Anonymous wrote:GW is better if you want vaginal birth and they have a level 3 NICU. Sibley is based off the rooms but much higher Csection rate. When my doula through Balanced Bellies pointed us to look at their csection/intervention rates I switched to GW and I am glad I did, I had an uneventful wonderful vaginal birth with no interventions. Team had wonderful bedside manner as well! All 4 of my gfs that delivered at Sibley in the matter of 3 months had csections.

Sibley has a high C section rate because 1) patient demos (older moms are more likely to need a C section, they serve tons of older moms) 2) patient preference (ie women choosing a planned C section often choose Sibley over other area hospitals), and 3) it’s reputation for excellent patient experience (for instance, I had my first at GW and the experience was terrible, so I chose Sibley for a planned C section for my second rather than returning to GW). At the end of the day, take those Leapfrog C section rankings with a grain of salt. The patient demographics are entirely different.

GW is better if you want vaginal birth and they have a level 3 NICU. Sibley is based off the rooms but much higher Csection rate. When my doula through Balanced Bellies pointed us to look at their csection/intervention rates I switched to GW and I am glad I did, I had an uneventful wonderful vaginal birth with no interventions. Team had wonderful bedside manner as well! All 4 of my gfs that delivered at Sibley in the matter of 3 months had csections.

I delivered 5 children. 1 at GW and 4 at Sibley. GW was just fine it is a teaching hospital and it is large. Sibley is small and great.

+1 for the Sibley MFM (Dr Timofeev in particular). This is my third pregnancy (and third delivery at Sibley) and first time
I have to see an MFM, but I LOVE her. My only experience with GW was their ER which was a horrible experience (but I wasn’t pregnant) but I’ve heard generally good things from friends who delivered there, though most were with the midwives.

My son would up in the NICU in the absence of any risk factors for him or me. He was my third uncomplicated vaginal delivery and I was 34. If I had been at Sibley, we would have been separated. L&D, post partum, and NICU were all amazing.

GW. All the way.

I delivered at sibley last summer, and baby was in the special care nursery for about 9 days. I had a complicated pregnancy and was somewhat anxious about the NICU situation, but it all worked out and baby and I received really good care. Ultimately I went with where I felt most comfortable, and I loved the Sibley MFM (dr Timofeev) and wanted to stay with her and trusted her.

My child was born 6.5 weeks early at Sibley and was intubated. He had a 2 week stay and received excellent care. It is rare that a baby needs to be transferred to another hospital. I do know someone whose child was transferred to Children’s Hospital after birth but it was for an extremely rare condition.

You would receive excellent maternal care at Sibley. I personally wouldn’t want to deliver in a teaching hospital. They are busy, hectic, and impersonal. Staff feel stressed by the environment. There are too many people involved in care and they often say inconsistent things.

PP you have brought this up on other threads and been corrected by other posters who know what each hospital
Is capable of handling and when a baby would actually need to
Be transferred. In this case the rare complication you describe would not necessitate transfer according to a poster with more knowledge than you seem to possess (see below). Unless the vent was needed for 24 hours or more. I understand your delivery was probably traumatic for you
But I’m really not sure why you keep bringing this up since it appears you’re promoting misinformation based on your limited knowledge.

“Emphasis on "care" - Sibley can definitely intubate and initiate MV; in practice, CPAP/BIPAP (which Sibley can maintain indefinitely) is done with the very same machine on a different setting. It's just that if MV is expected to be needed for more than 24 hours, Sibley will transfer to Georgetown for staffing (i.e., RT availability, nursing ratios), likely co-morbidity, and ultimately licensing reasons.”
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/791726.page#14953849

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GW has a Level 3 NICU, I’d deliver there over Sibley for that reason alone. Sibley does have nicer facilities though.

PP who delivered at GW first. That was my mentality as well except I realized that the presence of a NICU doesn’t equate to good care. It’s providers recognizing issues and taking appropriate action. In my first case at GW the neonatologist missed diagnosing a birth injury that our pediatrician caught. With my second at Sibley, I had special care nursery staff in the room when I delivered because of an issue caught on ultrasound during pregnancy. The Sibley neonatologist coordinated with Children’s on it ahead of time, everyone was comfortable with me and baby being at Sibley, and I felt comfortable knowing that the Sibley neonatologists work at Georgetown (level 4 NICU) and were prepared for all delivery complications that can arise after 35 weeks.

If your baby needs to be intubated, which can happen even in healthy babies who have meconium aspiration, then they will have to be transferred to another hospital with a level 3 NICU or higher. It’s not common but happens. My baby had mec aspiration and apgar score wasn’t coming up initially after cpap and was almost intubated.

Anonymous wrote:GW has a Level 3 NICU, I’d deliver there over Sibley for that reason alone. Sibley does have nicer facilities though.

PP who delivered at GW first. That was my mentality as well except I realized that the presence of a NICU doesn’t equate to good care. It’s providers recognizing issues and taking appropriate action. In my first case at GW the neonatologist missed diagnosing a birth injury that our pediatrician caught. With my second at Sibley, I had special care nursery staff in the room when I delivered because of an issue caught on ultrasound during pregnancy. The Sibley neonatologist coordinated with Children’s on it ahead of time, everyone was comfortable with me and baby being at Sibley, and I felt comfortable knowing that the Sibley neonatologists work at Georgetown (level 4 NICU) and were prepared for all delivery complications that can arise after 35 weeks.

GW has a Level 3 NICU, I’d deliver there over Sibley for that reason alone. Sibley does have nicer facilities though.

I've had 3 at sibley - about to have my 4th there. I love sibley. Brand new maternity wing, great food, nice spacious rooms, state of the art tech. I never had complications but I would feel very comfortable there if I did. Good luck.

I delivered at gw and they did a great job. I had to get induced because my daughter was in distress and everything went well

I delivered at both. GW was a literal nightmare. Sibley was a dream by comparison.

I had a difficult first pregnancy during which I developed pre-e. I'm now pregnant with my 2nd and new to the DC area. Because of my previous pregnancy, I have a lot of anxiety going in and want to make sure I'll be delivering at a hospital that is well equipped to handle any possible labor/post-partum complications. I've heard good things about GW and Sibley but wanted to hear what people's experiences have been and whether one may be better than the other.