No NICU?

MonsterBean3815 · January 2013

I feel like such an idiot but I found out today that the hospital I'm delivering at does not have a NICU. I have tons of friends who have delivered there, some even who were high risk, and have never heard anything bad about the maternity part of the hospital. Would you be concerned? I am not high risk and have had a relatively healthy pregnancy to this point, so I'm not sure if this is a big deal or not!

emriley84 · January 2013

I worked in a NICU for 6 years before I had DS#1. I still chose to deliver at the hospital closer to me because I love my OB who doesn't go to our NICU hospital, and it's 5 minutes from my house. The people who attend the delivery are well equipt to care for whatever happens during your delivery, and will promptly transfer the baby if need be (which doesn't happen often).

This time around, I'm much more nervous because I have GD and on insulin, so there is a bigger chance this baby will need special care. I'm still delivering at the hospital closer to me. I trust my OB, and know he would transfer care to our bigger hospital at any time he was worried about me or baby.

mommysangels · January 2013

Yeah mine doesn't have one either. If this guy needs special care he will be air lifted to kent county (nearest hospital with nicu). It's scary to think about but I had my last 2 kids here with no problems. I love my dr otherwise I would switch. Oh and the other hospital is an hour away so it would be a pain to switch obs and travel all that way.

honeydew01 · January 2013

Mine doesn't have one either and I am a FTM. I am not too concerned, they'll air lift the baby to the closest hospital with NICU if it's necessary.

wittyschaffy · January 2013

Mine doesn't either and I'm not concerned about it. They do have a "special care" nursery on site that can handle most of the common stuff. If anything major was wrong, we're close enough to major NICUs and Children's Hospitals that I'd feel fine with a transfer.

dflylover · January 2013

How close is it to one that does have a NICU? I work in a NICU that receives transfers from as far away as 2 hours by air. Find out what your delivering hospital's policy is when emergencies arrive.

Abeja1226 · January 2013

No. My hospital doesn't have one either, and last time I delivered DD at 35 weeks. They have what they call a "special care" nursery. It's really a level 2, where a true NICU is a level 3. She stayed there for 10 days, they can take babies that aren't terribly sick, but definitely need some interventions.

I guess it depends on how close the nearest NICU is to you, the closest level 3 for me is 25 minutes in either direction of my house, so I feel comfortable delivering at my hospital and if baby boy needs something he can be transfered out fairly quickly.

sucrets4 · January 2013

This was my big decision when we moved here - to go to the closer hospital that has a Level 2 or have appts much further away but that's affiliated with the hospital that has a Level 3 NICU.

I chose the Level 2 one, and I'm glad that I did since I'm over the point of them needing to transfer LO unless something is really bad.

However, I had DD at 33w5d, so I was very worried about possible ptl again. If I were you I wouldn't be too concerned, but understand that your LO will have to be moved if he/she needs help beyond their capacity at birth.

MonsterBean3815 · January 2013

Thank you all for your responses. I am very confident in the hospital I chose but was just surprised when I found out about the NICU situation. The nearest hospital with a NICU is 20 mins away, so I feel good about that! Thanks again!

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