Fairfax or Fair Oaks?

EEEEK

I was wondering if any of you were deciding between Fairfax and Fair Oaks for where you would deliver. I am leaning toward Fair Oaks because it is closer, but I want to make my decision as soon as possible.

 Anyone want to share where you delivered (between these two) and why you chose that hospital?

 Thanks!

luv2lift

My doctor only delivers at Fair Oaks so that's where we had our son.  The nurses were great; they were all so helpful.....especially since we were first time parents. 

kirnat848

With our last I delivered at Fair Oaks which was great. It was smaller and quiter than Fairfax. I've heard that fairfax is really good for high risk

Geb

I have delivered at both:

 

Fairfax: Bigger, noisier (because it's bigger), excellent NICU staff (DS#1 was in the NICU). I had a MUCH larger room. More restaurants/Starbucks nearby. You have to PAY for parking (patients and visitors)

 

Fair Oaks: More boutique like, smaller rooms (but that is OK), nothing immediately near the hospital (restaurants/coffee), free parking, more quiet, in Nov 2007 there was no WiFi 

 

I liked both and had great nurses at both. I needed more attention with my first birth and got that at Fairfax but have heard others say they were treated more brusquely at FairFax.

 

My Ob gave me a choice with my first birth (they started only delivering at Fair Oaks when I was pregnant with #2), but when I went into labor my OB was already at Fairfax with another in labor lady so I went there.  

SL_Sue

We delivered at Fair Oaks . Due to complications, it looked like if the babyv came before 28 weeks, we'ld be at Fairfax -- for us it is further also...hey

Here are reasons we liked Fair Oaks: smaller, free parking -- guests/DH/whoever can come in and go out withOUT having to pay.

There is a cafeteria on site which is pretty good. Other options are a short drive away.

I loved our nurses and staff. My OB was able to deliver out of luck being induced, so we were happy with that (I had some complications that night they induced so I will disregard that stuff).

The lactation class, discharge classes were great. They are definitely pro-breastfeeding but respect your decision. All of the nurses were very helpful along that line.

And despite our baby being in the NICU, the NICU staff, Dr and nurses were wonderful. They were very responsive and proactive.

Overall, we had a very good experience with Fair Oaks

ErinInVA

We delivered at FO. I chose my OB based on them delivering at FO instead of Fairfax. FO is newer and I also like the reasons others have mentioned....free parking, smaller/quieter less deliveries to keep up with. Our DD was in the NICU for the first few hours and the NICU nurses were tremendous. SO sat with DD in NICU while she was there and after I was moved from L, D & R to FCC room, they let me go join SO & DD, so I could be with them. The nurses overall were amazing. We kept DD with us the whole stay it was great. I loved the dining options. You order off a menu, anything you want whenever you want. I don't believe Fairfax offers that. You order your food and it arrives within 45 minutes. They are very BF friendly and always willing to lend an eye if you need help with a latch or something. All FCC rooms have WiFi though we didn't use it since we have wireless cards. We had an awesome experience!?

?My only negative is my FCC room got terrible Verizon cell phone signal.??

luckibrat

I changed OBs so I could deliver at Fair Oaks. Its is much closer to me, but it is a fantastic hospital as well. I've had a lot of friends deliver there and raved about the service. I've heard a lot of the other things pp said about Fairfax. The biggest reason for delivering at Fairfax used to be their NICU. But Fair Oaks just opened one a year or 2 ago that I hear is just as good. The other nice thing about Fair Oaks is that you are almost guaranteed to get a private room, which is very important to me, even if the rooms are smaller.

EEEEK

Thanks for all of the information - I really appreciate it!  I am completely lost with this - most of my friends are young and none of them have had children.  I'm kind of feel like an Amish kid in an electronics store for the first time.  I don't know what anything is and am frantically trying to take in information.

Anyways - appreciate the help!!

als11178302

Hands down fair oaks was GREAT!!!!!!!!! i loved the staff, the classes everything was great very helpful super nice, very caring and very quite. iam in stafford and had to make 3 trips to the hospital late at night due to contractions and even in pain over an hour a way id do it all over again just b/c thats how great the were!

Good Luck!

Whoo

I delivered at both.  Fair Oaks was much better for me.  It is newer, smaller, more personal and the nurses were excellent and very hands on.  I am sure there are great nurses at Fairfax too but mine were not good at all.  I was surprised at how much more information and support I got at Fair Oaks.

zucchinigirl

I chose my OB office based on the fact that they delivered at Fair Oaks (plus I'd heard good things about them, of course).  It's smaller and more intimate than Fairfax (we've since stayed in the Pediatric ICU at Fairfax for a week when DD was a few weeks old and hated the experience) and was closer to home.  The staff was WONDERFUL, the parking was free for all of our visitors (I think it's $5 a day at Fairfax?), the food was decent, the discharge classes were helpful and I have to add again - the staff was GREAT.  To add on to the PP, they have free WiFi at Fair Oaks now, too. 

Plus, they're all private rooms... I'm not sure if Fairfax is.