It really is so trivial...but of course it matters soooo much to me! With my midwife and insurance I have a choice of delivering at two hospitals. I just can't make up my mind! I'll give you the scenarios and you can tell me which you would do.

Hospital #1: Pros; This is the hospital that both me and my younger sister were born at and it's only about an 8 minute drive from my house. Cons; it's an older hospital and just not as nice.

Hospital #2: Pro; Brand new hospital. Cons; it's in a different city (only about a 15 minute drive). The city's name just holds such a horrible connotation. This city's name will be on her birth certificate and that part kind of bugs me.

See, it really is so trivial. Do I go for comfort or for my hometown?

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Hmmm maybe you can go online and get the ratings from each hospital. Have you asked your dr which hosptial she prefers to deliver at?

With DS I chose the newer hospital. It was nicer and had a cleaner feeling. Its about a 35 minute drive for us compared to 20 min. I am chosing to deliver at the same hospital again. I really like that you get to stay in the same room your entire stay.

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LOL. Have you toured both? What other things does each offer? Is one more BF friendly, has LC on site, etc? What differs in their policies? Maybe your MW would prefer one over the other.

We have a hospital in my town that delivers, but I have heard horror stories about the hospital, so I choose to drive 35 minutes to another city to go to the hospital for ANYthing.

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Yes, have you asked your OB/midwife which they prefer to deliver at...or will they deliver at both?!?!

My OB does not deliver at the hospital in my town (I don't think I'd choose to go there anyway) and so we drive the 20 minutes (or 9 minutes when in active labor w/twins ) to the hospital where he will deliver. Everything is much newer and the staff are SOOOOO much more friendly.

I would tour both and see what the "feel" is that you come out with! Good luck!

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Amanda

Maybe you should go for a tour at each? That might let you know how comfortable you would be there. I also like the idea of asking your midwife.

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Hmmm, I think I would research some more and ask people that have delivered at both what they think. I dont think I would worry much about the name of the hospital... I have no clue what the name of the hospital was where my mom had me.

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Dh Jason
My babies...
Katherine Elizabeth 6/04/04
Samuel Lee 5/04/05 (our son with God)
Griffin Michael 04/13/06
Harrison Gabriel 04/27/08


BabyLinq.com ~ Preemie Store - Hospital NICU
SAFE to going home.

Girl, I understand! I struggled with something like this early on in my pregnancy, weather or not to go to Pittsburgh, city hospital or my hometown hospital. What did it for us was NICU, NICU, NICU, I know that most of our babies will be healthy and happy but on the rare chance that they are not you want them to at least be in the same hospital as you and it was so important to US that our delivery hospital had NICU services avaliable!!

Also, I would tour both like someone else said!!

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Carter James

I would also recommend taking a tour of both. Also check for on-line reviews and rating. That should also help you make your decision. After the tour and doing some research you should have more of a direction on which one you would like to go with. Now, I am not trying to get your worried and I'm sure missy is going to stay put until her due date, but since you have had some contraction and you were hospitalized and etc it might be worth checking into the NICU units at both hospitals. NICU units are broken down into 3 levels and if you have a concern that little missy might come early you might want to go with the hospital that has the highest NICU level if you have any concerns at all. Just something to think about. Here's a break down of the levels that I found on-line:

According to these definitions, level I units (well-newborn nurseries) provide a basic level of newborn care to infants at low risk. They have the capabilities to perform neonatal resuscitation at every delivery and to evaluate and provide routine postnatal care of healthy newborn infants. In addition, they can stabilize and care for near-term infants (35–37 weeks' gestation) who remain physiologically stable and can stabilize newborn infants who are less than 35 weeks' gestation or ill until they can be transferred to a facility at which specialty neonatal care is provided.

Level II (specialty) special care nurseries can provide care to infants who are moderately ill with problems that are expected to resolve rapidly.6 These patients are at moderate risk of serious complications related to immaturity, illness, and/or their management. In general, care in this setting should be limited to newborn infants who are more than 32 weeks' gestational age and weigh more than 1500 g at birth or who are recovering from serious illness treated in a level III (subspecialty) NICU. Level II units are differentiated into 2 categories, IIA and IIB, on the basis of their ability to provide assisted ventilation.

Level IIA nurseries do not have the capabilities to provide assisted ventilation except on an interim basis until the infant can be transferred to a higher-level facility. Level IIB nurseries can provide mechanical ventilation for brief durations (less than 24 hours) or continuous positive airway pressure. They must have equipment (eg, portable chest radiograph, blood gas laboratory) and personnel (eg, physician, specialized nurses, respiratory therapists, radiology technicians, and laboratory technicians) continuously available to provide ongoing care as well as to address emergencies.6

Level III (subspecialty) NICUs are defined by having continuously available personnel (neonatologists, neonatal nurses, respiratory therapists) and equipment to provide life support for as long as needed. Level III NICUs are differentiated by their ability to provide care to newborn infants with differing degrees of complexity and risk. Newborn infants with birth weight of more than 1000 g and gestational age of more than 28 weeks can be cared for in level IIIA NICUs. These facilities have the capability to provide conventional mechanical ventilation for as long as needed but do not use more advanced respiratory support such as high-frequency ventilation. Other capabilities that may be available are minor surgical procedures such as placement of a central venous catheter or inguinal hernia repair.

Newborn infants with extreme prematurity (28 weeks' gestation or less) or extremely low birth weight (1000 g or less) or who have severe and/or complex illness are in the highest risk group and have the most specialized needs. These infants require a more advanced level III unit (designated level IIIB) with a broad range of pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists, highly skilled nursing and respiratory care staff, advanced respiratory support and physiologic monitoring equipment, laboratory and imaging facilities, nutrition and pharmacy support with pediatric expertise, social services, and pastoral care. Advanced respiratory care should include high-frequency ventilation and inhaled nitric oxide. For example, extremely low birth weight infants typically require sustained ventilator support, parenteral nutrition, and neuroimaging and may need surgical ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus, surgical treatment of necrotizing enterocolitis, or neurosurgical management of hydrocephalus. A level IIIB unit should have the capability to perform major surgery (including anesthesiologists with pediatric expertise) on site or at a closely related institution for patients with congenital malformations (such as abdominal wall defect, tracheoesophageal fistula and/or esophageal atresia, or meningomyelocele) or acquired conditions (such as bowel perforation, retinopathy of prematurity, or hydrocephalus secondary to intraventricular hemorrhage). A closely related institution would ideally be in geographic proximity and share coordinated care such as physician staff. Outcomes of less complex surgical procedures in children, such as appendectomy or pyloromyotomy, are better when performed by pediatric surgical subspecialists compared with general surgeons.39–41 Thus, it is recommended that pediatric surgical specialists perform more complex procedures in newborn infants.

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well these other ladies seems to know what they are talking about.... i just wanted to wish you luck!

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I agree, if they both have GREAT NICU's the tour will give you your answer.

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Sarah & Natalie

I guess for me it would depend on how different the hospitals are. If it is just a matter of having nicer decor than I would go with the closer one because I would probably want the better city name on the birth certificate, yes it is trivial but IF the difference in hospitals is trivial too than go for it. Now, if it is a difference in quality of care I would definatley go with the better hospital and forget about the name of the city. It's fun to tell people where you were born but nobody will ever judge her on it.

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It's so important to have a good NICU closeby in the event of an emergency.

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Gretchen and Stephen
Matthew (4-25-05)
Joshua (5-30-06)
Lucas Azzarian (4-23-08)

I'm with the Tour suggestions and the recommendation of your MW. I'm sure she's had experience at both and since she knows you well, she may have some good insights as to which may work better for you.

Good Luck!

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Good luck in your decision. I know if I get to move home before the baby I will have a similar dilemma....LOL. So I will be doing lots of research before hand if I can. I agree though....I would look into the NICU stuff and where your midwife prefers to deliver.

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Amanda, James & Sweet Mackenzie

7/17 -3rd Laparoscopic Surgery for Endometriosis
8/07 femara & ovidrel First Cy..... 8/24/07
(After trying for 6 years on and off)

Thank you ladies. All your insight and suggestions are really helpful. My midwife is totally cool on both hospitals. She said she has no preference and that it really is up to me.

I do know that Hospital 1 has a Level 3 NICU. I don't know about Hospital 2. I'll probably end up taking a tour of Hospital 1 first and if I like it, then I'll just stay there. If I'm unsure, then I'll go tour Hospital 2.

I really appreciate everyone's opinon!

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Good luck with your decision. I agree with what everyone else said. I work in the NICU at one of the hospitals and have seen babies transferred to us from another hospital away from their mom for days before the mom can be released. It is a tough situation. I am sure when you tour the hospitals your decision will be easier, you will get a better feeling and know that is the one! Good luck, atleast you have 2 good hospitals to choose from and dont have to decide on the lesser of 2 evils.

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I can't give ya any advice, shoot, I don't even know what STATE my baby is going to be born in. Or COUNTRY for that matter! OY!
LOL

Me personally, I would go with the one that has the best facilities for my baby, a level 3 NICU, good ratings, the best quality of care, best advanced equipment, maybe get a feel by word of mouth, etc.
But, my concerns, of course, are because I've had preemies and wouldn't want there to be a situation where my hospital could not take care of my baby! I know, tough choices to make, but if you ask around, maybe join a local mommy group, they will probably tell you about each hospital, their care, how they were treated, etc! hth, GL and keep us posted on whatever you decide!

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The more I thought about the Name of the hospital city, etc, all I could think of is Intercourse, Pennsylvania. "where were you born little girl? Intercourse, no not how - where". I've been lmao all night. I get your concern.

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Sarah & Natalie

OMG. That was so funny! Thanks for the comic relief Sarah!

Hospital #2's city has been in lots of papers recently for a school shooting. It's just a bad area. The hospital is in a good part, but the city's name is going to be on her birth certificate forever. True, it's not technically where she'd be from, since we don't live there, but it still kind of bugs. I think I've totally decided to stick with Hospital #1.

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