Preferred Hospital

I delivered twice and Oakwood and once at St. Mary's (I had to change doctor's because mine stopped doing OB). All three experiences were great! I would recommend either hospital. The staff at both were friendly and helpful. They bent over backwards to help. It was a great experience.

Good Luck

I had a miscarriage AND a live birth at U/M. Had a miscarriage at Providence too.
What I liked about U/M is that they cover all angles and aspects. With the miscarriage, they were tops in showing compassion and caring. I found a Polaroid snapshot of my itsy bitsy baby in Gwen Frostick notepaper. I thought that was so neat. Really. If I had to go through a miscarriage again, that's where I'd do it. It was the most positive experience in a negative situation. As far as live birthing there, they offer mid wives. I'm sure the others do too. But as I was going to U/M anyway and it's just down the pike from my house, it made sense. I did get a little 'scolding' from my midwife for coming in without being dilated. But the circumstances ultimately convinced her otherwise.
I simply do not like Providence. Period. St Joe's doesn't impress me either. U/M is reknown, comes with professionalism.

Loved St. Joe's. Nurses were sooooo friendly for both deliveries. I actually had one that wanted to come see the baby the next day because I had her AFTER her shift ended. I was shocked...all they do is see baby's being delivered and the patients are that special that they WANT to visit? Nice!!

Birthing rooms were VERY big, nice, neat, clean. The rooms you stay in after are quite a bit smaller, but you're not going to get any sleep with them in there every 5 mins checking on you, the baby and your vitals. I have not been there for 3 years, so they may have changed those rooms.

Good luck-it's a great moment!!!!

We delivered both of our children at Providence Park in Novi and had great experiences both times. My OBGYN has priviledges w/Providence so it was an easy choice. The rooms there are LDRP, so you check- in in one room and aren't moved (unless you require a c-section). During our most recent delivery, a lactation consiltant visited daily to check on us and offer advice. The nurses there are on long shifts, so I didn't have a huge turnover in staff. I agree with the previous poster-take a tour of the hospitals you're interested in to get a feel for them. What hospital does your OBGYN or midwife normally deliver in?

Hi B. ~
I'm an OB nurse, so can give you a little different angle on things :)
I work at Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital, so of course that's my recommendation, but it's probably a little far for you.

I am contingent at Oakwood Hospital in Dearobrn. They have high-risk doctors and a NICU, if that is needed. You labor and deliver in one room, baby goes to the nursery at about an hour old, then you go to another room after recovery. Then you can have the baby pretty much whenever you want. The mother/baby rooms are all private, so no sharing a room (as of course the labor rooms!).

I've heard really good things about St. Joes in Ann Arbor & Providence. I know that Providence has an ABC area ... it's for low-risk patients that don't want as much interference. They have a labor tub, midwives, less invasive with fetal monitoring, medications, etc. So if you want a more natural childbirth, that's a great place (I wish they were closer to me, I'd work there in a minute!).

U of M is supposed to be great, especially for high-risk. But I don't really know a whole lot about them.

Garden City is smaller, haven't heard too many great things about them.

St. Mary's is smaller, but I have heard that patients love it. Not sure about a NICU or the rooms.

Hope that helps you some!
good luck!
D.

Hi B.
I delivered at Providence, the one in Southfield, and it was awesome. The staff there were so welcoming and friendly, I would definitely recommend it to anyone.
Also my friend gave birth at Providence, Novi this July and She had the same great experience there and raved about the staff too.
Most hospitals will let you go visit them, and their labor/delivery units. they usually have set nights where they give tours etc. I you contact the hospitals they will be able to set this up for you, it really does give you a feel of the hospital.
Good luck

I delivered at St. Joe's in Ann Arbor and would do it again in a heartbeat. I had a high risk pregnancy and delivered my daughter at 33 weeks. Even though it is a smaller hospital, I never felt that I wasn't getting the best care. I liked that it was smaller and I didn't feel as if I was just another cog in the machine there. My daughter had to spend a month in their NICU. It was so nice to not have pay for parking each day when I went up to spend the day with her. I also didn't have to worry about it being so big that I'd take wrong turn and wide up in the wrong area of the hospital. I have used UofM for other things and they are reputable hospital but I feel like you get more personal attention at St. Joe's.

I had both my kids at St. Mary Mercy hospital in Livonia. Due to some issues I had, both of them were scheduled c-sections.
Loved it there both times. I LOVE how big the rooms are. And from what I understand, you labor in the same room as you stay post partum. I have visited friends who had a baby at St. Joe's in Ypsi, and I thought the rooms were just so small and cramped.

I only had 2 issues, and they were both for my second child. First is that my son was born in the middle of the H1N1 flu scare, and so I was terribly disappointed that I could only have 3 different people visit me over the course of my stay (1 of which was my husband) and not even my daughter could come. BUT with that being said, my understanding is that other hospitals had similar policies in effect, but it still made me mad.
The second issue, is that SOME of the nurses did not give me the same amount of attention as I was used to from my 1st baby. I kind of felt like, oh this is her second baby, she doesn't need as much help from us. But as an overall experience, still it was pretty good.