4 ms·

My wife just finished up a 22 hour labor and is desperately trying to get some sleep but the nurses refuse to stop yelling and laughing directly outside of her

My wife just finished up a 22 hour labor and is desperately trying to get some sleep but the nurses refuse to stop yelling and laughing directly outside of her door. It’s not even medical. Just rude.

anon2775 8y ago
Nurses cluck in packs like chickens, completely without concern for patients interrupting their social hour. You have to order them around because they're not smart or conscientious enough to do that on their own. If they were smarter, they would be doctors. They don't have empathy, so you have to pull rank or use a stick, because a carrot won't work.
- dang 8y ago
  Would you please stop posting ragey rants, or any unsubstantive comments, to Hacker News? It's not what we're going for here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
amluto 8y ago
Ask them to stop, perhaps?
- chrisbennet 8y ago
  Sure, just get out of bed and run them down and ask them to stop...
  - tomcooks 8y ago
    Use the buzzer button, wait for a nurse to come and express a complaint.
  - mcv 8y ago
    That's why you've got a partner there with you. The partner's job is to keep an eye on whatever the young mother needs and make it happen.
    - sneak 8y ago
      No, the facility’s job is to provide the best possible environment for healing and recovery.
      - mcv 8y ago
        Of course, but sometimes they need someone to tell them what is needed in order to provide that.
    - rco8786 8y ago
      Which I’m doing. But we’re unfortunately stuck here and I’m just 1 person against an entire fleet of nurses, who also happen to be the caregivers.
      - mcv 8y ago
        I never said it would be easy, but it's important. Although honestly, unless the nurses want to be intentionally awful at their job, they will listen to you. They may not always be able to obey the letter of your request, but they absolutely should figure out a solution to any problem that's interfering with recovery.
        rco8786 8y ago
        Right, and I never said I wasn't doing it. But since this post was about how hard it was to sleep in hospitals, and I was in a hospital and my wife was struggling to sleep, I figured I'd share my story.
- dazc 8y ago
  Maybe he felt awkward doing that? There is also a possibility that their reaction would not favourable. Sure, they may shut up but, afterwards, the relationship between his wife and the carers could become frosty? Rude people tend not to like their shortcomings being challenged.
  - mcv 8y ago
    The birth of our first child was a very good lesson in assertiveness for me. I learned that as the spouse, you're basically the only one with a full overview of the whole process. In the hospital, shifts change, they're taking care of multiple births simultaneously, and I'm the only one who knows how my wife feels. That gives you a powerful mandate to do whatever is necessary to take care of your partner. So absolutely to tell them to please go somewhere else because people are trying to sleep here. Some things I had to do: * My wife's (artificially induced) contractions were coming so fast that she had no time to recover. I noticed she was crying, which she absolutely never does. I warned the nurses, and they lowered her oxytocin (or whatever it was) and gave her some morphine. * Later, after enthusiastically encouraging her to push and saying that the baby was coming, for two hours, I asked if the baby was actually coming. They didn't know. "Could you check?" Turns out the baby was stuck and had to be pulled out. I really wonder when they would have noticed this if I hadn't asked. And this was at a Dutch hospital that's known for their good childbirth and maternity care. I was quite surprised about our experience (though it was a very complicated pregnancy). The birth of our second child was a breeze. I was all ready to do my job again, but the baby was already born.
    - DFHippie 8y ago
      s/oxytocin/oxycontin/
      - dTal 8y ago
        No. Oxytocin is used to artificially induce labour.
- rco8786 8y ago
  Yep. We did. And then another group came by equally as loud. And then the shift changed. Equally as loud. I would have to stand outside the door shushing people all night to be effective. And then we’re the annoying patients nobody wants to deal with.
ekarulf 8y ago
Congratulations! Talk to the charge nurse to change rooms, escalate to the admin on call if needed. Get the sleep now while you can.
starpilot 8y ago
When I was hospitalized they were playing poker the whole night. I get that it's just a job but jeez, keep it down.
edejong 8y ago
Hey, congratulations!

anon2775 8y ago

Nurses cluck in packs like chickens, completely without concern for patients interrupting their social hour. You have to order them around because they're not smart or conscientious enough to do that on their own. If they were smarter, they would be doctors. They don't have empathy, so you have to pull rank or use a stick, because a carrot won't work.

dang 8y ago
Would you please stop posting ragey rants, or any unsubstantive comments, to Hacker News? It's not what we're going for here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

amluto 8y ago

Ask them to stop, perhaps?

chrisbennet 8y ago
Sure, just get out of bed and run them down and ask them to stop...
- tomcooks 8y ago
  Use the buzzer button, wait for a nurse to come and express a complaint.
- mcv 8y ago
  That's why you've got a partner there with you. The partner's job is to keep an eye on whatever the young mother needs and make it happen.
  - sneak 8y ago
    No, the facility’s job is to provide the best possible environment for healing and recovery.
    - mcv 8y ago
      Of course, but sometimes they need someone to tell them what is needed in order to provide that.
  - rco8786 8y ago
    Which I’m doing. But we’re unfortunately stuck here and I’m just 1 person against an entire fleet of nurses, who also happen to be the caregivers.
    - mcv 8y ago
      I never said it would be easy, but it's important. Although honestly, unless the nurses want to be intentionally awful at their job, they will listen to you. They may not always be able to obey the letter of your request, but they absolutely should figure out a solution to any problem that's interfering with recovery.
      - rco8786 8y ago
        Right, and I never said I wasn't doing it. But since this post was about how hard it was to sleep in hospitals, and I was in a hospital and my wife was struggling to sleep, I figured I'd share my story.
dazc 8y ago
Maybe he felt awkward doing that? There is also a possibility that their reaction would not favourable. Sure, they may shut up but, afterwards, the relationship between his wife and the carers could become frosty? Rude people tend not to like their shortcomings being challenged.
- mcv 8y ago
  The birth of our first child was a very good lesson in assertiveness for me. I learned that as the spouse, you're basically the only one with a full overview of the whole process. In the hospital, shifts change, they're taking care of multiple births simultaneously, and I'm the only one who knows how my wife feels. That gives you a powerful mandate to do whatever is necessary to take care of your partner. So absolutely to tell them to please go somewhere else because people are trying to sleep here. Some things I had to do: * My wife's (artificially induced) contractions were coming so fast that she had no time to recover. I noticed she was crying, which she absolutely never does. I warned the nurses, and they lowered her oxytocin (or whatever it was) and gave her some morphine. * Later, after enthusiastically encouraging her to push and saying that the baby was coming, for two hours, I asked if the baby was actually coming. They didn't know. "Could you check?" Turns out the baby was stuck and had to be pulled out. I really wonder when they would have noticed this if I hadn't asked. And this was at a Dutch hospital that's known for their good childbirth and maternity care. I was quite surprised about our experience (though it was a very complicated pregnancy). The birth of our second child was a breeze. I was all ready to do my job again, but the baby was already born.
  - DFHippie 8y ago
    s/oxytocin/oxycontin/
    - dTal 8y ago
      No. Oxytocin is used to artificially induce labour.
rco8786 8y ago
Yep. We did. And then another group came by equally as loud. And then the shift changed. Equally as loud. I would have to stand outside the door shushing people all night to be effective. And then we’re the annoying patients nobody wants to deal with.

ekarulf 8y ago

Congratulations! Talk to the charge nurse to change rooms, escalate to the admin on call if needed. Get the sleep now while you can.

starpilot 8y ago

When I was hospitalized they were playing poker the whole night. I get that it's just a job but jeez, keep it down.

edejong 8y ago

Hey, congratulations!