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Hospital Choice - Need Help!

TaylorKangTaylorKang member
in May 2016 Moms
I'm reposting this from the LA board as I don't  know how often it gets frequented:

Hi Ladies~

I just moved to DTLA a few weeks ago. As it stands, I currently have two choices of health insurance - BCBS or Kaiser Permanente. I am due to have my baby in May and decided to check out Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as it has high reviews for OB. HOWEVER - it is 10 miles away from me. I don't mind driving to the checkups, but I'm scared about delivery. Is 10 miles too far? What if I get stuck in rush hour? Would anybody recommend that I go to a different hospital in DTLA? Also, my current doctor at Cedars only finished her residency a year or two ago. My pregnancy is a healthy one, but should I be worried?

Any thoughts/opinions would be fantastic. I feel stuck :(

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Re: Hospital Choice - Need Help!

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    cortney626cortney626 member
    I'm 20 miles east of LA and 10 miles in LA traffic can be hours! I don't have any rec as my choices of 2 hospitals (both Kaiser) are both in Orange County. As far as Dr, I'd probably prefer a more experienced one but with DD#1 I had to have an emergency c section and the on call dr was very young. I had a great experience and she did a phenomenal job with my c section. So it depends how comfortable you are with her and be sure to talk about all possible scenarios. 
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    AmmyBelleAmmyBelle member
    Hey - I'm in Santa Monica. I find traffic varies a little with highway/surface street routes, so if it's 10 miles highway, it may take forever, and if its 10 miles surface streets, I usually find it stays relatively the same day in and day out. That being said, this is my first baby, so I have no idea how fast labor can go and can't really advise on that. Two of my friends delivered at Cedars last year and both raved about it - both have adorably healthy baby girls now. I get the concern over a new doctor though, my advice for that would be to talk to them and if they seem competent and put you at ease, go for it!

    Unfortunately I don't know the reputations of any other hospitals in DTLA (though I know all about every hospital in West LA!) - so can't recommend :(
    BabyFruit Ticker
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    proudparent2bproudparent2b member
    I'm not super familiar with LA other than it's notorious for horrible traffic, but in my area, it's not uncommon for people to travel 2 1/2 hours to go to the hospital. Admittedly it's primarly because hospitals in my county are the only ones that allow VBACs in the state, not due to traffic conditions. My hospital is 15 miles from where I live FWIW.

    As a note, early labor takes quite a lot of hours- according to my birth class, 12 hours to 3 days can be normal, so theoretically you should have tons of time to get there.  I've even read that some ladies will move directly into a hotel near their hospital during early labor to avoid this issue.

    It's really up to you though- are there any hospitals/ OBs closer to you that you'd be willing to go to? In my case, there are several much closer, but they don't have a NICU, don't have private rooms, or are not attended by my OB, so it's not worth a switch for me.
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    TaylorKangTaylorKang member
    Thank you! 
    It makes me feel better to think about the labor issue as not exactly being like what they show in the movies. My mom told me the same thing actually. When my mom was pregnant with me she said she was kind of like "Should we go to the hospital? Hm...okay, I guess we can go now." It wasn't some mad panic or anything.
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