How do you choose your hospital?
Wednesday June 24, 2009
After reading Danielle's comments awhile ago on Celebrity Baby Blog about why so many celebrities choose Cedars-Sinai, I started wondering what other women think about when choosing a hospital. So they have large birthing suites at Cedars and really cool meals, but what about the things that probably should matter most about your place of birth, like a good safety record? (This is also the same hospital that saw Dennis Quaid's twins overdosed in 2007.) Do they have birth balls? Water tubs to labor and birth in? How about a plain old squat bar? Or even telemetry monitoring instead of electronic fetal monitoring?
Hospitals spend a lot of money in the maternity ward. They buy really pretty bedding, that I hazard a guess that you're unlikely to see except during a tour, nice floors and amenities that you may or may not use (Like a refrigerator?). They do this because they know that if you are happy with your birth experience, you'll be back for the other things that require hospitals in your life from the tonsils to broken bones and more.
So what's important to you in choosing a place to have your baby?
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Comments
I had no choices since insurance would not cover us for birth anywhere but at the base naval hospital. My first experience was not very positive due to my choices. When I had my second at the same facility I had an amazing MW that insisted on having well educated and involved patients…she lite the pathway to me becoming a doula for other women (esp military spouses) so they too could get the most of their experience even with limited options.