This is long- just a warning! We're in the middle of a bit of a dilemma regarding where to have our second baby.

E's birth went perfectly. The hospital that we had him in is the hospital where my cousin is a L&D nurse. She wasn't working that day but she was able to call in and request a specific nurse for us. The nurse was AMAZING and I give her complete credit for how well the actual birthing process went. We had a private room for postpartum and DH was able to stay with me the whole time. It was amazing.

When I got pregnant this time my OB informed me that he's in the process of cutting the births that he performs at that hospital. The hospital doesn't have a NICU (they transfer to the children's hospital when necessary), they only have one OR, they only have one anesthesiologist and they have limited rooms in general apparently.

The hospital where he is now primarily performing deliveries is closer to our house now (10 minutes versus 15-20 so not a HUGE difference), they are developing a NICU (so they have more facilities than the other...even though it's still not a top notch NICU hospital), they have more staff, more room, etc.

When I explained to him how comfortable we were at hospital #1 he said that he would be fine with delivering our second there if that's what we wanted but that he definitely encourages hospital #2 (for the reasons mentioned). I figured that we'd go on a tour of hospital #2 and then make our decision. Soooooooooo I called today and right now they aren't doing maternity tours. Apparently they are experiencing a high volume of births there and it's been difficult for them to have an empty room to show for the actual tour.

My gut is to stick with hospital #1...especially since the main issues seem to be the lack of facilities/staff. According to my cousin a lot of doctors are trying to cut their deliveries there and so L&D has been REALLY slow. That could be to our advantage, right? We'd be able to get our private room and the anesthesiologist should be free because there aren't as many people delivering there? She said that their deliveries have dropped A LOT.

On the other hand, there's got to be good reasons as to why all of these doctors are trying not to deliver there (even though part of me wonders whether it's more hospital/insurance politics issues underlying it) and if, for any reason, there are catastrophic circumstances surrounding this birth it would definitely be safer to be somewhere more equipped...

I just need feedback and opinions. I'm kind of at a loss!