Ok ladies, I hope you don't mind me chiming in but I am a stay at home Dad so I've got credentials
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Our experience was HORRENDOUS! And I've spoken to more than few people who had similar...we were there Nov '03 and the place was a madhouse. My wife also had Mellen/Ufberg but unbeknownst to us, they don't cover weekends so we got Debs? as a pinch hitter...he was so busy you'd see him for a minute to "check the oil" (brutally I might add, my poor wife would crawl up the bed each time) and come back an hour or two later...
Granted it was a first child so he knew it would be a while but I ended up holding her leg for hours, sometimes while the nurse left the room to do other things...bear in mind I didn't even want to be in the room bc I was worried I would pass out! Needless to say I didn't/couldn't because my wife needed me.
My wife was in labor 18 hours and my family couldn't get anyone to tell them anything...it was crazy. And if you have a big family, forget it, only 2 visitors at a time in the your room...we would have to kick one of our parents out so the other could visit...and once visiting hours were over, everybody got the boot...it was ridiculous...I'm all for security but don't they realize people have more than 1 parent apiece? We got a single room, looked like a cement prison cell with extra dark curtains...talk about depressing!
We finally delivered the baby 8:30 and got to the room about 11 on a Sunday night...the nurse got my wife a meal and flipped me a take out menu and said "Better call now and see if you can get something before they close" like it would've killed her to give me a sandwich...
That nurse at least took pity on my wife and kept the baby all night...but the next day, 7 AM the futon for Dad goes away, and the nurse tells me "Watch this because I'm only going to show you once..." and that's how I learned to bathe and diaper a baby, which I did myself the entire rest of our miserable stay..
My wife really had a bad tear so I had to change all the pads, gauze underwear, put tucks on them, all of it...and the nurses were nowhere to be found...
I would have to request pain meds in person bc they would keep telling us the next nurse would bring them and they never did...
When the dirty linens began to pile up in the bathroom, I had to take them out to the hallway and put them in the hamper
When I got tired of looking at the blood on the bathroom floor, I had to track the cleaning lady down and beg her to mop the room as we had been in it over 24 hours and noboby had bothered to clean it or empty the trash...
When the pediatrician would check my son without a diaper and he would pee all over the bassinet, I would have to walk over to the nurse's station and get linens, bring them back, and change the sheets myself...All the while the nurses sat there chatting...that's all they seemed to do...
One nurse didn't want the baby in the nursery so she forced my wife to keep trying to breastfeed even tho it wasn't working and my wife was exhausted, physically worn out, and seemingly depressed...she told my wife to let the baby sleep on her, which my wife told her she was uncomfortable doing, so the woman just stormed out! So my poor wife was up all night with the baby and decided she might skip the lactation class...
Well the Lactation nazi there started to read me the riot act about my wife not going...I finally yelled at her "If she can be there, she will be!" Then she gave me a hard time bc I said I wasn't going to attend as I had to pack up bc they were kicking us out at 10 AM on Tuesday...mind you we just had the baby 8:30PM Sunday...
And the lactaction class had moms and dads in it...I can't imagine what the women who actually breastfed during the class must thought about all these strange men seeing them breastfeed...
So we got the hell outta there asap....they told us to bring our son back for a Bilirubin test as his was slightly elevated and could lead to jaundice...well the testing was in a waiting area of the hospital with sick people all around so that, in combination with the general bad treatment, caused me to think, "No way, I'll take him to our local pediatrician instead"
His levels were so elevated, he was admitted Friday night to Crozer Chester, put in an isolette naked save for a diaper and the little eye patches, and they stuck an IV in his little arm...My wife was so out of it, I took him and stayed with him at the hospital and was out of my mind with worry...
All because PA Hospital didn't send me home with a bili-light blanket to help break down the bilirubin in his system...a common occurence and standard practice in many places...
At Crozer Chester they were kind, patient, understanding, we actually saw the nurses and spoke with them, the nurse actually got me a meal at 9 PM on a Friday and pointed me to the kitchen area, told me to help myself. My wife got help with breastfeeding, I got help with dealing with her soon-to-be-diagnosed postpartum and the baby was able to go home 2 days later.
I will be eternally grateful to Crozer Chester, so much so that we had our next 2 children there. And I will be eternally disdainful of PA Hospital and recommend people not deliver there...