Looking 4 a female OBGYN in the Arlington/Alexandria area - and the best hospital to deliver in!

[mnpremo]

This is my first baby, so I'm very nervous about finding THE BEST OBGYN and THE BEST hospital to deliver in. I've already seen Dr Jennifer Santiago and Dr Anita Sikand - and they were good and nice and friendly, but I'm looking to really click with a female OBGYN and hope to find THE BEST that's out there! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I've also heard that Fairfax hospital (the women's center) is the best place to have your baby. Is this true? THANK YOU!

[Anonymous]

I'm a fan of Dr. Kathy Wolf.. she delivers at Fairfax Inova..

[Anonymous]

I'd recommend Women to Women OB/GYN in Arlington - they deliver at Virginia Hospital Center. I had a great experience with all the docs (all are female) and the hospital.

[Anonymous]

You seem a little high maintenance if you've already been to two docs. As far as "clicking" with your OB, you need to make sure they are looking out for the best thing for you and your child, not someone to go have a drink with once the baby is born.

Fairfax is the Baby Factory. You've got the best NICU but it's a huge facility. I delivered at VHC and was very happy, especially with all private rooms.

[Anonymous]

I can tell you where NOT to go. Physician & Midwife Collaborative Practice. I have had horrible experiences with them; there are only two doctors there that strike me as remotely friendly and capable and you are shuffled to whichever doctor is on duty, so they never seem to be familiar with you or your case when you walk in. I am in the process of switching and have heard that Dr. Bush is good--I believe she has an office in DC and one in NOVA. The Washingtonian is a good resource for finding a highly-rated doctor in the area.

[Anonymous]

I liked Amy Porter, who delivered me. She was part of a OBGYN group located in the Arlington hospital (VA Hosp CTr i think?) that had virtually all women - only 1 man on staff.

Re: Physician & Midwife Collaborative Practice...my friend went there since she wanted to use a midwife, but I can tell you that I don't think it worked out well for her. She was really eager to be done being pregnant at the end and asked if she could be induced just 2 days after her due date. Her midwife (yes) w/ the practice said that sounded fine and did NOT go into the many risks associated w/ inducing (vs. continuing to wait a bit longer - even just a few days) that make a C section much more likely, nor details of what the recovery from the C section would entail. The hospital staff of course got into all this with her once she showed up on the induction date and then waited hours to be able to begin to fill out the paper and see all the warning forms....but by then she felt it was a bit late and besides her midwife hadn't brought these things up so it's always hard to tell whether some of the info the hospital gives you is CYA but highly unlikely or else a real risk.

Anyway, she didn't think she got very good guidance from them.

[Anonymous]

I delivered both my babies with Physicians and Midwives at Inova Alexandria and had wonderful experiences! I managed to have 2 regular deliveries there, and both were induced (at 41+ weeks!!!). Both inductions took a looooong time - 19 and 37 hours, respectively - but they were willing to let me go as long as the baby was safe. I have literally 8 friends/coworkers who were induced and less than 5 hours of induction were pushed into a c-section for failure to progress. I'm not a dr and I don't know all the medical details of their cases, but none of them said they had any additional complications, the Dr just said things weren't moving quickly.

In any case, I loved that P&M didn't push me into an unnecessary c-section.

[mnpremo]

I REALLY appreciate all the feedback.... After re-reading my post, I realized I did sound high maintenance - Sorry about that. I'm just anxious, plus I don't have any family in the area, so this is all completely new to me and a little scary and overwhelming. I'm going to look into all the doctors that were mentioned and read the Washingtonian to find some other highly recommended OBGYNs. Thanks again to all!

[Anonymous]

I recommend Virginia Hopital Center and I highly recommend the Armstrong/Bannon practice.

[Anonymous]

I also had a wonderful experience with Physicians and Midwives and loved delivering at Alexandria Inova. I can see what the PP meant about seeing a new doctor each time, but I mostly saw midwives at each appointment and was able to schedule with a particular one if I wanted to. I liked that I could call a midwife 24/7 and get an instant response, versus GW Medical that took two days to get back to me while I was experiencing a medical issue, and that was after calling the after hours emergency line 5 times! GW has some great OB/GYNs, but it is so busy and at times impersonal, that it felt like a factory. P&M has a much more human touch, to me.

[Anonymous]

Dr. Jane Piness, Care for You OBGYN, VHC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Jane Piness, Care for You OBGYN, VHC.

I second this!!!!!!! LOVE her and her new partner is equally as awesome!!!!!!! Plus, their office feels like a spa rather than an OB office!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also had a wonderful experience with Physicians and Midwives and loved delivering at Alexandria Inova. I can see what the PP meant about seeing a new doctor each time, but I mostly saw midwives at each appointment and was able to schedule with a particular one if I wanted to. I liked that I could call a midwife 24/7 and get an instant response, versus GW Medical that took two days to get back to me while I was experiencing a medical issue, and that was after calling the after hours emergency line 5 times! GW has some great OB/GYNs, but it is so busy and at times impersonal, that it felt like a factory. P&M has a much more human touch, to me.

I liked P&M and was happy to deliver at Alexandria Inova. I particularly wanted a midwife (without having to pay out of pocket for one), and liked P&M because you get a doctor and midwife during the birth, which in practice means you have two people looking after you in labor (the hospital nurse and the P&M midwife). The doctor only comes in if needed (which it wasn't in my case). There wasn't a "click" with the doctors, but unless you have a problem, you only see someone for 20 minutes once or twice a month, and at the hospital it depends who is on call. You may love your OB, but she can't be on call every night, so you might end up delivering with a male doctor that you've never met. I rotated at P&M to meet all the midwives (though turned out the midwife on my night was one of the few I hadn't met yet - figures).

[Anonymous]

Armstrong/Bannon at VHC.

[Anonymous]

I am using Dr. Glenna Andersen's practice. All 5 doctors are female and they deliver at INOVA Fairfax. They were featured in Washingtonian magazine so they are super busy but I feel good about them so far.