If you follow me on YouTube, which I really think you should, you would have seen my video yesterday about my #MothersDayConnect experience. There is so much more to say about the experience than what I shared in the video, so I thought I would share a few things I learnt from the experience.
Bureaucracy,
you got to love it hey! I organised the Pretoria event with Lilian from Dr George Mukhari Hospital and she was amazing. There is, however a process and sometimes it moves slowly. Approval is needed from this person, then that person must be informed and so it goes on. I did not expect this, probably naively so. I just thought we could phone announce our imminent arrival and everyone would be happy.
Security is a big thing. Obviously in private hospitals access is restricted to maternity wards, the same applies to the government wards but what surprised me was the security at the entry and exit points. I can drive my car right up to the door of the ER at any hospital in my area and no one would blink. We were stopped at the entry, had to get permission to go in. They checked the packs and we were escorted by a security officer to the correct parking and they remained with us until the Matron took over. When we left we had to get out, open the car so they could check before we left.
Privacy is a bit of an issue. I mentioned this in the video and Mandy and I had a differing of opinion on this. I was in a general ward with Cameron and Kiara but private w
ith both Jack and Emma. Honestly I would have liked to be around a few more new moms with the younger two. I am not sure I would have enjoyed as much openess as these ladies have but I do think there is a lot to be said for having an open ward like this, especially for a new mom.
There was a sense of calm in all the wards. When I was in hospital I remember hearing babies crying constantly, there was one baby who was crying but once he was fed he was happy as Larry. The rest of the time there was calm and quiet and we were there for almost 2 hours. I am sure many of the moms were anxious and nervous but the over all atmosphere of the wards was calm. Generally when I visit a hospital, even to see a new baby I want to get the hell out of there as quickly as possibly but I could have stayed there all day.
In case you missed the video, here it is. I also announce my new project – more information will be available soon 🙂
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One Response
I think the ward i was in had like 20 women in there, but we could only have one visitor at a time (dads included) on visitor hour.