The Western Maryland Health System. A beautiful place. It looks more like a hotel than a hospital. They even have valet parking! But you don't want to come here if you have an...
EMERGENCY!!
I brought Lindsey here on Thursday, after she'd spent several days hemorrhaging - the side effects of the pill the doctor put her on after the baby was born.
4:30 PM. The waiting room was empty. I took care of the baby and Lindsey was called back to a room. This shouldn't take long. We were the only ones there.
Soon the waiting room was becoming full, so I gathered up the baby and her stuff and went back to Lindsey's room with her. She was weak and in a lot of pain. They took blood from her arm and it bled like crazy, even after they bandaged it. They took a urine sample, then told her they'd be taking her back for a sonogram. We waited.
And Waited.
And waited.
Not a person came back to say, are you doing okay? Do you need anything?
Nothing. They acted like we were not there.
There was not even a chair in the room for me to sit on.
The baby started getting fussy and needed a new bottle. I walked out to the nurses station. The half a dozen nurses looked at me like I was from another planet when I asked, "I was wondering if someone could please rinse the baby's bottle out and fill it with clean water so I can mix her formula?"
"There's a sink over there..." one nurse said. Yes, there was a sink in the hall. Where the doctors washed their hands after taking care of patients. I was reluctant - this seemed unsanitary to me. But the baby was hungry. (am I being too particular?) So I fed the baby, and we waited some more.
The nurse comes in to take Lindsey back for her sonogram... afterwards, they forgot about her being there.
Finally back in the room. Waiting.
Finally, Summer is asleep.
It's after 9 PM and there are doctors scurrying about up and down the hall...
lots of laughter...
chit chat...
I go out to the nurses station once again. The doc is sitting, looking at a computer. My back hurts.
"Could you give me an idea of how long it will be before Lindsey sees the doctor?" I was nice.
"She is next." he says, but with no idea of how long it would be. I explained to him that I had a baby back there and wondered if I should take the baby home and come back for Lindsey.
"If you leave, your wait will be that much longer..." He says arrogantly.
He must not have understood what I said. I just shrugged my shoulders and returned to Lindsey's room.
Soon I'd had enough. I went to the nurses station. "I've been waiting since 4:30... it is now 9:30."
Nurse: We are waiting on sonogram results. She gets on the computer. Lindsey's was lost. She thought she was someone else. Mistaken identity. blah, blah, blah.
Lindsey asked the nurse why her urine sample was still sitting in the room. She was given 2 different stories. Either one was true and one was false or they were both false -who knows.
Finally, the doctor. He and I had a small conversation. It went something like this:
Me. Sorry, I guess you misunderstood earlier when I said I may take the baby home and come back for Lindsey. The baby is not the patient... Lindsey is.
Doc. BLANK STARE. I guess he didn't remember the conversation from 45 minutes earlier.
Me. (I point to the baby in her car seat on the floor) This is the baby. The patient, Lindsey, is in the bathroom right now. She will be right back.
Doc. Yea, I don't know why they separate the mothers from the babies like that. They should let them be in the same room.
Me. blank stare.
Meanwhile... back at home ... Pop pop and Marissa played school. And Marissa decorated the entire house in sticky notes.
Lindsey is doing better today... *Yawn* and I'm going to bed soon. I'm tired.
