Grab your own customizable Hospital Door Sign Template HERE!
Hospital door signs work wonders - at least I feel like it helped mitigate a ton of questions we didn't want to answer over and over again.
Before telling more of my story, if you are here for your own Hospital Door Sign Template - you can get it HERE.
Questions we didn't get were “is this your first baby?” or “how many kids do you have?”
I will say most of the nurses remained completely silent on the topic but we had one nurse, Kelly, who was amazing and didn't shy away. We were able to tell so much of Miles’ birth story because she asked and we loved it.
A nursery nurse also referenced Miles after Nora was hospitalized for her bilirubin numbers. She said she thought they look alike, which they do. :)
Then a lactation consultant asked about my grief donation pumping journey and asked for advice on what to tell other mom’s facing stillbirth and their milk coming in.
I had a night nurse return a few days after her first shift with us and open up about her firstborn also being stillborn and told me her daughter would be 19 years old. She said “you never forget, do you?” to which I think I replied “you can’t not remember” and we had a brief moment and it was tender - I believe all because of the sign.
I will say though that there was a major hiccup. At some point shortly after Nora’s birth, I don't know if it was the cleaning crew or what, but the sign was taken down, even though I never changed rooms.
We didn't notice and when the lab came in early the next morning to try to draw more blood from Nora we immediately got “is this your first child?”
Me: “Did you read the sign on the door?”
Her: “No”
Me: “Can you please go read it first?” because I wasn't having it.
Her: “There is no sign on the door” To which the charge nurse came in and apologized, said she never saw a sign, but we had extra copies! And it was quickly back up and we were assured she’d inform everyone to read it. And it was smooth sailing once again.
Why it was taken down in the first place remains a mystery. Bring extra copies and a roll of tape. Do this for yourself. We never asked permission to put it up or to replace the missing first copy.
If you'd like a hospital door sign template to customize yourself you can find it HERE.