"In the event of a hurricane, do NOT proceed to Labor & Delivery unless you are in labor."

Clearly, this statement needed to be written, or I'm sure my OB practice wouldn't have included it in their OB patient info book.

  I remember reading this page when I received the book back at the beginning of my pregnancy and laughing.  It went on to say that the unit gets too crowded with people who do not need to be there and runs out of room for those who do.  It then goes on to say that if you are not in labor and do not have a current medical complication with your pregnancy, you will be asked to leave and not given a bed.  Hil.ar.i.ous.  I guess I'm picturing people with little 30 week bellies running to L&D in the event of a hurricane, just because they're pregnant.  It's laughable really.  You can almost liken it to patients I've had in the past coming in because they have a cold or threw up once.  You just want to say to them, "You are pregnant.  It is not a disease.  There is no reason to be in L&D in the middle of the night.  In fact, I can do even less for you because you are pregnant.  Now go home and call your doctor in the morning ... if you can manage to live that long."

Don't get me wrong, with hurricane Irene giving us the side-eye, it's definitely a little nerve-wracking to be this pregnant (especially with twins) and to wonder if in fact all that barometric pressure hub-bub is actually true.  I definitely wouldn't want to deliver twins at home by myself if I couldn't get to the hospital.  But trust me, you won't see me camping out in the waiting room waiting to go into labor any time soon.  I don't think I could stand to be around anxious families for that long.  In fact, I think I might opt for that home birth instead!