Whether you’re pregnant, trying to become pregnant or just thinking about having a child, it’s important to ask yourself some questions about who will be at the hospital to deliver your baby.
Where To Begin
For women expecting to have a child, choosing an OB/GYN practice usually means delivering your baby at the hospital they’re affiliated with. But maternity programs vary greatly, and before you commit to a doctor or practice, it’s important to do your homework about the hospital’s labor and delivery unit. Here are some important questions to ask.
- Does the hospital have an onsite NICU? If yes, find out who staffs the NICU.
- Breastfeeding — Does the hospital have onsite lactation consultants?
- What are the accommodations for your partner or coach to “room in” with you and your baby?
- Will your baby be delivered by an OB/GYN you know or by a laborist you’ve never met?
This last question is especially important. As recently as a decade ago, visits with every OB/GYN in a practice throughout your pregnancy was the norm. The goal was to assure expectant moms that on their big day, a doctor they knew would deliver their child. Now, most hospitals in our region are employing outside laborists to manage births and obstetrical emergencies. As a result, babies born at other institutions are delivered by strangers. That’s not the case at Grand View Health.
When you choose us as your pregnancy partner, you meet every delivering physician throughout the course of your pregnancy,” says Elizabeth Hamilton, MD, with Grand View Health OB/GYN. “Childbirth is intensely personal. It matters to us that after helping a woman throughout her pregnancy, we are there to welcome their baby to the world.”
Grand View Health historically has delivered about 1,000 babies annually and has been doing so for roughly 100 years. “Experience matters. A few of us have been here long enough to deliver the babies of women we delivered 20 years ago” says Jennifer Landes, DO, with Grand View Health OB/GYN. “It’s important to ask how long your doctor has been delivering babies.”
“I just gave birth to my second child at Grand View Health,” says mother-of-two Jennifer Sparks, DO, who is also an obstetrician at Grand View Health. “My pregnancies were pretty uncomplicated, and I’ve been lucky. But I have delivered babies at 32 or 33 weeks of gestation.”
Nobody wants to think of what might go wrong when you become pregnant, but making sure a hospital has a NICU and is staffed by a highly competent team is an especially important consideration. We are fortunate here that our NICU is staffed 24/7 by doctors from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Convenience also matters. In the past year, Grand View Health OB/GYN associates opened two new locations in Harleysville and Dublin.
“We want to make it as easy as possible to get to an appointment. Whether you’re visiting during the workday or while the kids are at school, we’re working to be where you want to see us.” says Angela Boylan, MD, with Grand View Health OB/GYN. “We get it. We’re parents, too.”
For more information, visit: www.gvh.org/maternity.