was able to get some much needed rest. Also on the sleep front – I sleep with a small pillow between my legs, and it was really nice to have this as a bit of comfort from home. And, I brought my house slippers so I’d have something to walk around in. Pack your laptop if you use one all the time (like me!!) a charger for it, and your cell phone and cell phone charger. Because we already have a son, my husband didn’t spend more than the first night at the hospital, and during the day he was often off with Cameron – so it was nice to have my technology to entertain me (see below about using the free wifi!) Finally, you might consider bringing your own towell. The ones they give you for the bathroom / shower are really small and not very soft.
TV vs wifi:
At Sibley they charge you $5 a day to use the TV in your room – but wifi is free. They say there is only wifi in the cafeteria, but I had no problem accessing it in my room. I used the wifi to watch Hulu among other things – so why bother paying for the tv! It was also nice to be able to chat, send emails, and post on facebook while I was stuck in the hospital. 
Discharge:
As I mentioned before there is a discharge class at 8:30 every evening. Be sure to attend so you know what forms to fill out, where to sign them, and what the policies are. Also, talk to your nurse on duty for your check out day and tell them you are planning to leave. I was able to work with my nurse to get all my paperwork in order in advance so that check out was quick and efficient.
