OB Hospitalists

[ERuby80]

Has anyone ever heard of an OBGYN group that uses a OB Hospitalist service. This is basically where from 8pm to 8am Mon-Fri and on the weekends a Hospitalist that you have never met delivers you and no doctor from your OB group is on call. My OB group uses this type of service and it makes me kind of upset that I will spend 9 months going to see this doctor and potentially no one from her well-respected group will deliver me! I really like the doctor and all the other doctors in the group but I am angry that I have a greater chance of being delivered by the hospitalist than anyone from the group!

[tiredbuthappy]

when i found out i was pregnant with my first, i called my ob gyn office to make an appointment. The only appointment they could get me was with the 1 doctor in the practice that i didn't want near me. I expressed this kindly to the receptionist and she told me that I had to see ALL the doctors in the practice and get used to them all since it was most likely that my doctor would NOT be the one to deliver me. i did not like this concept at all and promptly switched doctors. I also had issue with the fact that they couldn't even fit me in to see this awful doctor until i was 12 or 13 weeks.

i am so very greatful that I made this decision. The care i received from my new doctor was superior. I saw him at EVERY visit. And when I had serious complications at the end and ended up needing a c-section at 36 weeks, i was so relieved that I knew exactly who was doing the procedure.

I would be uncomfortable with a hospitalist group. I'm sure most doctors are great, but there are always some out there that aren't. I would not like not knowing who was going to be with me on the most important day of my life. I didn't even like not knowing which doctor from my practice would be with me. Unfortunately, some people do not have a choice. Many gyns are no longer practicing obstretrics or delivering babies due to the absolutely ridiculous cost of carrying insurance for it. I suspect that that is part of the reason why hospitalist groups exist.

[pookie1121]

I have never heard of that...but I live in Germany... and here it is different from in the US.  Here you go to the hospital and get whoever is on call.  You can choose your hospital but you cant choose who will deliver you, you get the staff doctor, nurse and midwife that is on call...and if there is a shift change, the person who is responsible for your birth, might also change.  The only option is to hire a midwife who has ties to that hospital but not on staff who can accompany you and be your midwife for the birth.

That is why I delivered my first baby here in a Birth Center - with a midwife who had taken care of me throughout my pregnancy.

This time I am pregnant with twins....and I unfortunately have to deliver at a hospital and tried to hire a midwife from their list of associated midwifes, but in August when I am due, almost all of them are on vacaiton as that is the main school vacation time in Germany.  The other ones dont want to do twin pregnancies because they have to then arrange for a 2nd midwife to also be at the birth, and that is next to impossible in August and at the hospital I wanted to deliver at.

But my point is that I know EXACTLY how you feel.  It is terrifying that I dont know who I will get at the hospital and who will deliver my baby!  A complete stranger!!!!!

In the US though that isnt the norm, so I would consider changing groups if you arent comfortable with their policies.