What is your hospital's rules on visiting the OB?

We went to visit a co-worker of mine who just had a baby. You had to show your picture ID to be admitted to the OB part of the hospital. This is the first time I've ever seen this. Is this normal practice for hospitals?

I've only been to the one major hospital here for the visitations, never known anyone else to deliver at the other one a little farther away.

Anyways, the 2nd floor is ob floor. You get off the elevators and you walk into the waiting area, with a guard sitting at a desk. You have to get past the guard to go through double doors into the Labor & Delivery unit ( to the left) and the Mother & Baby unit (to the right). You don't have to show ID but you have to know the mother's name, and tell you relationship. Based on relationship you get a different color badge to wear into the unit. You have to have the pass at all times. And each patient is only allowed 2 visitors at a time, not including the father or a sibling(s) in the Mother/baby unit.
You have to turn your pass back in when you leave, so someone else can use it to see that patient.

It's been that way for the last 13 years (that is the first time I went to see someone there I think). And the babies wear these little alarms around their ankles, that are cut off once they are being discharged...just before the nurse wheels the momma & baby out in her wheelchair. Do you have something like that there?

I don't know about the ankle things.

I had my babies about 45 min. from here. The only security they had was that before a nurse could take your baby to the nursery, she had to know the password. The password changed daily. My concern with that is that the first nurse of the day is the one to tell the password so someone could pretend to be a nurse, tell you a new password and take your baby.

Diva Cassie wrote:I don't know about the ankle things.

I had my babies about 45 min. from here. The only security they had was that before a nurse could take your baby to the nursery, she had to know the password. The password changed daily. My concern with that is that the first nurse of the day is the one to tell the password so someone could pretend to be a nurse, tell you a new password and take your baby.

Wow, that's it?

I had a bracelet just like you normally do as a patient in the hospital then when he was born he was given an identical one to mine and they made sure they matched (numbers, names etc) before taking the baby. And then they had the little alarm around their ankle. It's tight security here in our hospital.

We had the matching bracelets but no ankle thingy.