Today I had a consultation appointment with Dr. Kristin DiGregorio bc I was looking to switch to an OB who delivers out of a hospital closer to my home. She was fantastic and answered all of my questions.
I asked if there's anything I should be concerned about as I have beta thalassemia minor and she said she could refer me to a hematologist (I believe?) to get a baseline and have them monitor the condition as needed. I also have reactive hypoglycemia and she said she could refer me to a nutritionist. It was a big deal with my current OB to get an OK for an MRI to diagnose my hip labral tear, and when I mentioned the MRI result while we were talking to Dr. DiGregorio, she commented right off the bat that it was safe (FYI, my MRI tech had also confirmed that without contrast agent it was completely safe). She discussed physical therapy and further options we could pursue if that didn't improve my condition. I felt like she acknowledged all of my concerns and could completely set me up with anything I may need.
When we asked about episiotomies, she said something along the lines that according to the research there really isn't a need to do that unless it's an emergency and the baby is in distress and needs to be delivered immediately; they don't really do them. I liked that! She also said that it's possible that one of the other doctors in the practice may deliver my baby and that I would get a chance to meet them during future appointments. I asked about midwives, which her practice doesn't really seem to work with. We asked her many more questions about the hospital, fetal monitoring, what to expect at future appts, etc. She explained everything and we didn't feel rushed.
They also have an online system they invite you to sign up for, which allows you to see your lab results, schedule appts, etc. She mentioned that they also have a list of doulas they like to work with if I was interested that. The office was clean, pretty and posh.
It was such a tough decision, but we ultimately are choosing an OB whose office is 20 minutes closer to us and delivers out of a hospital that is equally as close to our home as Lenox Hill, otherwise we would've gone with her. She seems great. read more