**letitbe3**

eatmorecupcakes

Just saw your post/vent about switching doctors and saw that you are actually moving to where I live!

Not sure if you are set on a place yet, but I go to Scripps and they are A-Mazing.  Although I had a hospital birth, there is a midwife that works at and delivers at one of the locations.  The hospital has the title of being "Baby Friendly" and I actually ended up having an unmedicated, vaginal breech birth - so that tells you something about what kind of place it is! 

I would love to help you as much as I can in answering questions about what doctors are around here.  I have experience with three places in particular ranging from natural  to "give me the epidural as soon as I walk in the door."  Let me know if you want any more info!!  GL!

letitbe3

Hi! Good to know I'll have a January buddy right in town!:) I'd love any info you can give me about Drs/facilities down there...this is a much bigger headache than I anticipated... SO seemed pretty adament about delivering at Tri-Cities Hospital, but that I believe is partial to it being the closest/only one he knows about, and the hospital he was born at.;)

I'm not set on any particular place yet - I'm looking for somewhere that is more "natural/wholistic" focused, but open to things changing as well. I'm a FTM and while my "plan" consists of a non-medicated, "natural" birth, I have never been down this road and might be screaming for an epidural five minutes in, lol. Not sure how much you read in my post, my insurance is Blue Cross CA PPO., and I'm at UC Davis right now (not sure if you know anything about the UC Davis, but there is an awesome birthing center right next to the hospital) I'd also ideally find a facility that will have the same doctors in the hospital as the ones I will be seeing, same pertaining to midwives. Although according to my mother, when the time comes I won't care who delivers the baby...we'll see mom, but thanks

So - feel free to info-overload me, and THANK YOU for your help!!!

eatmorecupcakes

I'll write more later since LO just woke up from a nap, but in my opinion Tri City is sh!t.  My original OB with my LO was the head of the OB dept and when we told him that we were looking into homebirths/natural options his response was, "Well that's just irresponsible.  Would you put your kid in a car without a carseat as well?"

He also warned that he would probably schedule an induction because I was going to have a huge baby.  He said this at about 20 weeks.  LO was 7lbs when he was born.  I clearly ended up switching doctors.  I have TONS to share.  I'll post later tonight.

eatmorecupcakes

I did a lot of research when I was pregnant with DS because we were trying to switch providers and go out of network with and HMO so I'll offer up what I know!

 Tri-Cities seems very outdated to me and as I said in my previous post I was not at all happy with my care.  We did not stick around long enough for a hospital tour, so I have no information as far as that goes.  Having the head doctor at the location we were at kind of gave me a feel for what the other doctors there may have been like.  I never felt comfortable and am SO glad we were able to switch.

As far natural birth goes, there are no birthing centers in the area.  You have two options if this is what you are looking for.  There is a place called South Coast Midwifery in Irvine which is really nice but depending on traffic it is about an hour north.  The option we originally wanted is UCSD Medical Center in San Diego because they have an in house birthing center.  Their maternity unit is on another floor and the birthing center complete with birthing tubs is on its own floor.  The difference between the two is that you can labor and deliver in the water at SC Midwifery but at SDSU you can only labor in the water.  I believe both places accept PPO, but don't quote me on that!  We have Blue Shield HMO and were trying to get our plan changed so we could go to one of the two.

The other natural birth option in the area is to have a home birth.  If this is something that you are considering. Michelle Freund(sp?) at Birth Matters is amazing!!  We interviewed her and I have two friends whose babies she delivered.

The option we ended up going with was Scripps Encinitas.  The downside is that it is about 30 minutes south, so not as close as Tri Cities.  However, I had a 3 hour labor (crazy I know) and we still managed to make it.  They are one of the only places in the area that I know who where you can deliver at a hospital with a midwife - besides UCSD.  I saw both a doctor and a midwife while there and was under the care of both.  You see the same provider throughout the pregnancy and that is actually who delivers your baby provided they are working or on call.  The office is in the same parking lot as the hospital and my midwife actually got in our car with us and drove over to the hospital when I was in labor.  We are staying with the same providers for this pregnancy.

The bonus is that Scripps has a great group of pediatricians as well!!

One other little resource around here is a store called Babies in Bloom in Vista.  They have classes for everything under the sun and a weekly breastfeeding support group as well.  I am in love with that place.

So, was that too much information??

ETA: Scripps is also recognized as a Baby Friendly hospital and you can expect a TON of support from their lactation consultants.