A few not too terribly related questions ...hospital, coffins, siezure meds?

[xtricks]

The only link among them is that they all address the same story

Comments

[mofic]

I'm not a hospital nurse, but I had babies in hospitals and know a lot of people who have done that as well.

I was not separated from my babies during my post-partum hospitalizations. The practice of keeping mothers and newborns together is called "rooming in" and it's really important for establishing a breastfeeding relationship. The baby nursery is still alive and well in the US, unfortunately. Many hospitals don't permit full rooming in, and those that do still have nurseries. Whether a mother keeps the baby with her will depend upon:

- hospital policy
- how informed she is about the importance of rooming in
- how committed she is to breastfeeding
- how good the hospital supports are (i.e. if she's rooming in, she needs nursing care for herself and the baby in her room. The factory approach of nurses caring for a bunch of babies in one room is more efficient, although it's not as good for maternal or infant health)
- her general attitude towards parenting and towards separation from her newborn child

HTH

[xtricks]

Thanks, it does. I needed to know if that sort of industrial model was still used with healthy newborns or only if the infant needs specialized care.

And - I don't know that I ever emailed you re: you're pretty much the reason I started writing X-men slashfic (and slashfic in general); your writing style was the first I'd seen that wasn't of the highly romantic/romance novel style and more like what I know of men sexually and romantically involved. So *waves* thanks for being out there and I love your work.

[mofic]

What a nice thing to say! One of my pet peeves is overly romantic superheroes :-). I try to make mine sound like real guys and am glad when readers think they do!

Thanks again.

[xtricks]

Thanks, it is not epilepsy and they've not hammered down a diagnosis yet. (it's relatively easy to diagnose epilepsy isn't it? The unusually regular brain rythym right?) So, they're trying to treat the symptom, I guess is a good way to talk aobut it.

[cacopheny]

Actually, I had a friend who people thought might have epilepsy, but they went 'round and 'round for almost a year before they decided she didn't.... So I don't think it's always easy to diagnose ^^'

[fjilskit]

Yeah, EEGs (elecroencephalograms) are not easy to interpret, and you need to have a lot of experience with them to make much sense of it.

Also, speaking of investigations, there would likely be some sort of imaging done in case the fits are caused by a tumour. MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) is best to be able to see if there's a problem, and the T1 or T2 weightings of the scan can help identify the type of tumour. CT (computed tomography) is also an option, although you get much less info from it.

[kosaginolegion]

I can attest to the existence of the nursery as of the year 2000, but not anything past that. (#2 son is last baby.)

As the other poster notes, much of it will depend on hospital policy. If the mother has had a c-section, they might be less willing to go with the rooming in method. (Which may be why they kept running off with my #1 son.)

Modern coffins are sealed, aren't they? I'd expect it'd be difficult to show the body there. However, better wait for expert witnesses on that one.

[xtricks]

Thanks. The story is set slightly in the future but it's also had a rather traumatic few years so tech/social stuff hasn't changed much.

[fjilskit]

For the seizures some of the most commonly prescribed drugs (in the UK at least) are carbamezepine, sodium valproate and phenytoin, which one depends on the kind of seizure and the patient. If possible one of the first two are used, because phenytoin has LOTS of interactions with other drugs and needs more monitoring.

[xtricks]

Thanks, I'll look 'em up and see what sounds right for the story. As a starter drug, I'd say phenytion is right out - especially since the siezures aren't life threatening.

[mamajoan]

Hospital nurseries do still exist and as the other poster said, it does depend a lot on the individual hospital and the mother as far as how much use it gets. At the hospital where I had my son, they assume that you'll want the baby in your room with you most of the time, but you still have the option of taking baby to the nursery for a few hours so you can sleep, etc. But then this is a pretty progressive hospital in a progressive area; in other areas it might be more normal for the baby to spend most of his/her time in the nursery.

[xtricks]

It's a short scene, with no actual involvement iwth the mother, I just needed ot make sure it wasn't totally *omg- no one does that anymore* about the fishbowl nursery.