Orange County Babies
Mission Hospital Recommendation
Hi Everyone! I wanted to introduce myself, my name is Kendra and I am new to the board. My husband and I are thinking about starting our family in the next year. We're super excited but I'm having trouble picking a doctor. Almost everyone I know in Orange County has or will be delivering at HOAG. I live close to Mission Hospital and always though that Mission would be fine. Does anyone have any thoughts/opinions?
I'm also trying to get a great doctor recommendation for Mission Hospital. I've made an annual exam with Dr. Capabianco next month - does anyone know him or have any other recommendations?
Thanks so much!
Kendra
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Mission Hospital Recommendation
I don't really know much about Mission Hospital, other than an experience my husband's grandfather had there. But again, I don't know what their L&D area is like. I delivered at Hoag and it was absolutely phenomenal. Granted, this was my first and so far, only child, so no other comparisons, but the nurses were great (and that's who you spend your time with in the hospital), I had my own room (which, I can't imagine having to share a room), a nice ocean view and my husband loved the free valet parking...made it a lot easier for him since I stayed through the weekend, and the hospital parking lot gets packed, and he needed to come and go a lot (long story there). For us, though, Hoag is also pretty close and only a short drive down PCH. I also had a c-section, so I was in the hospital from the Thursday afternoon I went into labor until Monday morning. Some people don't like to stay in the hospital longer than 24 hours (for a regular delivery), so a private room wouldn't be a big deal.
Sorry I can't be of more help
Best of luck with all your planning and preparation. Hopefully you'll get that big fat positive in no time!
I prefer Saddleback Memorial for something local. I'm delivering at Hoag even though I live 5 min away from Mission.
Everyone's experience is different so I highly recommend checking out healthgrades dot com which gives you patient opinions and how they compare to other hospitals and what rates the accreditations give them. Look for medication errors, disciplinary actions, physicians/staff education and training and what accreditations they have and how they have complied to those accreditations.
Dr. Capo was my doctor and I loved him. First he came off a little pompous but in the end he took VERY good care of me. We had ultrasound pictures taken at almost every appointment. I loved the ultrasound technican too. I was pregnant with spontaneous twins so my pregnancy was high risk from the start. He was very conservative in my care and I believe helped me to get as far as I did in my pregnancy. I ended up going on hospital bed rest a week before I delieverd and couldn't have been in a better place. The nurses were wonderful and Dr. Capo came and checked on me a few times a day. My babies ended up coming 6 weeks early and spent time in the Mission CHOC NICU. They were wonderful too. We had a wonderful experience at Mission and with Dr. Capo. The one thing I will say about that office is it was ALWAYS packed with people. The doctor usually ran a little behind but it was worth it.
Chol
I'm glad to hear that you liked Dr. Capo and Mission Hospital. Another friend of mine knows someone who went to him, but I haven't had the chance to talk to her yet. I tried to do a little research online but didn't find much, other than that his office times were sometimes long. How long did you find yourself waiting on average?
When did you have your twins? How long were they in the NICU?
Kendra
bridetobe0jb
that's an excellent point you brought up about the NICU. I'm sure it would be extremely valuable if needed, especially if you were no longer in the hospital and had to come visit all the time.
How long did you actually stay at Mission when you gave birth?
Kendra
I didn't find out until we were taking the childbirth classes but Dr. Capo is chief of staff for OB/GYN at Mission. That was another plus for me. We sometimes had to wait 45 minutes. If you can, schedule your appts. in the morning. I usually had to schedule late appts. due to my work schedule and when I was able to go first thing in the morning it was much better. I was due in Sept. but had them at the end of July. One was in the NICU for two weeks the other for three weeks. I was admitted to the hospital the week before they were born and went home 4 days after which is common for a c-section. Oh yeah....my c-sections scar is beautiful! You can hardly see it. He did such an precise, awesome job. Hope that helps!
Well my lil sister went at 36 weeks and they had to fly her son out of the hospital to a different one that had a NICU and she couldn't see him til she could check out. ?That really stuck with me...at least if you're in the same hospital you can go upstairs. ?REALLY important, especially how important breastmilk is for a preemie. ?
I checked in Mon night at 9pm, had her at 5am Tues, checked at 10am Thurs. ?It was a perfect amount of time.