More Important - Dr. or Hospital?
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Anonymous
| For those who have given birth in the past, looking back, which was more important to you - the specific doctor you saw throughout the pregnancy/ who delivered you or the hospital at which you delivered. My current OB delivers only at Sibley and while I like her, I have heard better things about GW. Is it worth leaving a DR you like or love for a different hospital? I am not high-risk so that really isn't an issue. Any experiences you have had or opinions would be greatly appreciated. |
Anonymous
| That's a tough one. I LOVED my provider, at WHC and decided I didn't care at all about the hospital, just her. After, I think that was a too simple way to look at it. I'd probably do it again, but there were things I didnt love about WHC. (happily she's at GW now, so that's good). I guess if you really like but don't love your provider, id switch. Depends too on what your concern is. Mine would be the CS rate at Sibley, and the fact that nurses are not accustomed to non-epidural labors. What's your specific concern? Sorry to ramble... |
Anonymous
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For me: The distance from home to hospital. I would not have chosen a dr that delivered at a hospital far from my home. I hear stories of laboring in traffic trying to get from Tysons area to Holy Cross, or get down 66 from McLean in labor during rush hour to get to Georgetown etc...
I delivered at Fair Oaks minutes from my home. I just dislike traveling far for appointments (all of my doctors from eye to vagina are within 15 minute drives). |
Anonymous
| I really wanted to deliver with midwives in a hospital, so that was the most important choice I made. I wanted to minimize unnecessary interventions, and figured that a hospital that would support midwives would probably help facilitate that. If I couldn't have delivered with midwives, I'd probably try to find a combination of both doctor and hospital that I wanted (including ability to support unmedicated labors, NICU quality, etc.). |
Anonymous
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It's a really tough call. I chose Georgetown despite the fact that the practice there annoyed me (wait times, too many providers, etc etc), but the NICU had a great reputation. Few expect to need an NICU, but I figured if we ended up needing it, we'd wanted it to be top notch. G'town fit the bill.
Turns out, my pregnancy ended up being high risk and my DD needed to "see" a pediatric cardiologist several times as a fetus. I was really happy with our choice. If I have another baby, we will go back there, despite the fact that my we live 5 minutes from VHC and there is a practice there that is supposed to be good. |
Anonymous
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GW is an official "baby-friendly" hospital, which means they let the baby stay with me for the first couple of hours to encourage breastfeeding instead of whisking him off to the nursery for routine stuff right away. I could also eat & drink during labor (may vary by practitioner) and have wireless fetal monitoring at GW. I have no idea how Sibley compares in these areas, but they were important to me.
I think that GW has a higher-level NICU than Sibley. |
Anonymous
| I'd try to find an OB you like at the hospital you like. You can always go back to your current OB after your pregnancy, and I think doctors understand patients switching to be at a particular hospital. |
Anonymous
This is what I did - I switched practices early in my first pregnancy so I could deliver closer to home. That said, I love the OB who delivered my son earlier this year - she was incredibly kind when I miscarried last year and I would have followed her to any hospital if it meant having her deliver my son. |
Anonymous
OP, what type of birth are you interested in? Because if you want an epidural and you love your dr I think Sibley is fine. I know plenty of people, including myself, who had babies there and were happy enough. Some vaginal, some c-sections, though I don't really know anyone who had a baby there who wanted a natural birth. I do think a lot of the other hospitals in the area are nicer, and you don't have to pay for a private room, but that alone would not cause me to switch. If you want a natural birth then I would switch. Or if you didn't like your OB and were looking for someone new, then I would find someone at a different hospital. |
FBO
Member Location: NoVA
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Member Location: NoVA
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When we had ours, I went to all the doctors and asked them this question: If something goes wrong, where will you take her?
Everyone of them answered the same hospital no matter what. To us, we were reducing the 'oh shit' risk by being at the hospital they recommended anyway. Just me experience anyway. 
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Anonymous
Georgetown or Fairfax? |
Anonymous
| To me it's more important to have a good advocate. If you think that's your doctor, awesome. If it's your husband/partner, great. If it's a doula or a midwife, cool. But the only way, in my experience, to have a good birth experience is to have someone with you who knows how your your birth plan and has the voice and the will to speak up and make sure that things go the way you want them to. For me the first time around was a doula. This time will be my DH. I don't care where I deliver or who will be the doctor there (my practice has 5 different OBs). As long as I don't have to worry about things not going my way when I am in no position to argue, I know everything else will be ok. |
Anonymous
I agree with this. I had a natural birth at Sibley 5 years ago. My doctor was fine --really just showed up at the end -- but it was no fun fighting with the nurses about my desire to be mobile and the post-partum nurses were terrible. My experience at Sibley convinced me to have a homebirth the second time. |
Anonymous
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I think by and large, most of the hospitals around here are fairly equal in the things that matter. Top notch care, great NICUs etc. Except for Sibley. I would not change docs if it was difference between GW/Georgetown/Holy Cross but I would for Sibley. It doesn't have the high level NICU that every other hospital in the area has and you have to pay for a private room. I personally think that's ridiculous.
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Anonymous
| Odds are your doctor won't be the one to deliver the baby anyway, go for the preferred hospital. |