Georgia Babies

Percentage of c-section at Northside

Hi all! I'm trying to decide where I should deliver. It's early but I need to find a new obgyn bc I dislike my current one. With finding a new Dr. I'm trying to decide on a hospital: Northside vs. Peidmont.

I'm concerned that Northside is quick to deliver via c-section due to high turnover there? Can anyone negate this? 

LO #1 Due September 2013 BabyFruit Ticker

Re: Percentage of c-section at Northside

  • kegkeg member
    Through the ICAN folks, I saw some 2010 stats that had Northside section rate at 45.5% and the Piedmont rate of 43.5% (they were #1 and #2 in terms of c-sections percentages in the area).  If you would like to avoid a c-section if possible, your best bet is to either go with Dr. Tate (office in Norcross, delivers at Emory Midtown) or Intown Midwifery (deliver at Atlanta Medical Center).  Good luck! 
    2004-Started TTC; Nov 2007-Lap with endo removed; Jan 2008-Ectopic (mtx); April 2008-IVF #1 (bfp, twin girls); March 2011-FET (cp); June 2012-IVF #2 (bfp, singleton, EDD 3-19-12)

    ***Twin fraternal girls born at 35w6d in 12/2008***

  • imagekeg:
    Through the ICAN folks, I saw some 2010 stats that had Northside section rate at 45.5% and the Piedmont rate of 43.5% (they were #1 and #2 in terms of c-sections percentages in the area).  If you would like to avoid a c-section if possible, your best bet is to either go with Dr. Tate (office in Norcross, delivers at Emory Midtown) or Intown Midwifery (deliver at Atlanta Medical Center).  Good luck! 

     

    This is exactly what I've heard.  

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  • I disagree.   I believe it's more driven by your doctor than the facility (and obviously a medical need).  I had 2 vaginal births at Northside and never once felt pressured to have a c-section.  My doctor knew that I wanted to avoid a c-section if at all possible and even though I had a hard labor for my first son, a c-section never came up.
  • i agree with care99.  with my first i was induced (by choice) and had a long labor with no progress.  they mentioned c/s and i asked to wait a little longer.  they let me wait a few more hours and it was decided that the baby was stuck and wasn't coming out vaginally anyway.  so we did c/s.  if i had it to do over i would have done it MUCH earlier in the day and was very pleased with the c/s I had for #2.  

    Just make sure that you are comfortable with who you choose as your dr and that they understand your desires :) 

  • imagecare99:
    I disagree. nbsp; I believe it's more driven by your doctor than the facility and obviously a medical need. nbsp;I had 2 vaginal births at Northside and never once felt pressured to have a csection. nbsp;My doctor knew that I wanted to avoid a csection if at all possible and even though I had a hard labor for my first son, a csection never came up.


    I had the same experience. I was in labor 25 hrs the first time around too. C section was never mentioned.
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  • I spoke with a doula this weekend about this issue and she said that the % is skewed because these hospitals see much more trauma patients than any other hospital in the area- so of course they are going to have a higher % of C-Sections. 

     

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  • imageChanMask:

    I spoke with a doula this weekend about this issue and she said that the % is skewed because these hospitals see much more trauma patients than any other hospital in the area- so of course they are going to have a higher % of C-Sections. 

     

    While this may be true (although their numbers are not that far off from a national average) I do think that it is a combo of providers/hospital. Some of the hospitals that have a lower c-section rate (like North Fulton or AMC or Emory Midtown) have providers who practice there who, as a practice, have a very low c-section rate (Intown Midwifery, Dr Tate). So that makes a difference too. 

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  • imagecare99:
    I disagree.   I believe it's more driven by your doctor than the facility (and obviously a medical need).  I had 2 vaginal births at Northside and never once felt pressured to have a c-section.  My doctor knew that I wanted to avoid a c-section if at all possible and even though I had a hard labor for my first son, a c-section never came up.

     I agree with Carrie too. You need to look at doctors not at the hospital. Northside and Piedmont see a lot of higher risk patients and also see a lot of patients in generally. Most everyone I know delivers at one or the other. Your doctor is the one going to help you make the call not the hospital itself.  I had 3 c/s - one unplanned and two planned. With my unplanned one, no one pushed me to have it. It was a decision that ultimately dh and I ended up making for us and felt it was best for me and ds1.  Good luck!

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  • kegkeg member
    I agree that it's the provider who drives the c-section rate, but I think there may be some grouping of like-minded providers at hospitals.  Sure Northside and Piedmont may have more complicated cases, but I think there is more to it than that.  I had my twins at Piedmont and essentially had a scheduled section.  I didn't know any better at that point, but I believe my OBs had no intention of allowing me to try and deliver vaginally, even though they were positioned in such a way that there are a number of providers in the area who wouldn't bat an eye at delivering them vaginally (A was vertex, B was breech).  I think it's also interesting that I don't hear much about VBAC-supportive providers at Northside and Piedmont, and I'm sure the repeat sections impact their overall percentages. 
    2004-Started TTC; Nov 2007-Lap with endo removed; Jan 2008-Ectopic (mtx); April 2008-IVF #1 (bfp, twin girls); March 2011-FET (cp); June 2012-IVF #2 (bfp, singleton, EDD 3-19-12)

    ***Twin fraternal girls born at 35w6d in 12/2008***

  • This was also a concern for me. I agree with some of the other posters - Northside takes on a lot of high risk patients, so the number is higher, but it's your provider, too.  

    The practices that draw women who are choosing to do unmedicated and/or waterbirths tend to have the lowest c-section rates.  Those would be Intown Midwifery (AMC) and Atlanta Midwifery (2 offices, both deliver at North Fulton). 

    I have heard wonderful things about Dr. Tate as well.

     

     

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  • I delivered both of mine at Northside and had a good experience with both. My first I was induced because I had gestational diabetes and they didn't want to let me go past my due date. I labored for 14 hours but never got past 4 cm. My doctor was absolutely fine with me continuing to labor the whole next day if I wanted to, and as long as both myself and baby were doing well. I decided on a CS, but no one was pushing me that way at all. All the nurses and my OB were supportive of my decisions. It was the right decision for me because my 8 lb baby was just too big for my small frame. He had been stuck the whole time and had a bruise on his head. Poor thing! My second was a planned CS, again my decision. I was told I could try a VBAC if I was interested, but decided against it for lots of reasons.

     Anyway, I also worried about Northside in the beginning since it is the baby factory. I worried they would be trying to move us through to free up the bed, but I didn't experience that with either one. L&D and the Maternity nurses were wonderful and took great care of us. With both they asked us what time we wanted to try and leave by on our last day and got all the discharge paperwork ready for us by the time we had requested. No rushing, just helpful and considerate.

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  • Thank you everyone for your responses! :) Very helpful information. While I'm concerned about the high percentage, I will take into account that it depends on the practice and not the hospital. I have my 8w appt with OBGYN of Atlanta in February. I'll be sure to ask them what their practice percentage is. This is our first LO so I'm taking all of this step by step. 

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  • I think a lot of this ends up being self-selection.  The people searching for the med-free vaginal birth guarantee decide the only way that will happen is if they go to Intown Midwifery (AMC), Dr Tate, or the North Fulton group.  That in general could greatly skew the numbers, as you have removed these potential births from the other hospitals.

    I think you can ask the OB groups for their stats, but be careful.  I think OB's could actually be offended by this.  You are in general questioning the medical decision made by a combination of a dr and their patient.  Each patient, pregnancy, and delivery can be very different. 

    I would hope that the dr would treat each patient as an individual, and not a number.  Explain to them what you are looking for, and see if you are on the same page.  Other patients may have had different goals and mindsets, so past numbers aren't really a true measure of what could happen with your pregnancy.

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  • imageJuelsr:

    I think a lot of this ends up being self-selection.  The people searching for the med-free vaginal birth guarantee decide the only way that will happen is if they go to Intown Midwifery (AMC), Dr Tate, or the North Fulton group.  That in general could greatly skew the numbers, as you have removed these potential births from the other hospitals.

    I think you can ask the OB groups for their stats, but be careful.  I think OB's could actually be offended by this.  You are in general questioning the medical decision made by a combination of a dr and their patient.  Each patient, pregnancy, and delivery can be very different. 

    I would hope that the dr would treat each patient as an individual, and not a number.  Explain to them what you are looking for, and see if you are on the same page.  Other patients may have had different goals and mindsets, so past numbers aren't really a true measure of what could happen with your pregnancy.

    I completely disagree with this and if a doctor was offended by being asked this question I would leave that practice. It is a good indicator of whether or not a doctor is willing to let you try alternative methods of labor or go straight for a c section. I would also ask what their stance is on forceps/vacuum before a c section.  

    And the reason people go to practices like IM or Tate is because those practices have shown time and time again that c section is the last resort by the fact that their rates are lower than other practices.

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  • imagefrlcb:
    imageJuelsr:

    I think a lot of this ends up being self-selection.  The people searching for the med-free vaginal birth guarantee decide the only way that will happen is if they go to Intown Midwifery (AMC), Dr Tate, or the North Fulton group.  That in general could greatly skew the numbers, as you have removed these potential births from the other hospitals.

    I think you can ask the OB groups for their stats, but be careful.  I think OB's could actually be offended by this.  You are in general questioning the medical decision made by a combination of a dr and their patient.  Each patient, pregnancy, and delivery can be very different. 

    I would hope that the dr would treat each patient as an individual, and not a number.  Explain to them what you are looking for, and see if you are on the same page.  Other patients may have had different goals and mindsets, so past numbers aren't really a true measure of what could happen with your pregnancy.

    I completely disagree with this and if a doctor was offended by being asked this question I would leave that practice. It is a good indicator of whether or not a doctor is willing to let you try alternative methods of labor or go straight for a c section. I would also ask what their stance is on forceps/vacuum before a c section.  

    And the reason people go to practices like IM or Tate is because those practices have shown time and time again that c section is the last resort by the fact that their rates are lower than other practices.

    All I am saying is judging anyone, especially a dr, strictly by numbers, is short-sighted.    I would actually ASK my dr what their opinion on c section, how long they would feel comfortable letting you labor, what methods they support (i.e. Bradley, lamaze etc).  For me, conversations are more informative than asking for stats that have a bias in them to begin with.

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