Prentice is awesome

Little Jude was born at Prentice Women's Hospital, part of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in downtown Chicago. One of the first things to know is that more babies are born at Prentice than at any other hospital in Illinois. Hearing that you might think (like I did at first) that it is an impersonal baby factory. Absolutely the opposite...

Prentice is a full service hospital specializing in health concerns specific to women, but they decided to make the Labor and Delivery department into their public relations marquee. Here are some the things they've put into place there:

+ Valet parking in a drop-off lane right at the triage entrance
+ Labor and delivery suites (something like 400sf in size)
+ 42" flat-panel TVs in all suites and patient rooms
+ Free Wifi access... for things like blogging and sending out announcement e-mails!
+ Wood laminate flooring and paneled walls
+ Fairly tasty food that you can order at any time of day (from a comparatively extensive menu)**
+ A really friendly (and skillful) nursing staff
+ And gorgeous Lake Michigan views like this one:
Really, it felt more like a hotel--at times--than a hospital. So, if you are ever having a baby in the Chicago area, go to Prentice.

** OK, there is a nifty trick we learned for ordering food from their room service place. As you might expect, meals are free only for the patient herself; husbands are on their own. You can pay for meals for guests. BUT, the patient not only gets three meals: they also get three "snacks". A snack is actually a 1/2 sandwich and two "sides", or three sides and a drink. So, just order the patient's snack about 5 minutes after you order their meal, and you have enough food for two people... for free. We would like to thank a random friendly stranger at Ikea for teaching this trick to a very-pregnant Kara a few weeks ago.