Now I'm pissed

Over the past four months I've put up with my fair share of hospital bureaucracy, and for the most part I haven't complained about it. Given the dozens of nurses and doctors we've dealt with, annoyances like conflicting information and the occasional health care professional with marginal interpersonal skills are to be expected. Most of the staff have been great, and watching Emma improve has helped me to focus on the positive. But tonight the Ottawa Hospital has really pissed me off.

With few exceptions, Laurie visits Emma during the day, and I visit during the evening. I hold Emma for a while, feed her, hold her for a while longer, and put settle her in to her cot for a sleep. I arrived at the hospital tonight to find out that the nurse had just called our home to advise me that I would not be allowed to visit.

Now before anyone's stress level gets too high, Emma is doing great. They did let me see her for a few minutes, but then I had to leave because they were setting up to perform a "three hour sterile procedure" on another baby in the same room.

For those of you who haven't been in the SCN, there are three rooms, and the one Emma is in has space for 8 or 9 babies. It has two large entrances, neither of which have doors. Parents visit with their children in the room, hold them, change them, feed them, etc. It's about as far away from an operating room as you can imagine while still being in a hospital.

So I don't get to hold or feed my baby tonight, and neither do any of the other parents with babies in that room.

"Three hour sterile procedure" -- Isn't that what an operating room is for?