OB close to work or home?

danifo0811

My other pregnancies this wasn't an issue but now we've moved cities. I have an hour commute by train each way. My second daughter was born at 33 weeks (I was also hospitalized for 5 days before that because my water broke) so I'm assuming that I'm having more appointments this time. I also always have heavy bleeding in the 2nd and 3rd month which they seem to follow every 1-2 weeks.

I work right next door to a huge hospital with a large high risk group and a great NICU. It would be really easy to do my appointments as long as I am at work. However, it would be horrible to drive to during the day (best case middle of the night 45 minutes). If I did have to be hospitalized, my kids would only be able to visit on weekends.

We have a decent hospital near us. I would have to take at least half a day of for every appointment as long as I'm working. It is an easy drive no matter the time of day.

I also have the babies quickly. My first they had to rush me out of triage into a delivery room. My second I was wheeled in to L&D from elsewhere in the hospital because I was 5 cm and had that baby 10 minutes later. I don't want to have this baby at home or in the car!

How did you decide?

mommyrunning

Maybe visit hospitals close to home and work then schedule your regular appts near work. Then plan to head to the hospital as soon as you start regular contractions. That is a hard decision.

lisapr123

I chose close to home for the appointments. The hospital is about 45 minutes from home, but I was ok with that. I still had to drive far (90 minutes) for a couple level II ultrasounds, but it was worth it as I liked having the appointments 5 minutes from home.

Any chance you can do flex hours (come in early/leave early) on appointment days so you don't have to burn thru all those half days?

Also, keep in mind the post-partum appointment(s). I certainly would not want to drive 45 minutes for a 5 minute appointment with a week old baby! (I had a one week and a four week follow up appointment, where I left my baby with a sitter for 30 minutes while I went to them. It was the dead of winter and I didn't want to bring her out. If it was a 2+ hour window of time to go 45 minutes away, I would have had to bring her to nurse her.)

dandelyon

I'd pick close to home and schedule appointments for early morning or late afternoon.

Cheeky_and_Geeky

I'd pick close to home and schedule appointments for early morning or late afternoon.

^this!

burns429

I'd pick close to home and schedule appointments for early morning or late afternoon.

This is what I'm doing. Luckily, my doctor's office has a late night (Mondays they have appointments until 7) that I've been using as my appointment dates. And they have two other offices around town so if there's every a non-hospital emergency I can always go to the office closer to my work place.

The hospital I'm birthing at is across the street from my OB's office so it's still across town from where I work. Double luckily, my sister works within a mile of my work place and will be my driver to the other side of town should labor start while I'm working.

DawnieB1977

I'd pick close to home.

I'm in England and we see a midwife in pregnancy at our local doctor's surgery. It's much more handy for appointments though. We're also allowed time off work for antenatal appointments, so if it cuts into work time you just start late or finish early. It doesn't affect your pay. I used to make my midwife appointments for morning then go straight to work.