Am I being paranoid?

Ok, this has been bothering me for a while I just don't know how to shake it. When I had my first daughter, my husband stayed the whole time in the hospital with me, so at night he was there to help and we kept her in our room the entire time. She was never sent out unless one of us went with her. One night around 2am we were up feeding and changing her and someone came in the room whom we'd never seen before. It was not the nurse cause I made sure I knew who our nurse was and when they changed shifts. I don't remember if she had a badge on or not to be honest. But she asked if our baby had it's hearing tested yet, we said no and she asked if we wanted her to take the baby out for the hearing test. We said no, we'd have it done in the morning. And so she left. Never saw this woman again. We thought that was strange but didn't actually talk about it until after we left the hospital. It could have been harmless but it just seemed really weird. Anyway, it has me a little freaked out for this time. We will be at a different hospital, but I will be alone at night since my husband will be staying at home with our daughter. I am not sure that I will be up to having her room in with me as I'm sure I'll be on some crazy pain killers at least the first night, but I'm concerned about leaving her in the nursery too. I'm a little paranoid about her being away from me. I've had a couple people suggest I leave her in the nursery and have the nurses bring her to me to breastfeed, but it's kind of stressing me out. I know I'll need my rest and ideally it would probably be good, but I'm afraid that something will happen. Is someone in the nursery at all times if a baby is in there?

wow that's really strange.  I put Sage in the nursery every night.  I don't know about your hospital, but ours has a tracking system on each baby that goes on their cord and if the baby leaves the maternity unit the entire hospital shuts down.  I don't know if that helps.  But also there is ALWAYS a nurse in there with the baby, but you can ask your hospital to make sure.

That's how the hospital was where I had my first, but the sensor wasn't tight enough and kept falling off of her foot. The hospital I'm having Harmony at doesn't have a sensor on the babies, they keep the floor locked and alarms go off when the doors open and shut but that's it. I am sure it will be fine, I just can't help but be a little paranoid. I will definately ask though about the nursery. I'm one of those mom's that will wake up in the night and put my hand on the babies belly to make sure she's breathing. I'm a little paranoid, I know.

I think for your own sanity that while you are alone at night you should put the baby in the nursery. This way you can get some sleep. That is what I did with Max, if my hubby or a visitor was not there I just kept Max in the nursery, that way he was not left alone in the room at all if I had to go the bathroom. Those little beds that they are in are not that light after a c-section to pu**** around.

Same thing happened 17 years ago when my sister had my nephew. Some guy came in scanning the room and looking at the baby, then claimed he was there to fix the leaky sink (the sink was not leaking). She picked up the phone and he took off. They shut down the hospital but they never found him. Hospitals now have great alarm systems in the maternity ward but you can never be too safe.

The nursery is locked and always someone in there, atleast at my hospital it is. The nurses have coded keys to get in. Ask when you get there about their alarm systems.

It is normal to feel this way, only natural when it comes to our babies.

Hoped it helped!

It will definately be a relief to know that someone is in the nursery all the time. I was thinking they just came in periodically and that would not be ok with me.
It's funny you mentioned not leaving the baby alone when going to the bathroom, cause I keep thinking about that too, if the bed will even fit in the bathroom. I guess I will just need to call a nurse if I'm by myself and have to go to the bathroom and the bed won't fit.

That sounds REALLY scary! I would freak if someone came in at 2 am to check the baby's hearing, not just because it is weird but because it is 2 am! You are WAY more patient than I!

If you are nervous about someone taking the baby, I would think the nursery would be the best place for the baby to stay at night. I would imagine it would be ALOT harder for a stranger to walk into a nursery that is being constantly monitored.

Don't worry about being paranoid! I am totally paranoid and protective of Grace and she is still in my belly :)  I will be checking her breathing at night too once she gets here.

The more I thought about that lady coming in and wanting to take the baby for a hearing check, the creepier it becomes.

Dont think about it!!! Hey you were a new mom and exhausted. Something got to you with that though because you didn't let her take your baby so your instincts were still great :)

At least now you are going to be wary of ANYONE coming to take the baby for testing, let alone at 2 am!

I know hindsight is 20/20 but I would have definitely asked about hospital procedures for testing (is testing at 2 am for something non-life threatening normal procedure?)

If it makes you feel better, ask the hospital this when you go to deliver...that way if you DO get up at 2 am and want your baby and the baby is getting tested, you won't freak out (like I probably would having read your experience now!)

I had Amelia in the nursery each night because I sent Chris home. She had 3 sensors on, one on her ankle, one on her wrist and one on the clamp for the umbilical stump. All of these had matching numbers to bracelets that Chris and I had to wear. They would only give the baby to someone with this bracelet. Also all of the nurses had special badges that were pink and they told you to have them show it to you before anyone took your baby. Amelia did get her hearing test in the middle of the night, and it wasn't one of the regular nurses, it was someone from a different department - she did have the pink badge though. Oh and she was brought to me on demand to breastfeed. The nurses also coordinated checking my vital signs and pain meds for when she was in there so they knew I was awake. They were also great and would get  me set up to nurse then come back and take her, change her and put her back in the bassinet. I also asked, they told me there are several nurses (depending on how many babies) in the nursery at all time and they lock the door at night.

Hope that helps!

Liz

This hospital has the matching bracelets I know, but I don't remember them saying they had sensors. I think I would have remembered. When we toured the L & D floor there were no babies in the nursery, so I didn't remember them talking about the security of the nursery itself.