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I delivered at mount Sinai and had a great experience. That being said, i don't think any of the NYC hospitals can guarantee a private room due to space constraints. At mt Sinai it was first come first served, and we luckily were able to get one.you also have to pay for it--ours was like $600 a night, and insurances does not cover any of it. I do think that some hospitals on long island, like northshore, have all private rooms for new moms. If you're still interested in giving birth in NYC I've also heard good things about Weill Cornell and t Luke's. Nyu is also good but I don't think they're up and running yet.

It's the same situation in the city with shared rooms and private rooms... if not worse! I delivered at both NYU and Cornell... both times, not only were the private rooms several hundred dollars a night, they were pretty hard to get because of waiting lists. Usually you can only request a private room only after you give birth, so it's really just pure luck that you can get one that's not already being used. I even worked for both hospitals at the time I had my babies, and not even that was enough pull because once a patient is there, they have it for the rest of their stay and there aren't very many private postpartum rooms per hospital.

So it's just something most moms in the area just deal with... My roommate the second time had her hubby sleep in the chair next to her. At Cornell, as long as your roommate is okay with it, it's fine... not sure about other places. I think a lot of times the hubbies just don't stay overnight if you get a shared room.

But aside from that, the medical care the babies and I received were great.

@Anagram: what a great resource friend! she can definitely tell you about all the different units she's been to. I know for sure though that NYU rooms are very cramped. I loved my midwife/OBs there though (Spring OBGYN practice in Soho).

Cornell rooms were much more spacious and up-to-date. I got lucky getting into a good Cornell OB's schedule... a lot of them didn't accept new patients (and as I said, I even worked at the hospital too), So there's that. Consider Roosevelt too... I would've gone there to their Birthing Center if my insurance had covered it (a med-free birth was a priority for me the second time).

you have a lot of factors to consider though. I say prioritize the kind of pregnancy/birth you envision and go from there. I know to the rest of the nation, shared rooms are almost unheard of after having a baby, but if factors such as your OB choice, distance from your home/work are more important, cater to those first. But in my experience, a shared room after birth wasn't too bad. If I lived in NJ though, I think I would've preferred a NJ suburb hospital.

I delivered at mt Sinai too. It was a great experience. The nurses are really nice and I would recommend it highly. But it would be a pain in the butt for you to get there from NJ. We had a private room which I really wanted but we had to shell out $750 a night. In my opinion it was worth it because we had to share a room with another baby for our most recent hospital visit And you get absolutely no sleep at all when the baby next door and your baby are on different crying schedules. Mt Sinai also has a really good nicu unit if you need that...I think the quality of doctors in NYC is better than in the suburbs but I could just be making an assumption there. If you have an easy pregnancy with no complications maybe go for a NJ suburb hospital. If you bare high risk then maybe a NYC hospital. Good luck!

@Anagram: I'm a bit west of you in Hoboken but I delivered at Morristown Medical Center and it was wonderful! All the post partum rooms are private and they just renovated that area and the NICU (which is wonderful!) recently. As an added bonus, they give their new mamas a massage and a nice(r) dinner for the new parents the night before discharge.

I also used to work at Hackensack University Medical Center and they had a pretty good reputation for L&D... I believe all of their post partum rooms are private as well!

Have you looked into Valley Hospital, Holy Name, Hackensack, etc?

I am going to be at NYU - it's true that they haven't opened yet but I am not due til July and my doctor's regular office is open and nobody seems concerned about the OB floor reopening. I also considered St. Luke's/Roosevelt but ultimately am going with NYU because it's closer to home. The only NYC hospital I've heard bad things about is Beth Israel - I think Lennox Hill, St. Luke's, Mt. Sinai, NYU, etc. are all supposed to be great, but from all my research I do think that the private room situation is totally first come first serve after birth and you have to pay for it (as PPs have noted). It doesn't seem like there is anywhere that gives a different option, though.

@Anagram: I live in Hoboken! We delivered at NYU (the day before the hurricane and were evacuated!) because that's where my doctor is. Also, Hoboken hospital does not take a lot of insurances so you should first look into whether or not it is even an option. I have a lot of mommy friends though who delivered at Palisades and all of them had a great experience.
I was nervous about making the trek into NYU once I was pregnant, but i went into labor in the middle of the night, so it was fine. PLus, we have a car. I had very odd circumstances, being there during the hurricane and the generator collapse/evacuation, but I have to say, my nurses were top notch, and aside from the whole power outage, I was really pleased with the care there. It helped that we got a private room though. The rooms are small, and I could see being kind of annoyed to share such a small space with another mom.
@LindsayInNYC: I'm happy to answer any questions re: NYU.