In honor of Cesarean Awareness Month.  I would like to highlight the importance of choosing your birth location carefully.

In this specific case I am talking about choosing between two hospitals.  There are differences in hospitals and their policies and it can have a big impact on avoiding a cesarean!

I actually have quite a few hospitals that moms can birth at in my area.

But to simplify things, I am going to look at just 2: Hoag and Saddleback.

I would say they service the same type of women.  Middle – Upper Class Orange County Moms.

They are both nice/comparable facilities.  Here are the most obvious differences a mom would notice on the tour.

Hoag might “look prettier” and they get a steak dinner the night after the birth.

Saddleback has Telemetric monitoring, so a mom can walk the halls and get in the tub and still be monitored.

But the biggest differences lie in their cesarean rates from 2008.

Hoag’s cesarean rate is 37% and Saddleback’s cesarean rate is 30%

Interesting enough I just got something in the mail from Hoag about the courses they offer.

What Women Should Know About Elective C-Sections

Saddleback not surprisingly has a

Vaginal Birth After Cesarean Class

Their VBAC rates from 2007 is not surprising.

Hoag’s VBAC rate is 3.7%   Saddleback’s VBAC rate is 15.9%

Needless to say, when a mom asks me where the best place to birth is, I recommend Saddleback.  I share the statistics and the experiences I have had as a doula and from the birth stories I have heard my students share.

Tomorrow I will share the Tale of Two Moms.  1 birthed at Saddleback and 1 birthed at Hoag.

Tags: oran

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 9:32 am and is filed under Birth, Birth Care Provider, Birth Location, Births Attended, Choose Wisely, Doula, Pregnancy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.