Living in a big city it seems like we have unlimited choices when it comes to where we would like to deliver our little baby. We know we’d like to do it in a hospital overseen by a doctor. Home births and mid-wives is not something we are considering.
But still we have so many hospitals in metro Atlanta. In fact there are 3 that are all equal distance from the house. It’s even worse because my doctor has privileges at all three. Then if we expand the radius just a little we have the “baby factory” for Atlanta Metro area. It seems like that is the most common choice. It has the best NICU in the state and more babies are delivered there yearly over other hospitals. But the closer ones have good NICUs, all level III.
So we took a tour of two of the closer hospitals. The third was ruled out because it would take longer to get to it even though distance is the same. Hospital A is literally across the street from the OB’s office building. It’s a newer but smaller hospital.
We arrived to be pleasantly surprised that parking was free! We were quickly greeted at the information desk by some nice old ladies that are volunteers. We signed in and asked to sit in the waiting area. The hospital was very quiet. The tour was facilitated by the volunteers. We were joined by 5-6 other couples of varying due dates ranging from Aug to Dec like me. Everything was pretty new. They had 8 delivery rooms, one triage room and 2 dedicated ORs for C-sections. Waiting rooms were spacious and there are no restrictions on visitation hours. That means Brian and mom can be with me at anytime. They talked us through the process of arrival and where we will be taken. They talked about what to bring: cell phones, chargers, laptop, stuff to read, etc. They focused on amenities available to spouses and other support people. That was nice. Apparently no food is allowed once in labor but the options after delivery seem nice. There is a nice menu we can order to have food delivered at whatever time I feel like eating. Reviews say the food is really good. Cafeteria is really close so it will be easy for Brian and mom. Overall we enjoyed our visit. What I didn’t like was it was so quiet and we didn’t see any babies in the nursery.
Hospital B is more familiar to us. We’ve been to their ER twice in 2012 and I had surgery there too. So unlike hospital A, labor and Delivery is in its own dedicated building. As expected there was a fee for parking (fortunately they waived it for all those on the tour that day). Upon arrival you can immediately see more things going on. Mostly visitors. There were also about 5-6 couples touring with us. The facility was a pretty good size. Larger than at hospital A. There are 16 labor and delivery rooms, 3 triage rooms and 3 dedicated ORs for C-sections. The NICU is in the same building so the babies do not have to be transported to the main hospital. The tour was done by one of the nurses that teaches a lot of the child birth classes. She was able to give us more medical specific information. But did not focus any on information about the facility itself, like where to go at arrival and what to expect. There are mostly unrestricted visitation hours. They do ask that non-essential family leave by 9pm. My first thought was….what if I go into labor close to 9pm or deliver shortly there after. I would feel like Brian had to sneak my mom in just to see me and the baby. There was not much said about the spouse and their comfort needs while there. There is no cafeteria in the building so Brian is on his own. And it sounded like I wouldn’t get much choice either. Food would just come at specific times. Fortunately we are very familiar with the area so getting to a restaurant that Brian likes will not be very hard. It was nice to see two newborns in the nursery getting measured and cleaned. Nothing was said about security and nurse to patient ratio.
Hospital A has one nurse for every two patients. There are also no public stairs to and from labor and delivery. The elevators will not go anywhere if a baby with its security bands are on board.
Overall we like both. Pros and cons for both but we are leaning toward Hospital A.