One of the major choices that you have to make in terms of pregnancy and delivery is the selection of hospital, the place where you will meet your baby for the first time. There are physical and virtual hospital tours that guide you through the labour ward, maternity wards, facilities available etc. Here are a few pointers you can consider while you are confused about choosing the maternity hospital from a varied list of options.
1. Facilities - You can check how comfortable and updated are the delivery/labor suites and the maternity wards where you have to stay for 2-3 days depending on vaginal birth/ C-sec. The delivery suite should be well equipped to handle any situation in the course of labor.
2. OBGYN's affiliation - If you are specific on your obstetrician/gynaecologist, then you have to find out which hospital he/she is affiliated to because not all doctors can perform their duties in all hospitals.
3. Proximity to your residence - As far as pregnancy and delivery are concerned, you can expect the unexpected anytime. For most mothers, the onset of labor might be sooner than edd (estimated delivery date) while for some who have opted for elective C-sec or induced delivery, labor might kick off before the scheduled date/time. And scenarios like spotting/bleeding/water break etc cannot be omitted. So in such cases, you may have to rush to the hospital immediately and by road only via can or your own car. So keep in mind the road traffic and distance between your house and hospital.
4. Pain reduction methods - There are several pain reduction methods available like laughing gas, natural ones like playing music etc along with most common epidural. You may have to find out what are the options available in different hospitals because this is something you can decide at the time of labor too as you never know the intensity of labor until you experience it. But it is good to have varied options.
5. Responsiveness - This is not only based on how your queries get addressed but in case of an emergency when you rush to a hospital how fast and responsive they are in handling the mother and immediately giving the right care and attention to her. For instance, you cannot keep a mother whose water broke, waiting in the reception for hours together.
6. Insurance and payment - For those who have purchased maternity insurance or covered by your employer, you have to find out whether the hospital is in network
7. Number of experienced midwives - this can be very important because in some emergency circumstance, when your obgyn is rushing to attend to you, it is the midwives who will be taking care of you and helping you
8. Confinement food options available - If you got specific conditions about food and you are dependent on hospital food, then it is better you check in advance whether the hospital caters to your needs, for instance vegetarian food option, Indian food etc
9. Maternity only/Multi speciality hospital - this is one point that my gynae suggested to me, as there are multiple unforeseen scenarios that can occur during labour it is always better to choose a maternity cum multi speciality hospital so that the other specialists/surgeons will be at your need immediately as compared to the maternity only hospital where the specialist has to come from some other clinic or hospital
10. Birthing options available - Some choose water birth method etc which are available only in few hospitals.
11. Pricing and packages - Last but not the least you have to compare the pricing and packages available to decide which one suits your needs and financial position
12. Ambience - You can check whether any construction is going on at the site or adjacent which might cause hindrance during the labour or your post delivery stay.