Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Choose whichever ped you want.

If yours has privileges where you deliver, your ped will see the baby at the hospital and then I think you go in again about 4 or 5 days after discharge.

If yours does not have privileges where you deliver, your baby will be seen by a hospital pediatrician and then within a day or two of discharge.

I had 3 kids at a hospital near work, so our ped did not have privileges there. It really wasn't a terrible inconvenience to go to the office after discharge.

+1. A PP mentioned jaundice - one of my 3 was jaundiced and I don't remember not having my ped being privileged at the hospital as making that experience worse. It was going to be rough no matter what.

Jaundice is the worst because it isn't serious enough to stay in the hospital but you are expected to bring them back and forth for tests. My 3rd had it. I barely remember because I was post-partum, but, it was truly miserable.

The worst was when they discharged me (the mother) but then decided not to discharge my baby because of jaundice. I ended up having to sleep in the lobby in a hard chair so I could bf every 2-3 hours while my baby was in Sibley's special care nursery. Even worse was having to use a public bathroom to try to take care of myself with stitches while only about 36 hours postpartum. If they'd decided to keep the baby before discharging me, I could have kept my bed and room for another 24 hours (per insurance) but once I was discharged I was no longer a patient. There was a major event going on in DC so I couldn't get to and from the hospital because of road closures and crowds.

It was awful and the nurses had zero compassion. I was so sore and hurting (I had broken my tailbone during delivery) and they would kick me out of the chair in the baby's room the moment I was done bfing. At one point I asked if they had a plastic cup so I could have tap water from the faucet while bfing and they told me I was no longer a patient. I was bleeding through my pads and asked if they had a backup while my husband went to a store and they told me I wasn't a patient even though I had been 2 hours earlier and hadn't expected to stay. So awful.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to all, i thought it would buy us a bit more time to be seen in the hospital by pediatrician from practice, but it sounds like either way we are going to have to go in.

Seems super stressful to have to leave the house so quickly after having the baby but it sounds like it's pretty normal.

If anyone has tips for that adventure I am all ears.

Sit in the backseat with the baby, but you'd probably do that anyway.

My ped did have privileges at the hospital where I gave birth twice but I would not care if they didn't. Both my kids were slow to gain weight in the first few weeks so we went to the ped a ton.

Not at all. We delivered at Georgetown. Unexpected stay in the NICU for baby. Doctors there had everything covered.

OP here. Thanks to all, i thought it would buy us a bit more time to be seen in the hospital by pediatrician from practice, but it sounds like either way we are going to have to go in.

Seems super stressful to have to leave the house so quickly after having the baby but it sounds like it's pretty normal.

If anyone has tips for that adventure I am all ears.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Choose whichever ped you want.

If yours has privileges where you deliver, your ped will see the baby at the hospital and then I think you go in again about 4 or 5 days after discharge.

If yours does not have privileges where you deliver, your baby will be seen by a hospital pediatrician and then within a day or two of discharge.

I had 3 kids at a hospital near work, so our ped did not have privileges there. It really wasn't a terrible inconvenience to go to the office after discharge.

+1. A PP mentioned jaundice - one of my 3 was jaundiced and I don't remember not having my ped being privileged at the hospital as making that experience worse. It was going to be rough no matter what.

Jaundice is the worst because it isn't serious enough to stay in the hospital but you are expected to bring them back and forth for tests. My 3rd had it. I barely remember because I was post-partum, but, it was truly miserable.

Zero. I'm still furious that I delivered at 4am (after 36 hours in labor on pitocin), finally went to sleep in the postpartum room and the pediatrician was there at 7am shaking me awake and talking to me. I was so disoriented I thought I was dreaming. And then I fell asleep and he woke me again. Whatever happened to maternal care?!

You see your regular pediatrician on day 3 after you leave the hospital on day 2. The hospitalist is good.

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the process of choosing a pediatrician and wondering how much weight to give to whether they do in-hospital postpartum visits (in my case specifically Sibley). Some practices have pediatricians who come to see the baby in the hospital, while others just have you schedule the first visit in their office after discharge.

For those who’ve been through this, did it make a big difference having your chosen pediatrician check on your baby in the hospital? Or was it just as easy to have the hospital pediatrician handle it and then switch after?

This is my first and it seems horribly cumbersome to have to go to the pediatrician a couple days after leaving the hospital and wondering if we choose a pediatrician who does in-hospital visits does that buy us more time before needing to go in office.

Would love to hear your experiences and thoughts!

Our daughter was premature and we ended up needing an appointment on a Sunday as we were discharged on Friday and she was not feeding well so we needed her checked out on Sunday specifically per the hospitals orders. What endeared me to our pediatrician is that she came in on a Sunday and opened the office just to see us. We really really appreciated that and stuck with them for the decade since.

For the record, we had to bring our baby to the ped every other day or so for several weeks. So I chuckled a little bit at your idea that having to go do a drs office would be cumbersome. Best laid plans and all..

Seems very short sighted to pick a pediatrician based on whether they do one visit in the hospital vs the 100 in-office visits you’ll need to do in the first few years.

I adore our pediatrician, but I definitely trust the experience of the hospitalist, who only sees 1-3 day old babies, more for that brief window.

Anonymous wrote:Choose whichever ped you want.

If yours has privileges where you deliver, your ped will see the baby at the hospital and then I think you go in again about 4 or 5 days after discharge.

If yours does not have privileges where you deliver, your baby will be seen by a hospital pediatrician and then within a day or two of discharge.

I had 3 kids at a hospital near work, so our ped did not have privileges there. It really wasn't a terrible inconvenience to go to the office after discharge.

+1. A PP mentioned jaundice - one of my 3 was jaundiced and I don't remember not having my ped being privileged at the hospital as making that experience worse. It was going to be rough no matter what.

Choose whichever ped you want.

If yours has privileges where you deliver, your ped will see the baby at the hospital and then I think you go in again about 4 or 5 days after discharge.

If yours does not have privileges where you deliver, your baby will be seen by a hospital pediatrician and then within a day or two of discharge.

I had 3 kids at a hospital near work, so our ped did not have privileges there. It really wasn't a terrible inconvenience to go to the office after discharge.

Anonymous wrote:It’s not important. You do end up needing to go to the pediatrician right after discharge either way. It’s no fun (I remember driving to those visits feeling like it was surreal) but it does make the case for choosing a pediatrician that’s close and convenient. Good luck!

+1

It’s not important. You do end up needing to go to the pediatrician right after discharge either way. It’s no fun (I remember driving to those visits feeling like it was surreal) but it does make the case for choosing a pediatrician that’s close and convenient. Good luck!

Don't think it made a difference for us but there was jaundice that required a ton of appointments anyway.

I'm in the process of choosing a pediatrician and wondering how much weight to give to whether they do in-hospital postpartum visits (in my case specifically Sibley). Some practices have pediatricians who come to see the baby in the hospital, while others just have you schedule the first visit in their office after discharge.

For those who’ve been through this, did it make a big difference having your chosen pediatrician check on your baby in the hospital? Or was it just as easy to have the hospital pediatrician handle it and then switch after?

This is my first and it seems horribly cumbersome to have to go to the pediatrician a couple days after leaving the hospital and wondering if we choose a pediatrician who does in-hospital visits does that buy us more time before needing to go in office.

Would love to hear your experiences and thoughts!