thumbs down. although, the one we did tonight helped reiterate that we don't want baby w. to be born in a hospital if we can help it.
we've toured two now.
hospital a is favored by our OB. hospital a provided online registration for the maternity tour, fresh fruit, muffins and a variety of beverages, a professional presentation in a nice room with photography that sold the hospital and an engaging woman who knew what she was talking about. she knew answers to questions and was a good representative of the hospital for people who are "hospital shopping." it was still a hospital, though. i'm not fond of them.
hospital b is known for being the most natural-birth friendly hospital in town. registration was done over the phone. no biggie. the conference room was cramped. water was provided, as well as about six (in total) packets of graham crackers and saltines. hubby said it seemed like someone just grabbed them from denny's on their lunch hour as an afterthought. the presentation included outdated photography and a few pictures that made me want to run away rather than birth a child there. like a super creepy couple just standing in the hallway looking like deer in headlights. presenter b gave a sales pitch and though she called herself a doula, seemed to be rather uneducated on natural birth practices at that hospital. i felt no confidence whatsoever in any information she provided. i knew the new baby-specific web address of their new site when she couldn't remember. at the end of the tour she was completely stumped when another woman asked if her prescriptions could be filled on site at the hospital pharmacy. isn't that a no-brainer?
we'll tour another one or two, just for comparison, i suppose. if i want to stay with my OB the only other option is the baby factory. i wish our society didn't create such fear around pregnancy and birthing. it would make home birth or birth center birth such an easy choice, though that seems to be where the universe is leading us anyway.