Kimberly Mourey-O’Neill’s Story
Meet Kimberly Mourey-O’Neill, who has delivered at both Memorial Hospital Belleville and Memorial Hospital Shiloh.
Talk about your family.
I am 35. I have a husband, Declan O’Neill, and I have two wonderful children, Liam James and Emerson Parker. Liam is 3 1/2. Emerson is seven months; she will be eight months next week, and they’re growing up way too fast.
What were your pre-registration experiences like at Memorial’s Family Care Birthing Centers?
The first experience I had at Memorial Hospital Belleville. I did pre-registration, and it was like a pre-op admission where they ask you the general health, social health, and medical questions. They didn’t really jump into like a tour or anything like that at that time. That was almost four years ago, but I did the birthing class at Memorial Hospital Belleville so that was a whole separate experience. We had to take the tour and do the class, and that was a good experience too.
The second time around we didn’t take the class. We already knew what was going on, but pre-registration at the new Memorial Hospital Shiloh, that was a really neat experience. I had gone to a routine checkup with Dr. Kelsey, and they said, “You know, you can go downstairs and just go ahead and pre-register,” and I thought, “This is great.” I literally walked downstairs and pre-registered. They got all the information, the insurance, my health history, and all that. The nurse had a huge folder of information including what to expect as I was progressing in my pregnancy and the delivery and pain management. I thought that was awesome, knowing that all of that is already documented. It’s in the computer system, all I have to do is show up and have a baby.
Describe your experience at the Family Care Birthing Center at Memorial Hospital Belleville when you delivered your son.
Great experience. The nurses were phenomenal, and at that time, they were working 12-hour shifts. I really liked that continuity so you didn’t have a lot of different faces. It was the same nurses, and I appreciated that because they knew me. They knew my story, what had happened in my delivery, and I think that really helped make myself and my husband comfortable knowing that they knew what to do to take good care of us. It’s very family centered, and so I really liked that aspect of it.
What was your experience like at Memorial Hospital Shiloh when you had your daughter?
My second delivery was at Memorial Hospital Shiloh on August 2, 2016, so we were probably one of the newer patients there. They just opened in April so that experience was wonderful. I was seeing Dr. Kelsey at his office there, which was so convenient. I was past due by two days and was already dilated at a three or four, and he said, “You know, I’m on call today but not tomorrow. I won’t be back until Thursday, so we could walk down the hall and have a baby today, or we can wait until Thursday.” So I said, “You know what? Today seems like a great day to have a baby.” What a convenient experience that was to literally walk down the hall and get triaged, go into my birthing and postpartum room that we stayed in the whole time and had a great experience there as well. The continuity was wonderful. I had three nurses total in the three days that I was there, so I felt like they were family by the time I left. Everything was just so nice. When you ordered your food, you could order whenever you wanted to. They brought it up to you. I said, “I feel like I’m at a five-star hotel. This is great.” So overall, it was just a great experience. It was really, really nice, and I would do it all over again. I recommend it to everyone who I talk to having babies.