I work about 45min-1hr away from my home. My work is in a major city with a million options for hospitals and doctors. My current OB and the hospital they deliver at are about 15-20min away from my home in the opposite direction from my work. This would make it about an hour or so to get from work to the office or hospital. My pregnancy is considered high risk bc of several factors but I would like to continue to work for as long as possible. My husband thinks that I should be seeing an OB and delivering closer to my work to make going to all my prenatal visits and if I were to go into labor at work easier. I think I would rather deliver closer to my house thus making attending childbirth classes easier, my husband could get home easier after the delivery, I wouldn't have to drive such a major distance after having the baby, and it will be more convenient for postpartum appts. There is also a strong possibility that the pediatrician would have privileges at the current hospital and then we could be seen in hospital by the practice we pick rather than the in-house pediatrician. I have just had my first prenatal at 10wks so I could still switch. What are your opinions?
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I work at a hospital about 30 minutes from where I live (with no traffic). I chose to deliver there for a few reasons:
1. I could have a midwife
2. They just built beautiful new birthing suites with a private bathroom and queen sized beds
3. It was super easy to get to my appointments (could go at lunch or right after work without having to worry about traffic)
4. It was cheaper to deliver where I work due to our insuranceI ended up going into labor at night and left for the hospital at 2 in the morning, so the commute was really fast. I would absolutely make the same choice for #2
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That's tricky. Out of curiosity what city are you in? I'm in Boston and where I was living with my first it was 40 minutes from home to work; home to OB; work to OB. I moved and so it's the same commute with work but about an hour drive from my house. I have super good OB and hospital, which is worth any commute to me. I think if you love your office I wouldn't switch
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I was in a similar situation and chose an OB/hospital near my house. I was worried about trying to get into the city while in labor - in traffic it can easily take an hour and a half on the weekends. There's still traffic going out from the city but it's usually not as bad. It did make my prenatal visits more annoying because I had to do them on Saturdays or take time off work, but ultimately worked out better for the reasons you state - closer postpartum visits and using a local ped. Plus I didn't go into labor on my own (was induced at 41+1) so that didn't end up mattering.
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I vote close to home. Labor could always go quick, but with both of mine I started contractions at night and was able to call work and say I wasn't coming in (I worked up until delivery day with both). From the very start of labor to delivery it was about 40 hours with DD1 and 6 with DD2 so I definitely would have had time to drive home from work if I went into labor while there.
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On average, you spend way more hours of the day at home than you do at work (don't forget about weekends). It makes much more sense to be close to home. Also, I know most people work right up to their due date, but you don't have to. I started my maternity leave one week before my due date and it was perfect.
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@Eko: I live in the Philly burbs and work in Philly. I like the practice, and have heard really good things about the hospital.
@PawPrints: My thoughts too, plus I am due right before thanksgiving, meaning even more time at home. I was debating if I wanted to take a few days off before my due date I want to talk to HR about how our maternity leave works. -
My OB and hospital were closer to work than to home, and although it was a bit far to get to the hospital from home (probably 50 minutes or so without traffic), it was very convenient for prenatal visits, and there are a lot of them (especially if you're high risk). I feel like it would have been annoying to have all the doctor's appointments close to home - that wouldn't have worked very well with my work schedule. I was able to schedule most of the appointments either just before work or during lunch.
A lot of people I know have long-ish drives to hospitals (for example, most of my friends in Brooklyn have delivered in one of the Manhattan hospitals) - you just need to plan ahead a bit when you're in labor and leave a little earlier than you might have left if you were right near the hospital.
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I voted home because I think you're more likely to go into labor in the middle of the night then right in the middle of a work day.
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Close to home so I don't have to drive through city traffic with my newborn. And easier to run home if you forget something.
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Definitely home! Chances are even if you are at work when contractions start or your water breaks spontaneously, you will still need to labor for quite a while before being ready to go to the hospital. I would not want to labor at work or in the car for an hour during transition! Yes, appointments will be a pain but when it's really go time you will appreciate being so close to the hospital!
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I would go with close to home. I worked an hour from home, but it was more the distance rather than traffic. I worked until 39 weeks when I just had zero energy to continue and baby didn't make his appearance until 41 weeks. Based on my experience I would always go with close to home and a good NICU just in case. But because you live in a big city there may not be any hospitals without them anyway.
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I'd say close to home... but I'd really make the decision based more on quality of the hospital, and which OB/midwife I wanted to work with.
I went to a birthing center an hour from home (about 40 miles), because I loved the staff and amenities. I don't regret it at all! -
My ob was close to work. The group was about 10 minutes from work but an hour from home. I didn't know my 1st pregnancy would be high risk but since I had identical twins it ended up being high risk. I'm glad my ob was close to work since I had biweekly and then weekly apps with my ob and high risk group. It would have been really difficult to manage closer to home. I was at home when my water broke and made it to the hospital with plenty of time. With my third I stayed with the same ob since I'd gone back to work and it was closer to work. Fortunately I was staying at my in laws the night I went into labor with my third since they're only about 15 minutes from my ob's hospital since I had my daughter less than an hour after I got to the hospital. If I'd been at home I would have had her in the car.
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Stay close to home and schedule your OB visits for first thing in the morning or last in the afternoon to minimize impact on your work schedule. Besides, since you work in a lab you'll need to share news of your pregnancy with your boss soon if you haven't already (this is required in NYS so work place exposures can be properly managed). You want it to be easy to get to and from the practice/hospital to your home and it is very unlikely you're going to go into labor at work. Plus, you'll want the ped you select to be able to visit baby in hospital...our local hospital won't let you leave with the baby until they are released to the care of a certified ped.
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I say close to work, if you are high risk you are likely to have even more appointments. Those weekly appointments are very annoying, especially if you need additional monitoring. I do think the suburbs are likely to have nicer facilities, though. I feel like being farther away from home is only inconvenient for a few days, and being further from home is inconvenient for every appointment. I was not always able to get the earliest appointment, although I prefer it, and even when I could, I would prefer it to be close to work so I will not be too late getting to work. Also, if you are high risk, you are more likely to be induced, make the trip to the hospital not that important. The biggest downside to the far hospital, to me, is the potential of a NICU stay for the baby. With my first, my labor started in the middle of the night, but it was because my water broke, so the drive was not problematic. I was induced with my second. With my first, I had weekly non-stress tests and regular BPPs, and it really made it hard to get any work done.
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@azjax: I shared with my immediate boss at 5 wks and will be sharing with my higher up and hr this week at 11 wks. My current doctor has 2 days they are open until 8pm and they start most days at 7am. I should be able to try for early or late appts and not miss too much work.
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@mdf106: the local hopital has a level II nicu and if my baby were to need anything more serious they would likely be taken to CHOP and I couldn't deliver there anyway. My work is really comfortable with me working 40hrs in a week with no specific start and end times to my day.
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@snarkybiochemist: with the added info I would definitely stick close to home! However, I love my OB and moved up the timing for baby #2 specifically so he could be my doctor, since we will probably move out of the area once I finish my PhD. So I might be a little biased haha.
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Closer to home. Even if the monitoring appts are a bit more challenging to work out, when it comes time to deliver, I think you'll appreciate being closer to home. We had similar considerations & were happy we chose close to home & with our pediatric staff having privileges at our hospital.
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My OB is very close to my work and I had a lot of prenatal visits (especially in the beginning because of fertility treatments and monitoring). It was very helpful to be close to work if I was concerned about anything and just needed to pop over to be checked quick.
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For me it would depend on how the hours for the office closer to home interface with your work schedule. If it is easy to get in on your day off or before/after your normal work hours, I'd use the practice close to home. If you'd have a hard time booking appointments that didn't make you miss work...I'd consider switching.
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@snarkybiochemist: I'm also in the Philly burbs and I totally get not wanting to be in labor heading into the city on the Schuylkill especially if it's an Eagles game day or something similar and you get stuck. Schedule your OB visits far in advance to help yourself get those early/late appointments as they might not be available.
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Being in a predominantly women's industry with women workforce for 10+ years and having seen tons and tons and tons of women give birth including myself, no one has ever gone into labor at work and needed to go to the hospital from work! So I'd pick closer to home. I'd prefer not to have to drive my babies that far being that new.
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@snarkybiochemist: I was in this exact situation with my first. Worked in downtown Houston and lived about 60 miles north of the city. I opted to see an OB that was right across the street from work. If I had seen an OB near home, I would have had to take a half day off of work, taking a huge chunk out of the PTO I was saving for my maternity leave. The hospital we were delivering at had a branch much closer to our home, so we were able to take the classes there. The drive to the hospital while I was in labor wasn't exactly fun, but it wasn't terrible and we went in the middle of the night, so traffic was light. I had a copy of my medical records in case there was an emergency and we needed to go to a closer hospital. DH just never left the hospital to go home while we were there, my in-laws let our dog out. The drive home was NBD.
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A coworker was in a similar situation and chose to give birth at the hospital near her house. However, given that her births were so quick, her doctor had her schedule an induction so that there wouldn't be an issue.
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I would not choose based on this criteria. Do your research, figure out what your priorities are for labor and delivery, and choose the provider and a hospital that you're most comfortable with.
I was originally seeing an ob/gyn in the major city where I work. Her office was 10 minutes from mine, so appointments were super convenient. But I did not like the policies at the hospital with which she was affiliated, and I quickly concluded that a suburban hospital was a better option for me.
The main reasons: (1) The city hospital had a triage policy, and I was not interested in having some random resident "check" me while I was in labor so s/he could determine whether or not I should be omitted to the hospital. (2) Private rooms in all of my city's hospitals are not guaranteed and very expensive (~$1,000/night). My husband would not have been permitted to room in with us if we did not have a private room.
The appointments in the suburbs were really inconvenient, but I loved the OB and hospital that I ultimately chose. I am so glad that I did not prioritize convenience because I was really happy with my birth experience.
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Thank you all for your input. I appreciated hearing all of your thoughts and it helped me asses why I had made the choice I did. My husband and I have decided that staying with the current practice works best for us and our needs. Part of the issue is that I had just stuck with my regular gyn from before pregnancy without having a conversation with my husband about his thoughts. While yes I will be the one delivering and have final day in who my doctor is I should have at least listened to his reasoning behind why picking another practice would be good. It comes down to all of this, The hospital by home has recently renovated their maternity rooms all rooms are private with private baths. I like my doctor and feel comfortable with him and his staff. They respond quickly to calls and emails. The hospital has a level ii nicu and offers classes and lactation consultants. Even with extra appts I should be able to make them work with my semi flexible schedule. I can only take 4 or 8 hr chunks of time regardless so even if the practice was 5 min from my work unless the appt was after 4 I would still have to take the same amount of time. I know my current doctor starts at 7am and has 2 8pm days so hopefully I can make that work.
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I had a coworker in this situation and she delivered close to home. It worked out perfectly, but she also started her mat leave 2 weeks before her EDD.
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