Hellobee Boards

i think first and foremost, you need to like your doctors. i'd say meet with the doctors in both practices to see if you like them? but once you get pregnant, you'd be driving pretty often to see the doctor...luckily, you live pretty close to both. but convenience is nice.

i go to a multi-doctor practice. if you give birth vaginally, since you can go at any time, you won't necessarily get the doctor you've been primarily working with - whoever is on call that night. but you will probably have met all the doctors (they like you to meet with all the doctors after a certain point so that you're familiar with them because one of them might potentially be the doctor on call when you're in labor.)

not 100% sure about solo practice doctors - i bet they have an agreement with the hospital or something so someone you wouldn't recognize (total stranger) might deliver your baby.

i got a recommendation from my RE so that's how i picked it. my husband's a doctor so he asked around too and turns out my ob came recommended by quite a few doctors.

I second that you need to like your doctor. Another important factor is the availability of your doctor. I ended up going with a doctor that had very good/high reviews for this pregnancy but if I become pregnant a 2nd time, I will mostly likely change to another one. Not that I don't like my current doctor (she's knowledgeable, answers all my questions, etc) but there but there are a few things I would expect in a doctor (esp since you'll be seeing this doctor over the course of 9 months). My doctor's regular practice (Mon-Fri) was not taking new patients but I found out that she practiced at her sister's practice every other weekend (which was also a closer location). I've had a pretty smooth pregnancy so far but there was one time I had a question, tried to contact her, and it took 5 days before I was able to reach her. I can imagine the anxiety and stress I would have felt if it was a more urgent matter! Anyway, since you are only just TTC, you still have some time to find an OB that fits your needs. Maybe you could ask your previous OB for references near your area? Good luck with your decision!

I wanted to deliver at a certain hospital and had to choose my doctor from their approved list. And then I had to pick the doctor that had the closest office to my work since I figured I would most likely go during lunch breaks. It was a two doctor practice which was good since the main doctor who had been seeing me wasn't on call the night I went into labor so his partner delivered my baby but I was familiar with him, too. I liked the two doctors so-so. They could've had a better bedside manner but I did have to mostly pick the doctor based on the hospital list and convenient factor. However, they were very competent and experienced, so I gave up something with the bedside manner.

I started off by finding an OB that delivered at the hospital where I wanted to deliver. I have found mulitple people in our area that have varying opinions of our two biggest hospitals in Raleigh. My big thing is I don't want to have to drive 20+ minutes to get to my hospital. The one I want to deliver at is 10 minutes away. I found an OB/GYN practice that delivers there.

The practice I am going to is big with 8 doctors. I like that because I know I will have someone available to me when I go into labor. I had a friend who went to an OB practice that had just two docs and both were delivering other women when she went into labor so she had some doctor she never met deliver her baby!

Everyone else mentioned some good point, too like Health Insurance and liking your doctor. So far, so good with the one doc I have met at my practice. They have you see a different doctor each visit so you get to meet them all.