Last Thursday J and I took the plunge straight out of denial into the arms of panic. We had our orientation slash tour of the Labor and Delivery section of Duke where I hope to give birth and it freaking scared the s*** out of us. We arrived at Duke around 6 and went into this auditorium/classroom where the numbers for Labor Triage and the Duke Main line were written in giant letters. The presenter was a Labor nurse and she told lots of stories and gave us lots of information about the different steps for checking into Labor. Lesson learned go through the emergency room when we head in for delivery and get our car valet parked. Also I need to pack my hospital bag before week 36, so thank god, I have a few more weeks! WE also learned when we should anticipate going in vs just calling our doctor and I still really don’t get it. I think I’m going to wing that one.
We also got to see the actual labor rooms, which from what the industry standards say are really nice with a jacuzzi tub etc but looked scary to me all the same and the post partum room looked like any old hospital room but just had a bassinet in it. We also walked by a new mama during our tour who was walking the halls with her twins and I could not make eye contact because then it would be real. See, not making eye contact with babies means I’m not having one. Most of the other soon to be parents in our group were right around where I was but they all took copious notes as opposed to J and I who only jotted down the phone numbers. Now I’m worried that we are slackers and are not focussed enough about this.
When the whole ordeal was over J and I walked to the parking lot with the deer in headlights look on our face until we reached the car and started giggling hysterically because the entire situation was so unreal. Yeah, we are ready to be parents, can’t you tell? This week we have “how to pick a daycare” class on Friday, I’ m sure we will under perform as usual.
Publicity shots of Duke L&D is here:
Orange You Grape 