While as a whole, it is fantastic that we are moving towards giving the mom and the baby room to be together after birth, instead of hustling to get standard of care and protocol completed.
However, we still have a very long way to go.
I admire that Baptist Boca Raton Regional Hospital Labor & Delivery at Toppel Family Place embraces, honors and respects the Golden Hour, which is the first hour following birth, of uninterrupted skin to skin between mom and baby, as long as the mom and baby do not need immediate and urgent medical attention.
However, surprisingly to many birthing families, this is absolutely not the norm in every hospital.
Painstakingly it makes me so emotional that I attended a birth as my client’s Birth Photographer and Doula just before Christmas (not at my favorite hospital, this following experience is from a birth in Miami) where the nurses came into the room and demanded to do their routine protocols with baby, when baby was latched onto mama and doing skin to skin.
I looked at the clock, seeing as that we had a good 20 minutes still left to go of Golden Hour and inquired with the two nurses why they were breaking the 1 hour of promised skin to skin.
They rambled some nonsense that they were here and this was required now.
I looked at my client, as of course I support my clients in what they want, as long as it is safe of course, and in this case her baby was absolutely healthy and not needing any urgent medical attention.
My client looked at me, gained some courage and asked the nurses if they can come back in 20 minutes when her Golden Hour would be complete.
The Nurses responded with a firm no, they are here now and this needs to be done now.
My client looked at me again, and her eyes were desperate. I am not in the habit of getting kicked out of the delivery room, I do not impose my own ideologies, instead I support my clients and I said directly to her, “it is your choice mama you do not have to do anything you do not want to do,” but at this point my client decided to seceded to the nurses and give up her baby. Fortunately, there were no negative consequences to her being separated from her baby during the nurses standard, non-urgent procedures that absolutely interrupted the Golden Hour mom was promised of uninterrupted skin to skin bonding time with her baby.
Golden Hour, which was implemented at my favorite hospital in Boca Raton (BRRH Boca Regional) by some of my absolute favorite Labor and Delivery nurses who many of which have become amazing Certified Nurse Midwives since implementing Golden Hour, serves to the benefit of mom and baby. The benefits are endless, including baby’s healthy body temperature regulation, baby’s healthy heart rate regulation, increased success rates of breastfeeding due to this immediate and consistent bonding, better mental health results for mom, and so much more. Golden Hour is not a trendy or viral commodity. Golden Hour is a medically substantial tool to improving physical and mental health of both mom and baby following delivery and should be the standard of care at every hospital, as long as neither mom nor baby require immediate medical attention. In fact, many of the standard procedures nurses need to do such as taking baby’s temperature, administering vaccines, listening to baby’s heart rate and more can all be done while baby is doing skin to skin with mom.
It shocked me as one of the most upsetting things I’ve ever seen that there are nurses prioritizing non-urgent standard of care over a patient’s request. This violates informed decision on so many levels, as my client was clearly bullied into giving up her baby when she clearly did not want to, over nothing medically urgent. This adds to the list of why I absolutely do not enjoy attending any births at hospitals in Miami. Most hospitals in Miami have similar procedures and I have yet to hear moms shouting from the roof tops that they had positive & supported birthing experiences with any doctors/midwives/hospitals in Miami in nearly a decade of working in birth.
If you know me, you know that I absolutely prioritize medical care and medical attention. Mom and baby must be safe and healthy.
But when it comes to things like footprints or measuring baby’s length, essentially non-urgent procedures, there is absolutely no reason to bully a patient into giving up her baby when she was clearly offered 60 full miutes of uninterrupted skin to skin bonding time with her baby.
If you are currently expecting and planning to give birth in a hospital in South Florida, it is vital that you have these super important discussions with your OBGYN or Midwife as well as with your Labor and Delivery nurse, Baby nurse, and the hospital where you plan on giving birth, so that you are not promised one thing and then bullied into giving up your rights and your informed decision after the fact when you are in a vulnerable state.
I am so grateful for the team at Baptist Boca Raton Regional Hospital, as they understand the importance of not only keeping moms and babies safe during pregnancy, labor and delivery but also the vital importance of mental health. Golden Hour factors into both supporting improved mental health and physical health benefits and should be implemented as the standard of care more urgently than footprints.
