Important Questions To Ask During Your Hospital Tour!

Do not make the mistake of not taking a hospital tour in your childbirth preparation. I know it can seem like a minuscule thing to some, but let me tell you why it’s so important and help you with what to look for and ask during your tour!

Table of Contents

Why Take A Hospital Tour?

Well let’s start with the most obvious reason. Getting comfortable with the environment you’ll be giving birth in!

When we think of hospitals, we think of illness. Injury. So it’s easy to treat childbirth like a health condition, rather than a vital life event for you and your family.

Touring the labor and delivery floor and talking to the staff is the best way to shift your mindset and actually look forward to giving birth with them!

Too often, women fear going to the hospital while their in labor because of horror stories and the unknown of what will happen during their own birth story.

“Will my birth plan be thrown out? Will I be respected? What will my nurse be like? What’s available for me to help with pain if I’m not choosing the epidural?”

There are so many questions you must have and I’d love to help you get those answered.

What Can You Expect During Your Tour?

A lot of hospitals offer virtual tours as well as in-person tours. I want to encourage you to do both.

happy pregnant couple sharing smartphone at home

That way you have the opportunity to ask important questions while also getting the feel for the place! Visualizing your ideal birth is important. You can do that with simply seeing the environment, but feeling safe with the ones that will be caring for you is even more important.

You won’t feel safe if you can’t trust those that are there to support you. Trust comes from a feeling you get and if you’re in tune with your intuition, you’ll know by the end of your tour if you can trust who will be there during your labor.

The typical hospital tour takes about 30 minutes to an hour and is usually led by a Labor and Delivery Nurse.

I’ll warn you now, it is possible to hear women in labor and this can make everything feel much more real. So it would normal for you to get a little overwhelmed or anxious. Feel free to voice that if it should happen, it’s a great way to see how supportive the staff is.

Remember, labor is a mental marathon as well as a physical one. You want compassionate care as you go through it!

I would also suggest bringing a notebook with your questions, that you find here and come up with on your on, as well as bringing the rough draft of your Birth Plan so that you can really start preparing for your dream birth.

Download My Free Birth Plan Template

Start preparing for you Dream Birth by printing this template, fill it out and take it with you!

The Questions To Ask About The Hospital:

What is parking like? Fees, visitors, where to park during and after-hours.
Which entrance do you go through?
What is the check-in process?
What paperwork should I have ready to make check-in easier?
What is the visitor policy during labor and postpartum?
Am I allowed more than 1 person in the room?
How does the hospital staff feel about Doulas?
Does the hospital offer a childbirth, breastfeeding and newborn class?
Does the hospital prioritize family-centered care?
What is the level of the NICU? Would my baby need to be transferred if certain complications occur?
What are the hospitals rates for Cesareans, Induction/Augmentation, Epidural use, Episiotomy, VBAC, Forceps/Vacuum (and any other statistic you wish to know about the hospital)

The Questions To Ask About L&D Rooms:

What kind of comfort and coping measures does the hospital provide? (Birth balls, shower, tub, heating pads, etc. Ask for a list if possible!)
What are the hospital’s policies concerning movement, food and positions during each phase (like pushing positions)
What is the hospital’s policy concerning taking my Placenta home? How is it discarded if I do not wish to keep it.
Is Nitrous Oxide available?
Does the hospital respect intermittent monitoring?
Does the hospital have wireless monitoring, if continuous monitoring should be necessary?
How does the labor and delivery staff feel about Doulas?

What To Ask Yourself And Your Partner Afterwards:

Feel free to bookmark this page to come back to it for during and after your hospital visit! After you’ve gone through your tour and asked all of your questions, the next step is assessing how you feel about the hospital.

Are you comfortable? Is your partner comfortable? Do you feel like your birth plan will be respected and supported?

Do you feel safe?

Confident?

Childbirth should be something you look forward to! If you can’t picture yourself having an experience that makes you feel empowered, consider a change in location. You can always check with your insurance to see what other hospitals are in-network for you. If your provider can’t be with you, consider a change in providers.

Most people don’t realize, an on-call OB is always available for you in every hospital with a Labor and Delivery unit. If you aren’t comfortable with your hospital or care-team, weighing the pros and cons of switching might be the best option for you.

You hold a lot more power than you realize, my friend. I hope every decision you make is an informed one!