Hospital Staff Uneducated About Twins

I went to be induced at 38 weeks b/c DS had dropped off of his growth curve - maternal fetal diagnostics dr. insisted. So they were born the next day. The staff in the room said his placenta had calcified and was going to be sent to pathology for further examination. A couple of the nurses were saying that perhaps DD was 'stealing' his food. Well, at my six week post partum check up, my dr. had said that there was no calcification, placentas were both good and that all twin placentas go to pathology as standard procedure. She also said that 'stealing food' only happens with shared placentas, not separate, which makes sense. She said DS was running out of room, which is what she said the day I went to be induced. BTW, he was scrunched up for a week to two weeks after he was born. He really was squished, poor guy. So, it was good for me to be induced, but shouldn't the hospital staff be familiar with facts before telling us this?

One other thing, I had a trip to L&D at 34w 2d. A nurse who was treating me at first said that people who did not conceive twins 'naturally' don't carry far. She said this after asking if we did fertility treatments. Yes, we did IVF, I told her. Funny thing is I carried them to 38w 1d and the dr.'s at my practice disagreed with her info. But that statement still haunted me the rest of the pg. It just doesn't seem right that the hospital staff is giving patients a lot of misinformation. In your experience, is it usual to get conflicting info.? Is is worth saying anything to the hospital admin? They did send me a patient survey, but I hesitate to complain and possibly get people in trouble, you know?

 

Luckily I was at a teaching hospital that sees everything so they were pretty educated on twins - though they were skepical of nursing twins (probably just so I didn't feel disappointed if it didn't work - but some more support whould have been nice - the LC was great though)
I would definitely be honest and thorough on the survey. I work in healthcare and these really do help changes to be made. The staff involved will be given some feedback (not get in trouble) and you will help all the twin moms after you get better care and info.
Good luck

 

I think you should be honest about your feelings and how things were handled. That is the only way changes can be made. I did find that even though twins are more common now, they still don't know much about them.

With my oldest DD I did not have a good delivery experience and with one of the L&D nurses and I definitely let them know my feelings when I received a phone call and got a survey in the mail.

 

Do not hesitate or hold back! Fill out that eval honestly and include copies of "education" for them as a sample to say, if I can find this on my own then you should certainly be able to educate your staff.

 

I would complain. I especially think what she said about not carrying "natural" twins far and then asking you if you had fertility treatments is HIGHLY inappropriate, not to mention just plain WRONG information.

 

In my experience, if there is one thing I've learned is that just because they are medical "professionals" doesn't make them an expert. I learned this the hard way when I was suffering from SEVERE back/hip pain about 6 years ago. It started with my family doctor telling me she thought I had Lupus but wanted to do blood tests. Tests came back and she then said she thought it was gout and wanted to give me an RX for vioxx! I told her no - I am not taking meds based on her theory and I wanted more tests run. I could barely walk on some days! She sent me to a rheumatologist that said he thought it was bursitis and gave me some cortisone shots where it hurt. Treatment helped, but didn't help enough. He then sent me to another doctor - can't remember what kind - but he took X-rays of my back and said he thought I had disc problems. He then sent me to a pain specialist that FINALLY took a more diagnostic test - an MRI. It was only then - at the fourth doctor did I find out what I really had and then he was able to treat it successfully (degenerative disc disorder).

It was this experience that made me realize that many doctors and their staff (nurses, NPs, etc) will say what they want without any medical evidence of the fact. I mean, my GP wanted to give me Vioxx for what she "thought" was gout! WTH!

Needless to say, I take most info from doctors and nurses with a grain of salt. I find doctors I trust and stick with them. If I don't feel 150% comfortable with a doctor, I don't trust them. One perfect example of this is when I changed family doctors and took my 2-3 year old son with me - who was VERY (painfully) shy at the time. My doc had the NERVE to ask me if he had seen someone "hurt" me in the past. I told her that he was painfully shy and that is why he acted that way. I don't think she believed me. THAT was offensive. She may have been a doc, but obviously didn't have enough sense not to assume I had an abusive husband or something else like that.

So, no, I don't think your experience is isolated. I think a lot of that happens. People don't realize what they are saying will affect people on such a deep and personal way. They are either clueless or complacent in their jobs.

 

Maybe the nurse was just being cutsy and not serious about the stealing food comment?? that's my thought. most nurses don't know all the details on how that stuff works...their comments need to be taken with a grain of salt.

As far as carrying twins and IVF...I've often wondered if conceiving them naturally would give you an advantage...like your body is designed for it or something....but I've known too many twin moms who have conceived naturally and still delivered early to really believe it was true.

 

I'd definitely talk to the doctor about your concerns. If they don't know they can't change it. Now I'm really curious which hospital you delivered at.

I delivered my girls at U of M, and my peri group and nurses were very current on multiple pregnancies and the host of issues related to it (including my host of issues). I spent 4 weeks on bedrest at U of M as well. So I knew most of the L&D/antepartum/postpartum nurses by the time I was delivering.

Were they just going to let you go on until you delivered, but then changed their minds to induce you? I know my group would have let me go no further than 38 weeks, as they said the placenta starts breaking down at that point with multiples.

 

QUOTE(Babies4Susan @ Jan 2 2008, 05:22 PM) [snapback]554470[/snapback]
Were they just going to let you go on until you delivered, but then changed their minds to induce you?


I delivered at Providence Hospital. They would have let me go to 40 weeks, but they saw he dropped off his growth curve at the 38 week ultrasound. I think that was definitely for the best. The babies were healthy and went home with me 48 hours after birth with no NICU time.

 

Say something! I had some horrible experiences with hospital staff, one even the intern taking care of me told me I was a "pain in the ***!" My husband almost flew out of his chair. (I had been waiting for 6 hours for him to come by and make a decision whether I needed a CAT scan or not, The nurses would not let me go to the ISCU to see the twins until he came by with his decision. Once he got there I was so upset and crying and told him I would go to the CAT scan AFTER I went downstairs to see my children, whom I had yet to see. They were already 2 days old and I had never seen them!!!) He told me no, I had to get the CAT scan first, since he was so "concerned" about the fluid around my heart. I told him he must not be too concerned, since I waited 6 hours for him to show up. I said I WAS going to see the twins and I would go get the scan after. That is when he said I was a pain in the ***. I started bawling. What a jerk!)

Anyway, the one time with a nurse that was bad was when I was wheeled into delivery. I was 31 weeks and it was an emergency c-section. There were some nurses in there prepping. I heard one of them say, "How many weeks is she?" The other answered, "31." Then I heard, "Oh, so they have about a 70% chance or so." I freaked out. Of course I knew that, but to be so calloused and say in minutes before the c-section was devastating.

After all these experiences, I was very sure to tell the Dr. and put in writing what had happened to me. They were very apologetic. If they don't know, they will never be able to address these issues.

I am so sorry about all the confusion and lack of knowledge. It is so frustrating!!

 

A nurse at my ob office asked if my babies were identicle after I told her they were b/g-hello.....there is at least one major difference! To be a nurse at an ob office and not know this is CRAZY!

 

I think you should tell also. My first DD was 9lbs. 7oz. and I had a really hard time delivering her (4 hrs. of pushing). At one point I was totally exhausted and telling everyone I just wanted to quit. The nurse looked at me and said, "Quit being such a baby." I was so mad. She had to leave the room to get something and I told the Dr. I didn't want her back in the room and I never saw her again. So if you do say something, then something can be done.

 

Statistically, she is right about fertility treatments/twins and gestestional age but you need to put that into perspective! People who have fertitilty treatments typically need help holding onto the pregnancy but thats not to say ALL need it... my girl friend who had unassisted twins carried to 32 weeks and another girlfriend with IUI twins carried to 41! weeks.

If your unhappy, complain - that is the only way for change to occur. And remember nurses are not doctors, they are not able to diagnose nor treat anyone. I've had very "stupid" nurses that were full of bs and I've had nurses that I valued their opinion over my doctor!

 

I had several issues with Drs. and nurses while I was pregnant. My favorite one though was the postpartum nurse who asked me if they where fraternal or identical as she is looking at my brown haired girl and my blond haired boy. Oh and the one walked in my room and started taking my blood pressure while I was holding DS when DD started to fuss she looked over and said “oh my god there are two of them”…seriously? I also had the Dr doing my amnio the day before I had them tell me I was endangering their lives by having them 3 days before they where 37 weeks. I was so terrified I almost canceled my C-section. Thank god looking back i had faith in my Dr.
I got a survey and didn’t fill it out and wish I had of so I definitely think you should fill yours out and be as candor as possible. Maybe it will encourage better education and communication and even if it doesn’t you will feel better getting it off your chest.

 

IMO, we are "trained" to think that medical professionals know it all, but in reality, they are just people too, as ignorant and misguided as the rest of us

So far, with this pregnancy, I've had a nurse try and talk me out of getting the prenatal screening done for DS,SB,and trisomy18. I've had my OB announce that I went into labour, I would lose the babies(this at 18 weeks after a 5hour wait in the hospital for him). I've had him also tell me how my delivery will go, without asking my opinion(apparently it's HIS labour,not mine). Course, this OB has one of the worst reputations in the town I live in, but since he is the only one accepting "high risk patients" I don't get a choice where I go.

If you are unsatisfied, I would complain. Consider it constructive critisism

 

QUOTE(HinSD @ Jan 2 2008, 11:08 AM) [snapback]554344[/snapback]
I would complain. I especially think what she said about not carrying "natural" twins far and then asking you if you had fertility treatments is HIGHLY inappropriate, not to mention just plain WRONG information.


I AGREE TOTALLY.

Firstly my ob was totally misguided on TTTs (i don't have it) not only was he giving me wrong information he wasn't scanning me as aften as is recommended to look for ttts. I spoke to a specialist in the city, got the facts verified then faxed my dr a letter with the recommendations of the ttts treating specialist for looking for sign s of ttts with his name and naumber and asked that he follow his guidelines if he wanted to continue being my dr. AND HE DID and has been excellent ever since.

In a trip to L & D I had an examining nurse tell me i was experiencing round ligamnet pain and not contractions before she hooked me up to anything (making me feel and look stupid in front of dh) Turns out i was having contractions and was kept in o/n for monitoring, the dr totally disagreed with her. Not only that, whaen i told her they were not having bh as i knew what they felt like, i'd had 2 prev kids, and been having them since 16 wks with the twins she told me i couldn't possibly be having bh as they dont occuruntil in late preg (i was 26 wks at the time)

She was a real B***H and made me feel like an idiot. I never did get her name, but my dr has since told me if someone looking after you is giving you a hard time or not treating you professionally, ask for their name, he says this will ma,e an immediate difference to their treatment of you, and if not you have their name to follow it up.

 

Through my twin pregnancy, I had to keep telling myself "I have a masters degree....I have a masters degree..etc." There were SO many "professionals" who gave me info I KNEW was wrong I was beginning to believe there was no one in my town and I was going to travel an hour for every OB visit. Then my DR finally stepped in an proved he was the best in the area an was ready to do what ever it took to care for my babies. He did a good job - or I would have changed drs - even moved into a hotel if it took that for my babies safety!

I knew more from web browsing and THIS WEBSITE than the other doctors in my ob's practice. YIKES! Don't compromise folks - you are paying for THEIR service!

 

I didn't get any opinions that directly affected my care, but I did find myself surprised at the lack of knowledge concerning twins. For instance, I was asked by different nurses whether twins run in my family or my husband's. I even had one ask me if my B/G twins were identical. I guess genetics aren't too thoroughly covered in nursing school - or perhaps they tuned out during those classes.