WOw! 2 years!! I was told by one of the nurses at the hospital that it was only 40 weeks.

My letter specifically noted a 40 week renovation period.

I was more alarmed by the sentence regarding 'accommodating fathers' for overnight stays. I really hope this is a huge misunderstanding on my part, and I intend to discuss it with my OB next week. Does this mean that they won't be able to give him a cot, but he could sleep in a chair if he likes, or, (my worst fear) he has to go home at night? I haven't spent a night in a hospital since I was born, and I don't intend to spend my first night as a new mother without the baby's father. Does anyone know more?

Cots are not an option in double rooms (as was our experience in 2006), so your best hope is the uncomfortable chair. Depending on whether your roomate (if you have one) has a strong aversion to a husband being there overnight, he may get sent home.

They do not allow fathers/ partners to stay over night in doubles.

Agreed - my letter also said the renovation would last 40 weeks, but the birthing instructor definitely stated two years before private rooms would be available again. She also told us there's no chairs in the doubles so definitely no place for dad to stay the night. Though I think this might be a bit of an exaggeration - I understand no overnights, but really, no chairs at all? Must dad stand all *day* long while he is visiting mom and baby?!

wow. This is my first pregnancy, and I tend to be the sort of person who plays by the rules to avoid conflict, but this sounds insane to me. Has anyone been through this before and see this as an extreme condition?

I had two babies at Pennsylvania (2003, 2007) and was in a double room both times. Both times they were very specific that it was not an option for the father/partner to stay overnight. They did enforce this. Even if the other bed in the room was empty, the father couldn't stay because at anytime a new mom could be brought in. The explanation was that the moms wouldn't feel comfortable with a strange man (ie the other person's husband/partner) in the room. This was very, very upsetting to me the first time, but expected the second.

I had a double at Pennsy my first delivery; my roommate was brought in at about 2 am. She proceeded to eat cheesesteak and call *every single one of her friends* to tell them about her birth. She was actually really sweet, but had no sense of limits or propriety, and her friends made me a bit nervous.

For my second, I had a private room.

But in neither case did it ever occur to me to ask my husband to stay. Why would I want that? I'd much rather he got a good night's rest so that he was available to make phone calls, pick up baby stuff, and generally pick up the slack so that I could be exhausted and focus on the baby. If I needed anything during the night, the nurses were there.

I don't question any one else's choice, but I personally don't understand how the value of having my husband with me that first night outweighs his being so exhausted from another sleepless night (after being up with me for the delivery). I needed him alert, rested and ready to take over all the stuff I couldn't do!

Yep, I was in a double room (never got a roomie though) and DH could not sleep in the empty bed in case it was needed. There most definitely WAS a chair in the room though. I guess he wouldn't have been allowed to stay, but I wasn't going to make him sleep the night in an uncomfy chair anyway.

Maybe this is a good reason for an enforced rule against husbands/partners staying overnight in double rooms where both beds are occupied. A new mother who is a patient in a hospital shouldn't be put in the position of saying whether she is comfortable having her roommate's husband staying there. If she's not comfortable with it, she either has to be the one to say no to another couple, or to play nice and put up with someone else's husband being in her hospital room overnight. Give the moms a break.