everything about LA is better. except for being in LA.

ok, just to make it official or if you haven’t been paying attention: we’re having snapper jones in lost angels.

now is not the time to ask, “why are you going so far away?” or “wouldn’t it be easier just to have it in the bay area?” we’re past that already. besides, anyone can have a baby in the same city that they live in. that’s not complicated at all. what’s the challenge in that? where’s the fun?

fine, just to sum up, here are the reasons:

1. doctor coverage: how it works everywhere is that you have a primary ob that you have appointments with and they do your checkups and what not. however, when it comes time to deliver the baby, it’s the doctor who’s on call that day. given that the doctor can be in a 10 person group (common, but sometimes as large as 20!), that means that you only have a 10% chance of getting your doctor to deliver the baby. or looking at it the other way, that means you have a 90% chance of NOT getting your doctor at delivery. our doctor, on the other hand, is part of a two-doctor practice, which instantly shoots up the odds to 50%. as an added bonus, the other doctor delivered our friend’s baby years ago, and she ADORES him.
   
2. hospital care: likewise, when you check into the hospital, the nurses there take care of you all during labor, and it’s not until you’re actually about to deliver does the doctor show up. however, our doctor intentially keeps his practice small such that he can show up and call the shots on site at the hospital when we’re there.
   
3. midwifery: furthermore, our doctor not only is ok with having a midwife in addition to him, but actually recommended one. as oppposed to all the other doctors we spoke to up here who didn’t think they were necessary.
   
4. everything else: like being able to get appointments in a few days if needed. or the times he was coming in on the weekend just to see hmc because she couldn’t get off weekdays. and the extra touches like being able to do the nuchal fold tests, or ultrasounds every checkup (but only charging us for two). need i go on?

now that that’s decided, we move on to the tricky practicalities that presents us with.

when does hmc go down there? when do i? labor takes a while, but you can’t really wait for the water to break and then try and hop a southwest flight. yet i don’t want to come too early lest i waste too much of my paternity leave waiting around in lost angels for nothing.

where do we stay? hmc’s parents are renovating their place (finally!), and hmc says my parents’ house is too far away. thankfully, erin says we might be able to stay at a place across the street from her house, but it’s unfurnished.

and then the big question: how do we get back? sure it’s only a 6 hour drive, but since you technically can’t drive unless the baby is in a car seat and babies feed every two hours for 40 minutes or so, suddenly that 6 hour drive is now a very loooong drive. i suppose we could fly. or take a bus. or a train. but then how do we get home from there? if we don’t drive back, our only 4-seater is now left in lost angels.

see? i told you this was fun!

Posted at August 9, 2007 7:23 PM | TrackBack