Hospital Tour Today!

Today we went to the new Hillcrest hospital in Waco for a private tour of the NICU and Labor and Delivery Units. We met with the Nurse Manager, Sandra. She is so wonderful! She took us up to the NICU to meet with some of the nurses and the neonatologist, Dr. Wheeler. We spoke to Dr. Wheeler at length about what we can expect depending on when the babies arrive and how things work in the NICU. We got to see a baby that was born at 27 weeks (where I am right now) and was only 2 lbs 1 oz. at birth (what our babies are weighing in my belly right now). So tiny.
Everyone in the NICU already knew who we were and they are all very excited for the babies' arrival. Sandra told us that we have been discussed during their staff meetings, so they are gearing up for our girls! The nurses in the NICU like to make little scrapbook name cards for the NICU beds, so they wanted to know the names we had picked out so they can start working on their name cards. :) So sweet!
Dr. Wheeler informed us that he is 99% sure that our girls will spend some time in the NICU, how long depends on when they come and how developed they are. Grandparents and parents are allowed in the NICU at any time, other visitors must be accompanied by a parent and no more than 2 people next to each bed at a time. They did mention that they are concerned about the Swine Flu this season and some hospitals are already limiting access to the NICU to only parents, but Hillcrest won't implement that policy unless they have an outbreak in the area.
We got to see the Labor and Delivery area as well, but I won't be spending any time there. When I deliver, I will be taken to pre-op where they will prep me and Brent will be with me. Then after the c-section, they will take me back to post-op for an hour (Brent will go with the babies to the NICU) then they will move me to the mother & baby recovery area where I will stay for 48 to 72 hours.
We got alot of information in a short period of time. We have the direct lines to our Nurse Manager and the NICU so we can give them a heads up when we are coming in. Dr. Wheeler wants to make sure they have plenty of people on staff for our girls and he said sometimes the OBs can forget to give them advanced notice and that can put them in a bind. So I will be calling Sandra at least a week ahead (if I can give her that much notice) to let her know when we think we might deliver so they will be ready for us. They also want to make sure they have a sectioned area in the NICU for our three girls so they are all close together and not spread out.
I am relieved that we got to meet everyone today and see everything. I hate going into anything blind and the more information I have the more comfortable I am.
We feel like our sweet girls will be in very good hands and I am much more relaxed.