Hi there My husband and I just got orders to San Diego and will be arriving by the beginning of Feb. Im pretty sure this is the hospital ill be delivering at and Ill only have about 3 weeks to find/meet with/get comfy with a new doc before little Savannah arrives.
Anyone have recs for docs or just general info thats good to know about this hospital? TIA
Re: Has anyone delivered at the Naval Hospital?
I delivered DD #2 at Balboa (Naval Medical Center San Diego) last March and was receiving all OB care there.
The OB clinic is divided into two *color* teams- teal and azure. It is your run-of-the-mill standard military clinic. You are not assigned to an OB/GYN per se, just a team- and the doctor/NP that sees you on the day of your appt may not be the same person (you can request to see the same provider, but scheduling an appt is difficul simply because of the sheer numbers of appointments provided- you really need to make sure you are sure of booking an appointment and not canceling it last minute.....if you need to re-schedule, you will be lucky if you can get in within the same week of the appt!) you see next or who delivers you. I can't really recommend any OB I saw- the first one I had which I liked so much Dr. Gaylord was transferred to 29 Palms by my 3rd appt. and is no longer there. And because it is a teaching hospital, there is a good chance that the other OB's I saw has cycled out and are no longer there either.
You will have to fill out a ton of paperwork to register to give birth there (thru registration). Also, because you are so close to your EDD, I highly recommend you make an appt to take a hospital tour ASAP- they only offer it certain days of the week in the afternoon (and they do not allow children to attend- they don't make any exceptions). It's a PITA,but the hospital is SO huge that you really need to just get a *feel* of where things are because the size of the hospital is so overwhelming- the OB clinic is in a different building than L&D. Parking is very limited during the week- you should qualify for a *stork pass* after 32 weeks (which gives you special parking spots closer to the OB building) but even those stork pass spots fill up really quick. I had a good experience with L&D- the nurses and doctors were outstanding (I really couldn't say the same about the OB experience but that's a different story).
You aren't guaranteed a private room in recovery but I lucked out on getting one. There are two "wings" of recovery to accomodate new moms. I'd highly recommend you pack some good snacks or get your DH familiarized on where close by restaurants are- the hospital food isn't that great, the snack machines are limited, and there is only a McDonalds and Subway on-site (keep in mind it's only open during business hours too)