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D.C. Area Babies
sandsandmore
member
Best NICU in DC-metro area
sandsandmore
member
Which hospital has the best NICU program in the area? I'm currently 23w with twins and experiencing quite a few complications. I'm expecting to have these babies anytime really, so curious which hospital is best. I've always assumed the Fairfax NICU was best, but this article lists Childrens in DC as #8 in the nation: https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/pediatric-rankings/neonatal-care
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Re: Best NICU in DC-metro area
I know Holy Cross in Silver Spring has a level IIIB NICU which is very good.
I just delivered there last week - since I was a high-risk pregnancy the NICU staff would have been there anyway in the delivery room just but we wound up having some extra complications and they were all over it immediately after she was pulled out. And they were amazing at taking care of their job without freaking DH or I out, which was fantastic. I would highly recommend Holy Cross, but I found this link that has some information on a bunch of area hospitals listed - the only thing is it doesn't list distinction amongst most of the level 3s...
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/60715.page
I don't know which NICU is the best, but hopefully this story will help. My DH (who is 33 now) was born at 24.5 weeks and just over 1 lb. He was in NICU at Children's in Boston for 3 months but is perfectly healthy and has been since he came home. Only lasting effects we can trace back to being a premie (or Super Premie as his mom calls him), is that one optical nerve is larger than the other which throws off the glocoma test and he has some mild winter athsma. He played competitive college tennis, so other then winter time no other issues.
Hope your babies wait a little longer to make their entrance and best of luck!
I think INOVA Fairfax has the most experience with high-risk pregnancies/deliveries in the area and has the best NICU. Children's is fantastic, but you can't deliver there I don't think. It's affiliated with Washington Hospital Center, but I would pick INOVA over WHC any day.
Where does your doctor deliver?
Best of luck to you. I'm sure there is a scary time for you and I wish you all the best for you and the babies.
good lck to you and your babies! a friend had her twins at Fairfax and chose her OB based on that
Thanks Ladies!
We've got a complicated situation really....mono-di twins with severe, selective IUGR. Baby B is measuring 49% smaller, about 3 weeks behind. I've been seeing specialists almost weekly in Baltimore, and just started seeing the docs at Perinatal Associates. I've only seen them once so far -- my next appointment is on Monday. My only concern is that Dr Bronsky suggested we immediately clamp Baby B's cord, that he had no chance at survival.
We decided to give it two weeks and see what happened. Baby B did grow at his same rate (and he's active and healthy), but he's still just super, super tiny. I don't have a close relationship to any doctor really since I left my original OB at 16 weeks, and didn't see Bronsky till 20 weeks (currently 23 weeks). So as long as Baby B is still growing, we're going to keep waiting. We're also assuming I'll be admitted to the hospital sometime fairly soon for more frequent monitoring.
I am so sorry. I really hope the best for your 2 babies. It looks lie Perinatal Associates delivers at INOVA Fairfax. That's a really great place for all of you to be.
I'm so sorry to hear about your situation. In my opinino, INOVA Fairfax is where you want to be. I delivered my twins there in August, and prior to that spent many months on bedrest, including a month of hospital bedrest in Inova Fairfax's High-Risk Pregnancy ward. I saw Dr. Bronsky regularly b/c Peri Assoc. are the peri's associated with the HRP ward and during hospital bedrest, a peri comes to see you everyday as well as your normal OB/GYN. He is very gruff and worst-case scenario, so I'd defiintely get a second opinion. With that being said, he's also very good and has seen tons of multiple pregnancies. Do the other dr's in the practice agree? I loved Dr. Nies and thought she was the most level-headed, so if you can, see if you can get in to see her. Have they suggested home bedrest or hospital bedrest for you? They were huge advocates of it for multiples, saying that twins with moms who went on bedrest averaged one pound heavier than twins who's moms weren't on bedrest. I needed to do bedrest due to a shortening cervix.
If you want any more info or just want to talk, feel free to email me at kafunder @ hotmail. Also, come on over to the multipes board on The Bump. It's a great group of ladies who have a lot of experiences with all different complications with twin and HOM pregnancies.
I am so sorry you're having to go through this. Ditto pp's suggestion to stop by the Multiples board.
The bump ate my first response, but the gist was that we delivered at Holy Cross after having heard good things about their NICU. Our kiddos didn't go to the NICU right away, but our DS had to be admitted when he was 10 days old. We felt he was well-cared-for there.
Also, if you're interested in getting a 2nd opinion from another peri group, we saw Greater Washington Maternal Fetal Medicine (https://www.gwmfm.com/) and were pleased with them.
IUI #3 gave us the best 2nd anniv. gift ever: 2 babies! (born 03/09/10)
Peanut and Little Man are getting so big! 2 years old already!
finally blogging again at This Will Be: An Adventure
Very late to this post, and usually just a lurker on this board, but I wanted to chime in. Sorry you are dealing with complications - I'm sure it is very scary.
I had an emergency c/s at Fairfax at 23 5/7 weeks. Dr. Neis delivered my son, and I can't say enough about her. And the NICU is FANTASTIC!!! My son was less than 1.5 pounds at birth, and was there for 147 days (he weighs almost 12 pounds now!) The nurses are amazing, and I can't recommend it highly enough. They see tons of complicated births, have many, many micropreemies, and a fantastic survival rate (much, much higher than the 30% statstic I was given for my sons age/weight) The NICU is a tough journey, so I hope you keep your babies in for awhile longer and that baby B continues to put on weight. But, I firmly believe I owe Fairfax NICU for my sons life, and you couldn't be in better hands than there. Best of luck to you.
Hi there, sorry for the very delayed response, I was referred to your post by some of the ladies from the Bump preemie board who are also on The Preemie Palace board.
My twins were 11 weeks early because of severe IUGR, especially for Baby B. Cameron was born weighing 2lbs 15oz and Evan was 1lb 7oz. We were told up until 24 weeks that it was touch and go, that for a long time our specialist was surprised that Evan wasn't just a "vanishing twin". And we were very nearly put in the same situation to have to decide losing one baby for the sake of the other. We were very fortunate to have made it as far as we did. The boys are now almost 3 years old and doing really great despite quite a long road. They were born at AAMC in Annapolis which is a wonderful level IIIB NICU. The hospital at Holy Cross is very highly recommended as well as INOVA, but if you live in Baltimore NOVA is far to go. You can't deliver at Children's, they will transfer your baby there if needed.
My advice is that you should be monitored daily, definitely demand very frequent dopplar u/s. I don't mean to be a downer, but because you are asking for recommendations, I'll say that IUGR is a very tricky thing and there's nothing you can feel if the baby goes into distress, which does complicate things more because you have a second baby to worry about too. Every day our peri-MFM would check on their blood flow and every day he would sit there in shock and say how amazing these little babies were that they were still kicking around. I was admitted at 26 weeks, being monitored 24/7 with a dopplar u/s 2x a day. And then one day Evan went into distress and the peri doctor caught it and we had the boys out in less than 45min.
If you have questions about our experience feel free to email me at Taylo2Babies at gmail dot com or check out my blog (see the link in my siggie). I wish you the best of luck and a happy safe delivery. Many, many, many people have severe IUGR babies and they do make it farther than expected. I hope that this is the case for you.