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Facility Name: Group Health
Advice from: Labor Doula
Advice Date: May 2004
The stats don't lie--Group Health is THE place to birth if you are looking for a mother-friendly hospital setting.
Many of the nurses know how to use a doppler and will do so if requested to help you avoid those uncomfortable
straps around your laboring self! They have a huge assortment of birth balls and pillows and mats to use for labor
position changes. The rooms are fairly big (ask for a corner room if you can!), the tubs are great but sort of force
you into a sitting up position so use your legs and kick gently or pull your knees up towards you and then down
again (repeat) during contractions. They'll put a "do not disturb" sign on your door if you ask for it to keep things
quiet. The nurses are well trained in physical support of labor and don't have as much computing to do during
labor so they can pay more attention to you instead of the machines then say Swedish nurses can. For moms who
remember it, Group Health is reminiscent of Providence in many ways. The staff there love to work with doulas,
families, and dads so feel confident that your choices will not be questioned in that arena. Best Advice is to use
Group Health for your hospital birth experience!! Shifts run from 7am to 7pm and 7pm to 7am so if you can help it,
don't arrive between 6-7 on either end of the day or you'll have to part with your nurse just as you start to
remember her name!
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