A hospital tour or hospital maternity tour is a visit by expecting couples to the hospital they wish to deliver. They do this to get information about the hospital policy, answers to any questions they have in mind, to see around the hospital, and for many other reasons.
A hospital tour gives couples an idea of those things to expect and not to expect if they deliver in the hospital and also, to see if the hospital suits their needs.
The best time to have a hospital tour is by the third trimester. Few weeks into your 7th month of pregnancy, you and your partner should plan a visit to the hospitals you have in mind.
Some couples do hospital tours much earlier than that, and that is completely fine too. You may be visiting more than one hospital before you decide on which is best for you so earlier the better.
Before going on a hospital tour, get prepared and ask the right questions. Below are 24 important questions that every expecting parent should ask during a hospital tour.
1. Does This Hospital Have A Neonatal Intensive Care Unit?
If so, what level?
There are usually four levels of newborn care:
Level 1 – Well newborn care.
Level 2 – Special care nursery.
Level 3 – Neonatal intensive care unit.
Level 4- Regional neonatal intensive care unit.
Not every hospital has a NICU with these four levels, so it is necessary to ask during the hospital tour if the hospital has an intensive care unit and if yes what level? You can avoid emergencies that would require rushing to another hospital if you deliver in a hospital with a level 1 to 4 NICU.
If you have been termed a high-risk pregnancy (multiple births, are at risk of you having a C-section, preeclampsia), by your doctor, this question is a must ask.
Other questions to ask are: the type of facilities at the NICU, the floor on which the NICU is located, how easy is it to access the NICU from the delivery room, and if provisions will be made for the mother while at NICU.
2. Where Is The Hospital’s Entrance For Labor?
Most hospitals have different entrances. It may be difficult and even unwise looking around for the entrance to the labor ward during labor, so ask if there the hospital has an entrance for the labor ward entrance at the hospital tour.
If they do, ask where it is located; to know if it is easily accessible from your home. If possible, drive through the entrance to see how best to navigate through it from your route.
3. How Many Persons Are Allowed In The Labor Room During Delivery?
There are, of course, protocols in every hospital that limit the number of people to support you during labor. You need to check with the hospital to know if they allow support persons during delivery and, if yes, the required number so that you can plan who will be with you at birth.
You may also inquire about the hospital’s policy towards hiring a doula in the labor room. Some hospitals do not permit this, as they feel it interferes with their work; others are open to the idea and even encourage it and they have trained doulas and may provide for you on request.
4. Baby-Friendly, Yes Or No?
As discussed in my post on common breastfeeding mistakes, I stated that the hospital I birthed was supportive during my delivery; still, they didn’t show so much interest in immediate skin-to-skin contact and after birth and breastfeeding.
I bet if I had asked if they had a baby-friendly program in my hospital tour, I wouldn’t have been disappointed by their actions. If you are particular about exclusive breastfeeding, ask during the hospital tour if the hospital is baby-friendly certified.
These are questions that you could ask: would I be allowed you to room in with my baby? Are all babies kept in a nursery? Can I hold my baby immediately after birth, even before cleaning?
Does this hospital encourage putting the baby on the breasts immediately after delivery? Is there is a lactation consultant here? What structure is put in place to support women’s breastfeeding goals?
5. What Are The Birth Aid Options Available Here?
These days delivery is very creative. It Is way more than lying on the bed, managing labor pains till delivery. Many hospitals offer different birth aid options to make the labor process easier, so it is important to ask if the hospital provides alternative birth aids like birthing balls, pillows, mats, stretch balls, music, whirlpool, bean bag, etc.
Also, ask if you can move around during labor, come in and out during labor room, change positions, things you can bring to the labor room.
The hospital tour is an important time to clarify those necessary things carry the unnecessary ones, so you can pack your hospital bag properly for sometimes we tend to overpack or under pack things like so many extra pillows, excess snacks and drinks, electronics, camera, birthing balls, mats, and other baby gear like cots, inside the room.
Some hospitals may allow this and in others, you only stick to the essentials. They provide all the basics for you. Some hospitals also give you the luxury of videoing the whole birthing process, putting mirrors close to your bedside, and any other thing that works for you.
6. What Is The Hospitals C-Section And Intervention Rate?
many The rate of C-sections is increasing in hospitals. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a 15% Caesarean section rate is the acceptable standard for any Hospital, but of course, many hospitals exceed this number.
During the hospital tour, it is smart to ask about the attitude of the hospital towards C-sections and during labor. Do they readily embrace C-section? Do they promote and encourage vaginal birth? If C-section is one of the least options for delivery or a common option for delivery?
What is the hospital’s policy to a woman who wants to have a vagina birth even after C-section, and how supportive is the hospital towards that? What are the other vagina birth options available? Getting this information would give you a picture of how it would be like to birth in the hospital.
Before the hospital tour, prepare and read about different birth options like C-section, epidural, induction, etc. Discuss with your doctor and see which you feel is suitable for you. So you will know if the hospital can meet your need.
7. Do You Have Follow-Up Postpartum Support Available?
After delivery and discharge, hospitals do offer to follow up support like calls monitoring for few days after birth, lactation consultation with a lactation consultant, an open line for any questions or complaints, classes for new moms coaching them on ways to manage postpartum, postnatal monitoring of the baby and the mother, etc.
Not all hospitals offer all these services though. If you want close follow-up support when you deliver your baby, the hospital tour is the best time to ask if these services are offered there.
8. Visiting Time
You will want to know the visiting time, especially if you have many friends and family who want to call at the hospital. There will be a specified time for visiting.
During the tour, ask what is the specific time for visiting is, ask if it can be altered to suit you, ask if some important family members like your partner or family can be allowed free access into your room without following the visiting schedule, also ask the number of visitors to be permitted for visiting at a particular time.
9. The Hospital’s Policy Towards Unwanted Visitors
A baby’s delivery is good tidings, visitors will want to come visiting to congratulate you, and it can be tiring, so sometimes you may not wish to see all your visitors. Can your hospital help you with that? The hospital, a tour is the best time to ask if they can. During the tour, ask if the hospital has a policy restricting unwanted visitors.
10. Will Labour, Delivery, And After Delivery Be In The Same Space?
Labour and delivery may not only always be in the same room. Sometimes you will also be expected to move to another floor to recover after labor. before discharge.
In some hospitals, you would deliver and recover before moving to another room for postpartum care, and in other hospitals, you stay in the same room for labor, delivery, recovery, and even postpartum care.
It would be best if you asked which is the hospital’s system for labor, delivery and afterward. You may also ask if the hospital can give you the freedom to choose the one you are comfortable with.
11. Is This A Teaching Hospital?
If you register in a Teaching Hospital, the Chances are that much medical staff will see you before, during, and after delivery. A Teaching Hospital has its advantages, especially for high-risk pregnancies. They carry out a lot of complex medical cases and other surgical interventions.
Still, the downside is that it may be frustrating and tiring for you to have to deal with doctors, nurses, medical students, residents, pediatricians, neonatologists, and other medical staff.
It could be a plus to you somehow though. You could ask questions for anything that you have in mind, but if you find the too many medical staffs disturbing, do well to ask if the hospital will put some restrictions.
12. What Is The Hospital’s Pre-Registration Process?
Ask how the hospital carry out their registration process. Would you have to be there physically, or could you send your information via mail?
Ask If you would need to run some tests, if you would need samples for registration, the cost involved for registration and delivery, the services provided by the hospital like (foods, pads, diapers after birth), and if you would need some documents and paperwork for registration.
13. The Policy Of The Hospital Towards Taking Photographs Or Making Videos During Labor
Video photographs taken during birth is a thing that is getting quite popular. If you want to record your birth experience, know that it is quite expensive, and it needs a lot of planning with, the photographer and the hospital, so it is something you have to involve your hospital early enough.
If you wish to do video coverage of your birth or take photos during the hospital tour, ask if the hospital allows this. Not all hospitals allow this, and even those that do so, do not allow filming of the whole labor process.
Of course, you have to consider the risks of contamination because of the pandemic protocols, plus there are chances that the medical staff will get distracted.
If the hospital permits videoing or photographs, ask when the photographer can come in, if they allow filming of all the whole labor process, if photographers can film during C-section, etc. You should finalize all these ahead of time, so there are no distractions during labor.
12. Will, You And Your Baby Be In The Same Room, Or Will Your Baby Be In A Nursery?
Rooming-in is a system where the baby and the mother stay together after delivery except in complications. This system is getting increasingly popular, but not all hospitals follow this policy.
Clarify during and hospital tour if you will be allowed to room in with your child or not? Rooming-in will enable you to bond closer with your newborn early enough.
However, you may be distracted because your attention will be on the baby, so you may need a support person like a stand by a nurse, a close friend or a family member to rest a bit. You can also ask if your baby can be placed in a nursery if you do not want him kept in the same room with the child.
15. Is There Wireless Internet Access?
Not all hospital allows their patient internet access some do though. To be sure, ask the hospital if they enable internet access to the patients. You may need a connection to the Internet.
16. How Do You Support My Birth Plan?
Your birth plan is unique to you, and you would need a hospital that is ready to work with you to achieve the birth experience you desire. Many birth plans carry different requests like mirrors in the bedside, no circumcision, no episiotomy, etc.
Sometimes these requests do not always go with the hospital’s policy. As you talk with the tour guide, find out if the hospital can maintain the demands in your birth plan and, if not, what adjustments or changes they will make.
17. Can I Combine Breastfeeding With Formula Feeding?
The baby-friendly approach encourages bonding as early as possible and breastfeeding. If you want to combine formula and breastfeeding, you should ask if it is ok with the hospital, ask if it doesn’t go against the hospital’s baby-friendly policy, and ask if the staff will support your decision.
18. Would Formula Be Given Without My Consent?
Sometimes, the nurses feed formula to the child, especially when the mother has done a C-section or has gestational diabetes. Not all women will like this.
If you wish to do an exclusive breastfeeding program, but if you do not ask to clarify first with the hospital, you may not be able to avoid it.
An important question to ask is if the hospital would give formula to your child without your consent. Not all nurses may ask your permission before introducing the formula. If you do not want this and are very interested in exclusive breastfeeding, discuss this with the hospital.
19. What Is The Hospital’s Policy Towards Fetal Monitoring
Before birth, ask the hospital their policy for fetal monitoring, for different hospitals have different policies for monitoring a fetus during labor.
Some hospitals use the electronic fetal monitoring system, and you would be expected to stay in bed to watch the contractions because the contractions transducers are at the bedside. Some hospitals use a wireless monitoring system connecting the transmitter to the woman’s thigh and through a wireless signal.
The fetus is monitored from the nurse’s station so the patient can move around. But it doesn’t come without some challenges like poor connection and disruption of the transducers due to the movement from the mother and the baby. As you discuss with the hospital during the tour, they will let you know which system they adopt to see if it suits you.
20. Is Using Pacifiers And Bottles Allowed?
Some hospitals will allow you to use your bottle or formula. Others will provide them for you. The majority of hospitals are going with baby-friendly lines encouraging women to breastfeed now more than Formula feeding.
You do not want to get embarrassed if your hospital insists that you should not use bottles and formula for the baby so check first with them. Most hospitals can accommodate your needs to bottle feed even though they still encourage you to breastfeed.
21. Is Anybody Allowed Into The Theatre If I Have A C-Section?
A C-section is done in a theatre. Compared to normal delivery carried out in the Labour room, the number of people is limited because of the risk of infection, so hospitals have strong policies regarding the people present in the theatre.
Aside from the health staff needed for the operation, there are restrictions to other persons present in the theatre for your safety and that of your baby.
Some Hospitals have become more flexible and less restrictive, allowing a few select people inside the Theatre during C-section, so ask during the hospital, tour to be sure if it’s acceptable for a family member or support persons to be with a patient during C-section, and if yes, how many persons?
22. What Security Measures Are In Place?
With the rising crime rate, one needs to be careful not to lose valuables in the hospital. Because of the risk of theft, ask the hospital what security measures they have to prevent unwanted incidences.
Are there CCTV cameras in the hospital wards and the space you would stay? Are their security personnel’s around the hospital wards or only at the gate? Do visitors have to be buzzed in before entering the room where you are? Are there measures to protect my babies to prevent theft?
23. The Meals And The Meal Service Available
It is important to ask if you will be allowed to take meals or snacks before delivery as not all hospitals permit this. The hospital I give birth was completely against eating anything during labor; some hospitals do not prevent women from eating during the first stage of labor.
Check with the hospital to know what is their policy. Also, check if the hospital would be the one providing meals during your hospital stay or if you can bring yourself.
You may stay 1 or 2 days after normal delivery and maybe up to a week for a C-section delivery, so you need to know the hospital’s policy on food.
Ask if there is a food menu, ask if you can opt-out of their meal plan if you don’t want to eat the hospital’s food and if it will be accepted and charged in your bill, ask if the bill for meals will be cash?
Will the bills be charged in the overall hospital bill? Ask if the meal option is only open for patients. The persons with you may be needing meals too. Ask if the hospital brings meals to the bedside or foods are served in a general dining room for meals?
24. What Is The Policy For Discharging Patients?
There are different policies for discharge in hospitals. You would want to check to see what are the procedures and how well it works for you. During the tour, some important questions to ask are if the discharge is at a specific time or anytime; some hospitals only discharge in the mornings; some others can be anytime.
Asked the discharge procedures, if any paperwork requirements would be needed, how would bills be paid if the hospital allows installments or full payments? Would you be allowed to discharge without complete payment if there is a standard time of discharge for a particular type of birth or depends on the case?
Having a hospital tour is very vital if you intend to have a smooth delivery. Two things that would make you have a successful hospital tour and get the best hospital are researching and asking the right questions.
This post has covered those vital questions you would need for a successful hospital tour. I seriously hope you get that hospital that would meet your needs, for it makes a difference in your delivery.
Congratulations on your pregnancy, and wishing safe delivery.
Save this for later mama!
