How far would you travel for the right hospital?

IHeartScience

So...I had a fabulous, dreamy, rainbows-kittens-granola unmediated birth with my son. Love the hospital I was at (Mount Auburn if you are in the Boston area), but we moved to the suburbs when I was 7 months, and getting to my obgyn was a disaster with traffic. There are hospitals close to me, but I don't like their high c section and episiotomy rates, and people I know here had bad experiences at both. So here's the question: how far is too far to drive for all those visits? It's an hour each way with traffic to any doc with admitting privileges there

KingLED

The hospital that's a 5-10 minute drive from me is shit, so I'm delivering at the hospital that's about 35-45 min away.  30-45 min to get to a hospital always seemed normal to me though since this is the only town I've lived in that actually had a hospital.

MollyC20

I'll probably be driving 30 minutes to our hospital

IHeartScience

I'm less worried about the hospital than the 80000 appointments. It's a lot of time off work!

imagine7696030614

I'm in Mass. too. I've heard great things about Mount Auburn. I delivered at Melrose Wakefield with my 3 deliveries and lived about a half hour away. I was induced with all 3 so getting there in time was never an issue anyway. I think that 30-45 mins would be the max for me (unless the local hospitals are REALLY that bad). We've since moved to the Suburbs as well and I'll be going to a local hospital this time around and even though I've heard good things about it, I'm still nervous about switching hospitals.

jesslinnn

When I delivered my first we were only 5 minutes from our hospital. We moved before having my second and the hospital was then about 20-30 minutes away depending on traffic. There are 2 hospitals closer and they are good hospitals too but I had such great experiences at the other one that we'll be making the longer drive again. 

Edit: I just reread your post, are you asking how far is too far for your doctor visits or for your hospital when you're ready to deliver??

imagine7696030614

Just out of curiosity which are the two hospitals you are weary of? (If you're okay disclosing) I'm paranoid that mine may be one of them? Lol

IHeartScience

imagine7696030614 said:

I'm in Mass. too. I've heard great things about Mount Auburn. I delivered at Melrose Wakefield with my 3 deliveries and lived about a half hour away. I was induced with all 3 so getting there in time was never an issue anyway. I think that 30-45 mins would be the max for me (unless the local hospitals are REALLY that bad). We've since moved to the Suburbs as well and I'll be going to a local hospital this time around and even though I've heard good things about it, I'm still nervous about switching hospitals.

Small world! If you are comfortable saying, what did you think of Melrose? They are a little closer to me, but I didn't love their stats ..stats can be misleading, though!

PinkSands15

I am also from MA. My best friend works at that hospital and loves it, my mom had me there and loved it, and all my close family members have delivered there as well. I live North of Boston (just south of NH) so I thought it was a bit too far and was really set on Winchester, which is about 30 minutes from me. Does the hospital have an ob office that is located near you for your visits? Although my hospital is a half an hour away, the obgyn office is the next town over which has been very helpful, especially considering I have had tons of appointments and blood work because of my last loss. But even if not, I wouldn't settle if you loved it there. We have a hospital that is 5-10 minutes away (LGH), but I would rather travel than deliver there (personal preference)!

ETA: Just reread your post and saw that you said there is no office close to you. I also agree that the traffic getting to Mount A is awful! What are your other options?

12bailey18

I was almost in a similar situation. I delivered my first two in Vermont with amazing healthcare and I had a 5 start experience both times. We're military so we've since changed duty stations. Originally I thought our Naval hospital was going to be full and I would have to deliver at our local county hospital here, which I didn't feel comfortable with. I was willing to drive an hour to the larger town's hospital with a much better reputation. So, anything an hour or under I would do. 

Emerald27

How long was your labor with your first? Some 2nd+ babies come pretty quickly, so I might worry about an hour drive to the hospital if you have any suspicion that your labor might not be long.

With having to take time off work too, I would go with a closer hospital. I'd make sure you have a great doula, an OB you trust, and maybe even a 1-page, bulleted birth plan to give to the nurses so that everyone is on the same page. Some mothers even go so far as to get onesies and hats monogrammed with "no bottles or pacifiers" or something along those lines.

manateeliz

It is about 30 minutes to my birth center, could be more in traffic (eastside of Seattle). That is about as far as I will go because I want to stay at home laboring as long as possible and wouldn't want to do more than 30 minutes in the car while in advance labor.

Eastie156

:-S @IHeartScience, I don't know what happened to my original comment, but I wrote that with your 2nd, you may not have as much time as with your first. I live in Boston and can't really imagine driving over 30 mins into the city with potentially awful traffic. In Oct the Red Sox are sometimes still playing or their could be a Bruins Game, which could only add to your travel nightmare. We were lucky that I went into labor early morning on a Monday and missed rush hour traffic. I can't imagine having to sit through heavy traffic to get to the hospital.

IHeartScience

My labor last time was 23 hours, so not too worried about delivering in my car :-). Winchester it's actually really close, but my friend that delivered there had such a bad experience that I'm scared to go. I'm also just having a hard time wrapping my head around anything except mt auburn since it was perfect. I count myself lucky that there are good options, just not the one I want without a lot of driving.

imagine7696030614

I didn't have any problems at all with Melrose/Wakefield. I did have an episiotomy with all three but is that more attributable to the actual Dr rather than the hospital itself? (Same doc. Delivered all three for me...guess he's knife happy?lol...ow) Not sure of all the statistics but I had a good experience there Also, know of a friend who delivered twice at Winchester and was happy with her experience both times. Good luck!

IHeartScience

Really happy to hear these good experiences at Winchester and Melrose Wakefield! Those are actually the 2 that I had sort of eliminated based on a few bad experiences and stats, but maybe I'll take another look :-) for example on stats see here:

Minimal intervention is important to me (personal preference, just my eccentricity :-))

IHeartScience

https://commonhealth.wbur.org/2014/01/massachusetts-hospitals-childbirth-data-2

imagine7696030614

Just out of curiosity what negative things have you heard of Winchester?

PinkSands15

imagine7696030614 said:

Just out of curiosity what negative things have you heard of Winchester?

I am curious too. I had only heard really positive things.

IHeartScience

No breastfeeding support, have to fight for things like skin to skin, delayed clamping, delaying newborn exam until after first feed, high c rate (one year it was listed at 40%), and a little trigger happy on pitocin, iv before you need it, etc. All of this is hearsay and old info as I haven't kept up since 2012, but it scared me then.

IHeartScience

Full disclosure: I would probably be a home birth person if the what ifs weren't too much for me. My favorite thing about mt a was that they basically dropped in with a few encouraging words and then left me alone, so most standard hospitals freak me out.

pugmom11

@pinksands15 - your description of where you live sounds JUST like where I live in Massachusetts, we're on the coast, just south of NH. :-)

I drive about 30 minutes from where I am to Beverly Hospital (which I LOVED with DS). I didn't want to deal with Boston traffic. Beverly has amazing support for breastfeeding, skin-to-skin, all that lovely stuff I wanted out of a birth.

I say, if you loved where you delivered, it was worth it. If you're nervous about taking the time off for appointments, there are some great hospitals in the burbs.

MrsL2B

My OB's office is about 10 minutes away from my house, which is great for all the appointments. Her practice delivers at a hospital that's anywhere from 35-50 minutes away, depending on traffic (it's realistically only a 35 min drive in the dead of night). I was a little put off by this at first, since there's a hospital right next to the doctor's office, but then I found out that the one further away has a much better reputation, so that's good. The hospital is close to my office, so I'm already used to the drive.

A&G2008

We are moving soon and the hospital will be an hour away. I delivered my last two there and am so happy with the treatment that I won't consider any other hospital.

abrooke8

The closest hospital to me is about twenty minutes away but I'd let a bunch of poop flinging monkeys deliver my baby before I stopped there. I'll be driving an hour away but haven't decided which of the two hospitals there I will use yet due to insurance problems.

archi35

45 to an hour for me depending on traffic.  I refuse to push in a dump - going to the good place fingers crossed!

meggiev123

There's really only one game in town for me and it's about a 20 minute drive. Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable going any further than that just because of the speed of my first labor.  My contractions started 1 minute apart right off the bat and I was 8 centimeters dilated when I got to the hospital 45 minutes later. Even with a 20 minute drive we're prepping DH for a backseat birth just in case! 

Dubsgirlie

I would never dare to have a hospital more than 15-20 minutes. I waited 45 minutes to go to the hospital after my water broke last time (my first pregnancy). But time I got to the hospital 15 minutes later I was 6cm and 9cm 20 min after that. It was a whirlwind and they told me that for my next baby id have to get to the hospital ASAP. I totally understand wanting the best hospital but an hour commute could've been a huge disaster!

addyplusone

I live in Lafayette Indiana and we have two major hospitals within 10 minutes of eachother. I will be going to the one I went to with my daughter. My OB is fantastic! Her office is just down the road from the hospital. The hospital is about 20 minutes from my home.

MrMrsandBaby

I was prepared to stick with the OB who delivered DD but I found out she is changing hospitals in August to one about 20 extra minutes away (so 40 rather than 20).  I'm seriously considering if I should change doctors to deliver where I did last time.  I just don't know the right answer yet.

smlapuz

I live in Omaha, Ne and with my second we moved to Pella, Ia ( about 3 hrs away) when I was 6 1/2 months. I drove to omaha for all of my appointments and delivered in omaha. Good thing I happened to be in Omaha when I went into labor That would have been a drive from hell...