Having a baby - which hospital?

I had a terrible experience at LICH in BH and I've talked to many other women who did too so I would not recommend going there.

My granddaughter was born in New York City.

I am certain there was a reason they did not have Violet in Brooklyn.

Private room, mom & dad in room, couldn't have worked better....

Whatever you do, don't make the mistake I did: Choosing a hospital because of convenience. I didn't realize this, but even after you start labor, you're likely to have plenty of time to get to any hospital you choose, especially if this is your first baby. I should have chosen the very best doctor and the very best hospital, and just resigned myself to making lots of trips for 9 months. It's the least of the inconveniences you'll face. I wish I had known this. It would have made everything so much easier for me.

I highly recommend the ob/gyn's at Methodist Hospital, Dr Albert Ayoub in particular.Excellent doctor with excellent bedside manner. He is caring,compassionate and has a great sense of humor.

Methodist Hosp.

Had a very good experience at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Why fool around? It's terrific.

"...baby catchers." .....???????????

:evil: :shock: :evil:

Violet was born at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital.
I am sure that a lot of planning went into this decision.

Gretel, don't pick for convenience--Pick for where you'll be comfortable.

If you anticipate a high risk preganancy, go to Manhattan. Cornell, NYU, Columbia are not that far away.


I had my daugther 20 years ago at LICH and it was a good experience
but I was less happy with the overall hospital when I went back for my second a few years later.

I understand that since the merger a few years ago with Continuim , there has been little to
none maintenace or improvements done to the hospital. Some big doctor groups have left for other hospitals.

I had negative experiences with Methodist ER in the past, but I had recent diagnostic tests in their
Womens Health Center and was favorably impressed with the obvious work that has been done on
upgrading customer care and service in the hospital.

I had my baby at NY Methodist 3.5 weeks ago. I personally had no complaints with my overall care, whether from the nurses, other staff or doctors (I used a midwife practice, but ended up needing a c-section due to fetal distress.) The whole labor & delivery and mother/baby areas are renovated or having renovations finishing up, and my whole experience was fairly positive as a whole. Unfortunately, I'm not any help with high-risk doctor recs, as I was low-risk until the day my daughter was born. Good luck!

Some things to consider when choosing (other than an OB/Midwife you like) is whether they let you room-in with the baby. If you want to breastfeed, that's a real boon. Also, check on policies about letting your partner stay, and whether they have a shower/bath and other "equipment" like birthing balls available. Also, the c-section rate is something to consider, as is the intervention rate. While your OB may be consulted, there are plenty of things that can happen "spur of the moment" (what do you mean you just broke my water?) without your OB's consent.

Honestly, if I had to do it over again, I would have gone to the Brooklyn Birthing Center. Check it out if you are anticipating an uncomplicated birth.

There's a great pamphlet (even though it's from 2003) put out about all the NYC hospitals. Do a search for New York City Hospital Maternity Information and Betsy Gotbaum. The PDF should come up.

....or the Birthing Center at St. Luke's--Roosevelt Hospital Center.

Do you need to have an Ob/Gyn that has privileges at the hospital?

The earlier you get a high-risk specialist, the better the outcome...
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CYD/is_/ai_n6078830

St.Lukes Birthing Center won't take you if you are high risk. You can use there regular delivery floor though!

I chose St.Lukes (in the 50's, not 114th)for both my children. The nurses were great. I had C-sections with both children. Even though there is a 2.5 year gap between the first and second child the same nurses were working there with my second child! A few of the nurses we met the first time around remembered us from our first visit with our daughter. The nurses were pretty happy go lucky, very warm and caring.

One thing that really impressed me was that the nurses were able to asses what each patient seemed to need. W/our first there was a lot of hand holding...here's how to bath a baby...diaper...things like that, because of the c-section they had my husband doing the work for the first 12 hours. With the second child the nurses would check up on us, ask about pain medication needs and then be on there merry way. They were able to asses that we really didn't need that much attention and were happy to just let us be and devote more time to patients that really needed it. IF we had needed more attention, I am 110% sure that we would have received it within a reasonable amount of time and with a smile!

Needless to say, we were very happy with the quality of the care we received. Both times we were there we were able to score a private room, they never seem to be very busy. Anyway, I wouldn't go anywhere else. I have heard the the NICU is top notch!