Sorry this is long.

The short version: can you recommend your Manhattan or Queens hospital and OB?

The long version: 14 months ago, I delivered my son at St. Luke’s Roosevelt (now I believe Mt. Sinai West) on 11th Ave at 59th. I love love love my doctor—Dr. Nicolle Underwood—with Westcare OBGYN (located near the Natural History Museum on the UWS). While I was pregnant with my son, we moved to Long Island City Queens but since I was already established with the practice, I continued there for the full pregnancy. I figured I’d switch for a more convenient practice but for the fact that she is just so so wonderful—and after having such a good experience with her during our time trying to conceive including a minor surgery, plus her care while I was pregnant, and then her continued care since (including visiting my son and I in the NICU after his birth and being accessible via text and I could go on and on). But… I just found out that she is moving to California… So I’m trying to decide if I should just switch to another doctor in the same practice—who I know very little about—other than that I had a good experience with her—even though the location is not at all convenient to my home or work. Or if I should find a new practice, made trickier by the fact that I am currently 25 weeks pregnant with my daughter!

Here are some of my concerns/considerations: Or to put it another way, my perfect practice wishlist:

1) Delivers at a very good hospital—with a good NICU just in case—could be in Manhattan or Queens but preferably convenient to Long Island City (i.e. east side or at least mid-town. Nothing WAY uptown or downtown Manhattan)
2) The practice itself needs to be convenient—or at least no more inconvenient than my current practice. Long Island City near my home. Midtown Manhattan. Or downtown near my work.
3) I am currently scheduled to meet with a high risk OB at St Luke’s Roosevelt to get approval to try for a VBAC. I’m only high risk in that my son and daughter will only be 17 months apart—and apparently anything under 18 months automatically requires approval from high risk—or at least it does at St. Luke’s Roosevelt. So of course, I do want to know if any new doctor would let me try for a VBAC (assuming of course that it is safe and all goes well).
4) A female OB.
5) And if the hospital had cheaper private rooms than St. Luke’s Roosevelt, that would be fantastic too.
6) Willing to take a new patient—who is 25 weeks pregnant.

Is this impossible? Am I asking too much? What would you do? Stick with your current practice? Do any of you happen to have a doctor that I should definitely go check out?