Hellobee Boards

I moved across the country at 38 weeks pregnant and had to find a new hospital and doctor. I searched a lot for info on the hospitals (look at things like city-data) and had to rely on pictures and stats in addition to that. I picked the hospital I thought best suited what I wanted (I wanted a more natural birth although still in a hospital). Then I looked at which doctors delivered there and picked the one that seemed the best. It worked out although I had to switch doctors for this pregnancy because my other doctor's office switched which hospital they deliver at and I could only fine one option to allow me to go to the same hospital this time.

I guess why is the hospital more important (choosing first) than the doctor? I personally want to have a stronger relationship/connection with my doctor than the hospital I deliver. I will say my doc will deliver at either hospital (2 close to us) but strongly prefers one. Luckily it's the one I wanted to go too so it worked out, but I like her so much I would have went to the other hospital if she had a strong reason for it that made sense to me.

I would ask about NICU level available and take an L&D tour to get a feel for the place!

The hospitals here list their affiliated physicians. So that could help you narrow down the list

I picked the hospital first too when I was unhappy with my previous practice and looking to switch. There were 3 I originally considered near me, one I eliminated because their maternity ward just didn't seem as up to par and I only knew of one person who ever delivered there, and of the other two one came up more often when I was looking for recommendations and it has the added distinction of being a "baby friendly" hospital because they specifically encourage breastfeeding, skin to skin etc. Most of the endorsements actually came from my husband's coworkers or their spouses when he started asking around. From there I looked into practices that delivered at my preferred hospital and landed on one with a full staff of midwives and OBs (as opposed to most practices that had all OBs and maybe one midwife). I love it this way because I can see the midwives for my currently low-risk pregnancy, but when I had a complication that required surgery I was cared for by the OBs within the same practice. While you may not be looking for midwives specifically, my recommendation is to try to find a practice that is staffed to handle both low and high risks so that whatever happens you are covered.

I found both my OBs via word of mouth. As another thing to consider, make sure the physician and hospital is within your insurance network. There are two main hospital systems in my city, and only one of them is "preferred" with my insurance.

I chose my practice and hospital based on the type of delivery I wanted. I wanted a non-medicated birth and also wanted to be with a practice that offered CNM. The hospital I delivered at did not have a top-level NICU, but the children's hospital for my area was about three miles away and in the city I lived in (I delivered at a small community hospital just across the river).

I wanted a hospital with a top-level NICU (obviously you hope you never need it but I wanted it there if necessary). And our hospital did not care if you were pregnant for taking a tour. All you had to do was show up at tour time and you were welcome.

Besides that, hospital stats for c-sections and such only means so much. My OB's stats were very different (and better) then the overall stats for the hospital.

Or for example, a hospital might have higher stats/section rates because they are the go-to place for high-risk pregnancies. But for a not complicated delivery, they may have better stats than the other hospitals. But the stats aren't broken down in a way that would show you that.