Happy 28 to Me....Hospital Tour

We spent my birthday going to work, relaxing, touring the hospital we will deliver at, and eating at McDonald's (fancy i know ;) ). The hospital was interesting to say the least. If we ever deliver in the USA, it will seem like a 5 star experience. Only one of the delivery rooms has a birthing tub, chair, ball, and table...the rest are much smaller with only a table. So, I'm hoping I am the first to arrive that day, first come first serve...Also, only half of the rooms have showers. The ones without require you to walk down the hall to the shower room to shower, and also to the diaper room to change diapers. I am PRAYING for a room with a shower and diaper changing area in the room. I do not want to have to leave my room to bathe and change diapers. You also keep your baby 24-7 and wheel them to the little eating area for meals. Only lunch is served to you, which is the big main meal of the day. Breakfast is cereal, boxed milk, and yogurt. Dinner is meats and cheeses that have sat out for an extended amount of time. I also plan to pay the extra 43 euro a nite to have a room to myself, only if the hospital isn't packed. I don't think I could handle the amount of family members they tend to have visiting, and some haven't caught on to the American ways of hygiene. Natural birth requires 4-5 nites and c section requires 7. Which will require a laptop computer for movies and books for entertainment. No TVs, and if they did it would be German TV.
Going to a German hospital requires you bring a LOT more with you....towels, wash clothes, robe, slippers, 4 nightgowns, underwear, socks, spray bottle, hair dryer, shampoo etc for showering, ice packs, money for phone calls, pop, water, snacks, nursing bras, nursing pads, etc etc. Only thing you need for the baby is an outfit to go home in. They provide all the clothing for his stay. Which is a lot of layers. The layers and blankets make you feel like the baby is going to die of heat.
When you arrive at the hospital you go straight to the maternity ward. You deliver your baby, and the next day is when you check in. How do they know who I truly am if I am not checked in? Positive is we get the head of the dept to deliver due to our insurance, and they tend to give the rooms with showers to our insurance too. He is also the only doctor in the area who will perform a circumcision...that is if he is not on vacation. In that case we have to drive to Heidelberg or elsewhere to get it done. Germans don't want to do it until the child is 1yo or not at all. Most doctors say it's not medically necessary so it's not needed. Often nurses will make Americans feel guilty about it all.
After, we leave the hospital we get the joy of all of the necessary paperwork to identify our child...soc sec, passport, insurance, base id, birth certificates (2: American abroad and German)...etc etc and within a week we have to visit the on base clinic to get checked on.....stressful...
Lots and lots of fun :) more and more hoops to jump through....and that summarizes the Army and the German hospital system....until I think of something else I find dumb...
We will head to the doc again on Monday to find out how things are going. I plan to ask about length vs weight and if there is a possibility of an early delivery/c section. Will update soon.