Bellevue Hospital Center
462 First Avenue
New York, New York 10016
General Information: (212) 562-1000
Bellevue is the flagship hospital of New York City’s Health and Hospital’s Corporation, a system of public hospitals located throughout the metro area. Located just two blocks south of NYU’s Tisch Hospital, this 1,232-bed facility has had a long-standing affiliation with the NYU HJD Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.  NYU HJD physicians are responsible for all orthopaedic inpatient care at Bellevue and run weekly clinics in the subspecialties of Hand, Implant, Fracture, Pediatrics, Sports Medicine, and Scoliosis. Nearly 8,000 orthopaedic patients are evaluated on an emergency basis at Bellevue every year, and more than 1,000 orthopaedic procedures are performed there annually. Bellevue’s Trauma program is recognized as the finest in New York and physicians on the NYU HJD Orthopaedic Trauma service are proud to enhance Bellevue’s reputation in this important subspecialty.

Beth Israel Hospital
http://www.wehealny.org/patients/BI_home/Bi_index.html
1st Ave at 16th St
New York, NY
212-420-2000
Beth Israel Medical Center is a 1,368-bed, full-service tertiary teaching hospital that was founded on Manhattan’s Lower East Side before the turn of the 20th century.

Brooklyn Birthing Center
http://www.brooklynbirthingcenter.com/
2183 Ocean Ave (btw. Ave R and Quentin Rd)
Brooklyn, NY 11229
718-376-6655
The only freestanding outpatient birthing center in Brooklyn.

I just wanted to share my experience at the Brooklyn Birthing Center. I started my treatment there when I was 5 months pregnant. I would’ve started immediately after finding out I was pregnant but I thought I might be high risk due to thyroid problems. (Turns out that’s not really high risk and the center took me anyway.) From my first visit, I love it. The midwives are really friendly and the receptionist seems to know everybody by name. The midwives make sure to answer all questions every visit. They are all about being natural there. When I went into labor early in the morning but I wasn’t sure. After a couple hours of steady contractions, I called my sister in law (she’s a birth assistant at the center) and she told me to relax and keep track of the contractions and the timing. When they felt like they were 5 minutes apart, we called the birthing center and left a message. The midwife got back to us within 10 minutes. She told us to see if we could wait a little longer because they want us to be as far along as possible when we get to the birthing center. I finally went in at 7pm (after about 7 hours of laboring at home). When I got there, I was 6.5 cm dilated. My mucus plug came out right there and we got the ball rolling. I took a shower and had an antibiotic iv. I was allowed to just stand up with the iv in my arm because it hurt to lay down. I asked to give birth in the tub and the midwife said we could give it a try. I got in the tub and about 30 minutes later our son was born. It was awesome! I ate immediately after and was allowed to drink throughout the whole time. The best part is that I knew everybody that was in the room. Well, except for the midwife actually. She turned out to be the on-call midwife but I liked her even more than my usual ones (there are 3). My sister-in-law assisted and my hubby was the other person in the room. My dad and hubby’s parents were waiting in the next room and everybody got to see the baby right away. We got our son latched on to nurse almost immediately. My sister in law is a La Leche League Leader and was a tremendous help and offers her services to everyone there. The midwife checked the baby’s weight and height and his overall health and told us to see our pediatrician within 3 days. I went home that very same night. We had a home visit from the regular midwife 2 days later. She performed the PKU test and his hearing test at that point. I have no complaints and would highly recommend the center to anybody looking for the comforts of home but scared to actually do a homebirth. It’s amazing what we can accomplish!
-Jennica

Hospital for Joint Diseases (HJD) – see Bellevue too
301 East 17th Street
New York, New York 10003
(212) 598-6000 (General Information)
Physician Referral: (888) 453-3627
The country’s largest specialty hospital dedicated to the prevention and treatment of musculoskeletal diseases. Each year over 6,000 urgent-care patients are evaluated for orthopaedic injuries and conditions, and over 11,000 operative procedures are performed by our faculty.  The clinical expertise of the physicians at NYU HJD represents all subspecialty areas of orthopaedic surgery, including spine, total joint replacement, sports medicine, arthroscopy, pediatric orthopaedics, shoulder, hand, and foot and ankle. NYU HJD is one of the world’s largest providers of total joint replacements with over 1,200 joint replacement procedures performed annually.

Hospital For Special Surgery
http://www.hss.edu/
535 East 70th St
New York, NY 10021
Tel: (212)606-1000
Hospital for Special Surgery is the nation’s leading specialty hospital for orthopedics and rheumatology. People come to HSS from all over the world seeking the best possible medical care.

Lenox Hill Hospital
http://www.lenoxhillhospital.org/
100 E. 77th Street (at Lexington Ave)
New York, NY 10021
212-434-2000
Lenox Hill Hospital, a 652-bed, acute care hospital located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, has earned a national reputation for outstanding patient care and innovative medical and surgical treatments. The hospital is particularly well known for excellence in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, orthopedics, sports medicine, otolaryngology/head and neck surgery, and maternal/child health. The Hospital is also a recognized leader in public health education and community outreach.

I had a good experience at Lenox Hill Hospital in Nov. 2006. I was admitted to a labor room right away since my water had already broke. I had a labor nurse and a student labor nurse, both were friendly, helpful, and supportive during labor and delivery. I had plenty of time after the birth in the labor room to hold my baby and let it all sink in before being switched to a recovery room. I had a shared room, but didn’t get a roommate until late the night before I left. I don’t have many complaints about the labor/delivery room or the recovery room, both were fine. It would have been ideal to have my own bathroom in recovery room, but it was only two days so I sucked it up. The recovery nurses were ok, not too quick to offer anything but responsive when needed. They were not very helpful with breastfeeding (i.e., didn’t make much of an effort even to help me), which was very stressful to me the first night, when my baby couldn’t latch on and the lactation specialist wasn’t around until 7am the next morning. But I really didn’t need much from them otherwise, so I didn’t let it bother me too much. I was able to keep my baby with me the whole time I was there, except during things like hearing tests, heel prick, etc. The lactation consultant was very helpful, a little grabby, but she made sure I was confident in breastfeeding before I left the hospital. The hospital’s pediatrician was fine (we planned to use a different ped who didn’t have hospital privileges), he went over his observations in person with me before I left the hospital. Generally, I felt that I was a low needs patient, didn’t ask for much, and my experience was good. I would definitely go there again, even though I now live in Brooklyn.
-Katie

Long Island College Hospital
http://www.wehealny.org/patients/lich_description.html
399 Hicks Street (Atlantic Ave at Hicks Street)
718-780-1000
LICH serves as the hub of Continuum’s services in Brooklyn, is a 516-bed, teaching hospital located in the Brooklyn Heights/Cobble Hill section. LICH is the primary clinical teaching affiliate of the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn (SUNY-Downstate Medical Center). The LICH School of Nursing is one of the oldest nursing schools in the country. LICH still has one birthing tub for water births and is in the regular Labor and Delivery room. No more midwifery care as the Birthing Center closed down.

I highly recommend the Labor and Delivery Dept at LICH – though it may be closing. Maternity (for the couple days after birth) was fine for me but not as good as L&D. My labor was 65 hours long. LICH labor and delivery was top rate. Very helpful, attentive experience nurses who knew how to take charge and get me to PUSH and STOP at critical moments. They were like clockwork with my midvives. The only thing I did not like about the Maternity dept was that I got mixed messages about breastfeeding for the first 2 days. I dont even remember the details now but it had soemthing to do with not getting clear guidance that first day when I needed it most and one nurse was kind of shaming. But others were better.
-Cara

Lutheran HealthCare
http://www.lmcmc.com
150 55th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11220 (Bay Ridge, Sunset Park)
718-630-7000
Lutheran Family Health Centers of Lutheran HealthCare provide a high-quality and convenient health care safety net for neighborhoods throughout southwest Brooklyn. Our community health center network is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the country. With more than 90,000 active patients, our network handles more than 600,000 outpatient visits a year

Maimonides Medical Center
http://www.maimonidesmed.org
4802 Tenth Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11219
718 283-6000
As a leading academic medical center, Maimonides trains more than 400 residents and medical students each year and routinely contributes to the progress of medicine through its broad base of clinical and laboratory research. The Medical Center is affiliated with the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and serves as the Brooklyn center for the school. Winner of the 2007 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence, Maimonides is among the nation’s top five percent of hospitals, according to HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent health care ratings company. Due to outstanding performance, Maimonides has received this national quality award in four out of the past five years and is one of only two New York City hospitals to receive this distinction for 2007.

Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat
http://www.nymeeth.org/
210 East 64th St
New York, NY 10065
Tel: (212)605-3700
A subsidiary of Lenox Hill Hospital, MEETH provides thousands of patients a year with the highest quality and most advanced treatments available in its state-of-the-art ambulatory surgery facilities. Other renowned services located at MEETH include the Cochlear Implant Center and the Lenox Hill Hospital Sleep Disorder Center. MEETH also offers numerous outpatient specialty clinics for adults and children.  MEETH has an established reputation as a premier academic institution, providing post-graduate training and instruction to physicians and clinicians. The hospital trains resident physicians in ophthalmology, otolaryngology and plastic surgery.

Mount Sinai
http://www.mountsinai.org/msh/msh-home.jsp
One Gustave Levy Place
1190 5th Ave
New York, NY
212-241-6500
Mount Sinai is a 1,171-bed tertiary-care teaching hospital with a medical staff of nearly 1,800 physicians.
Mount Sinai’s state-of-the-art facilities include the unique Guggenheim Pavilion, the first hospital designed by internationally renowned architect I.M. Pei.The Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai was founded in 1878, the first pediatric department within a hospital in New York City and the second in the nation.
The Kravis Children’s Hospital at Mount Sinai also offers a nationally recognized Child Life Program, which offers a full range of therapeutic play activities to make the hospital experience easier, more familiar, and more comfortable for children and their families. The Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai encompasses every pediatric specialty and offers family-centered care

The labor and delivery was great except I was stuck in triage of labor and delivery for hours but it turned out to be okay since I was progressing well. Once I was in the maternity ward, the nurses were overworked and fatigued. My daughter hadn’t eaten for a day before anyone said anything!
-Kim

New York Eye and Ear Infirmary
http://www.nyee.edu/
310 East 14th Street (at 2nd Ave)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 979-4000
New York Eye and Ear Infirmary (NYEEI) is a 69-bed specialty hospital located on East 14th Street in Manhattan. An Affiliated Teaching Hospital of New York Medical College, NYEEI is widely recognized for excellence in the fields of eye, ear, nose and throat care, with ophthalmology and otolaryngology departments that consistently rank among the best in the country. More than 225,000 outpatient visits and 25,000 surgical procedures per year qualify NYEEI as the largest provider of care in its specialties in America. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary also is a recognized leader in plastic and reconstructive surgery.

New York Methodist Hospital
www.nym.org
506 6th Street (at 7th Ave)
Brooklyn, NY 11215 (Park Slope)
718-780-3000
New York Methodist Hospital, a voluntary, acute-care teaching facility located in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, provides a wide variety of specialized inpatient and outpatient services. Founded in 1881, the Hospital has undergone extensive renovations in recent years. Through its membership in the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System, NYM is affiliated with the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. This affiliation assures New York Methodist’s place as a quality health care provider and a first-rate institution for graduate medical education.PEDIATRIC: NYM provides a full range of pediatric services – general pediatrics, neonatal intensive care, and most of the pediatric subspecialties. The Hospital’s inpatient pediatric unit has private rooms for all patients, allowing parents to stay the night with their children. a separate pediatric emergency room is staffed by pediatricians certified in emergency medicine.

My experience at New York Methodist in winter 2007 was extremely negative! There were many kind and competent individuals who helped me throughout my labor, c-section and recovery; however, the nursing staff was obviously understaffed and over-burdened. I was made to feel needy just asking for basic needs like pain medication, a bit of water, a bed pan so I could vomit! (It was my roomate who selflessly rushed to my side with a dish from the dinner tray so that I wouldn’t do it on my son! Then, a nurse on staff barked at me “You shouldn’t bother your roomate.”) I felt a lot of impatience from the nurses, even though I am one of the politest, kindest, non-confrontational types out there! The atmosphere was awful, too. One morning I woke up to the sounds of construction (loud hammering) outside my door. I could see a filthy cart with rags and tools and paint cans on it. There were multiple administrative screw ups during my stay which always held up the next step. I didn’t realize that so many different doctors and nurses and med students would be checking on me. It was a stranger every time. They were so brief and impersonal, and in my groggy state, I never had a chance to mention a question or concern… Scary, but I think these are all common complaints of hospitals. I hope that my experience at NYM was an exception and not the norm. If you are planning to deliver there for your first baby, I suggest hiring a doula or midwife to advocate for you, so you will not feel so alone and unhelped, even especially after the birth when nurses are too frazzled to help you change your baby’s diaper for the first time (not easy after C-sec). Bring EVERYTHING especially if you may stay 4 days! Your own towels, your own pillow, your own night gowns, flip flops, food, bottled water, everything and anything to make you feel more comfortable. All that said, the time surrounding the birth of my son was the happiest and most wondrous time of my life. We both came home perfectly healthy and I could not have asked for anything more.
-Anonymous

New York Presbyterian-Cornell Weill Hospital
http://www.nyp.org/
525 E. 68th St (at York)
New York, NY 10021
212-746-5454
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is internationally recognized for its outstanding comprehensive services. Its medical, surgical, and emergency care services provide each patient with the highest possible level of care. In addition, as part of the Hospital’s commitment to the total well-being of each patient, it offers a range of specialized services, as well as special healthcare programs for neighboring communities.

I had a great experience birthing at NYP. I got there and was put in a labor room right away. I did want the wireless fetal monitoring system but the rooms with that (only 2!) were occupied. This was my second baby though and I knew I wouldn’t be in labor very long as it was. The nurse was professional, but not warm and fuzzy (my nurses with my first were excellent and totally supportive and enthusiastic). Since this is a teaching hospital, I had to put up with the anestheologist and her 2 students (one who had to prick me 3 times (!) before she got the needle in correctly). My advice: after 1 wrong stick, tell them you refuse to have a student work on you, this is perfectly acceptable to do. With my first, I didn’t have this issue. The aftercare was incredible. Really exceptional. The nurses were young, rested and enthusiastic. A magazine person comes around to offer you newspapers, magazines, etc. They bring your meals to you if you are too tired to get up. They don’t push you to put your baby in the nursery or have your baby in the room- they let you decide. Peggy, the main lactation consultant, is excellent and has been there for many years. She is down to earth and unknowingly funny. She helped me tremendously. I suggest going to her breastfeeding class while in the hospital and then signing up for a consult ahead of time. Tamara, the other LC, is excellent with technique, but she doesn’t have a good bedside manner- not great for first time moms. The staff pediatricians are thorough and all the residents check out the babies in the nursery at 8 am. That is reassuring as they caught three possible problems with our baby early on. When I left they gave me valet help, a Chanel gift bag with creams and goodies and a lot of take home items- blankets, care set, shirts, etc.
-Karen

I was pregnant with twins so the pregnancy was considered “high risk” from the beginning – a midwife or birthing center was never an option. Because of the likelihood of delivering early, I focused my search on finding a doctor at a hospital with a great NICU. Luckily there are a number of great options in NYC and I settled on Cornell. My doctor, Robin Kalish, is part of the high-risk group there. My main complaint with the practice is that it was very busy and I always had long waits at my appointments. Overall though, I had excellent care. I had a number of complications during the pregnancy and spent 8 weeks on bedrest in the hospital. Considering the situation, I couldn’t have asked for better care. The nurses were superb and the doctors were very attentive. The food was terrible, but that was my main complaint. I had a room with an amazing view of the East river. The birth itself went surprisingly smooth considering the ups and downs of the pregnancy. Both of the babies were head-down so my doctor allowed me to deliver vaginally. I was induced and spent most of the day in a regular birthing room. It was quite large and comfortable. The nurse was very nice and helpful. I had to give birth in the OR in case they had to do an emergency c-section. There is nothing romantic about the OR, but I really didn’t care. My babies were healthy. The NICU staff was right there in case of any problems, but luckily we didn’t need them.
-Julie

New York University Hospital for Joint Diseases
301 East 17th Street
New York, New York 10003
(212) 598-6000 (General Information)
Physician Referral: (888) 453-3627
The country’s largest specialty hospital dedicated to the prevention and treatment of musculoskeletal diseases. Each year over 6,000 urgent-care patients are evaluated for orthopaedic injuries and conditions, and over 11,000 operative procedures are performed by our faculty.  The clinical expertise of the physicians at NYU HJD represents all subspecialty areas of orthopaedic surgery, including spine, total joint replacement, sports medicine, arthroscopy, pediatric orthopaedics, shoulder, hand, and foot and ankle. NYU HJD is one of the world’s largest providers of total joint replacements with over 1,200 joint replacement procedures performed annually.

New York University Tisch Hospital
http://www.med.nyu.edu/
550 1st Avenue
New York, NY 10016
(212) 263-6485
Get directions
Tisch Hospital, one of New York’s finest acute-care general hospitals, is the main teaching hospital of NYU Medical Center. The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery provides orthopaedic services at Tisch Hospital which include joint replacement, orthopaedic oncology, spine, sports medicine and general adult and pediatric orthopaedic services. NYU HJD physicians perform 2,500 ambulatory and inpatient orthopaedic procedures per year at this facility.

St. Luke’s Roosevelt Birthing Center
http://www.nywomenshealth.com/index.html
1000 10 Avenue
New York, New York 10019
(212) 523-3348.
St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, University Hospital of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, is a 1,076-bed, full-service community and tertiary care hospital. Pediatric Unit: Parents permitted 24 hours a day; one parent may room in. Check with unit charge nurse for visiting policies for children.

I had my son at St. Luke’s in June 2007 and I had higher expectations. I chose St. Lukes because of the birthing center. I found out a week or so before he was born I needed a scheduled c-section. I found the nurses at St. Luke’s not interested in helping me breastfeed, no pump offerred, they actually encouraged formula because it was easier for them. In terrible pain from the c-section, I had to get up and drag myself to the nursery to see my son and get him for feedings all day and night. He wasn’t brought to me, in fact I only recall once him being wheeled into me, and nurses generally didn’t respond to the call buttons. The one night when he was brought to me, I think it was the first night, someone wheeled him in but I couldn’t get out of bed to reach him due to the morphine drip. My roommate ended up getting out of bed to hand him to me because he was screaming and I kept ringing the bell and no nurse would come. It must have been about 20 min. I had another nurse to tell me to pump because I needed to see how many ounces he was getting. They desperately need re-education about breastfeeding there. I can understand why so many women give up early because there is misinformation and no support. I don’t think I was offerred a lactation consulatant and just got discouragement the entire way. When a private room finally became available, we had different nurses who attended to us who were more caring and did a better job. It was a huge difference, but I think I was in the regular room 2 or 3 nights and the private one two nights. We had to pay out of pocket, but it was worth it. Of course most folks can’t afford to do that. In the shared room our garbage wasn’t changed for two days. My roommates bloody things were piled in the overfilling garbage that we had to share in the bathroom. I asked for the garbage to be changed twice and it never was…in two days. Nor was the laundry picked up, her bloody gowns were pilled into the shower. It was extremely gross. I did the surveys that St. Luke’s sent telling them these things. I never heard anything back from them. I will likely look for another hospital for if and when the time for another baby comes.
-Suzanne

I had a truly yin-yang experience there in Fall 2007. I loved the nurses and staff on the “birthing” floor. They were supportive, fairly responsive given the busy-ness of the ward on the night I delivered. I hated them on the “recovery” floor. I got absolutely no support on breast feeding, was made to feel bad about my inability to latch properly with my son, and was kept up most of the night by nurses complaining loudly about their wages. One nurse went so far as to accuse me of starving my son by resisting giving him formula. When it comes time to have #2, I’m avoiding that hospital.
-Caroline

I chose my doctor, Samanta Feder, and hospital, St. Luke’s Roosevelt, with the hopes of giving birth in their birthing center, which I know has an excellent reputation. Because my daughter was two weeks late, it was strongly recommended that I induce labor, which meant that I’d have to be given cervadil and pitocin- basically, no natural labor, no birthing center. I wanted to do what was best for my baby, so I was fine with this- although, I would say that starting the cervadil and pitocin began an excruciatingly long, difficult, painful next 2 days that I could have never anticipated.
I didn’t have a great experience with my nurses, or really, with anyone at that hospital. I felt like everyone was in a rush and like no one was explaining anything to me. My contractions were made worse and worse by the pitocin and I kept sending my husband out to find a nurse who could come and talk to me to make me feel a little bit better about what was going on with my body. When they would finally come in, I felt like I was bugging them, or like I was just supposed to know that this was going to happen. When I told the nurse that I was in excruciating pain and that I thought that I needed the epidural and she said it was too early- that I should have morphine instead. Morphine?! I was totally shocked- this is coming from a pregnant woman who could hardly digest coffee. I was confused, in pain and didn’t really feel like I had much choice. So I took the morphine. After feeling really hot, itchy, unbelievably uncomfortable, I started to get numb… then, literally, 5 minutes later, the contractions started up again in full swing, more painful and intense than before! The nurse rushed in and said it was time for an epidural. I still couldn’t understand why they had given me morphine, and I was dreading what I thought was going to be an inevitable c-section, even though my original “plan” was to have as little intervention as possible. The very young anesthesiologist came in to administor my epidural. I thought this was going to make things at least more tolerable. But,
after about 15 minutes, I could feel everything again. The nurse said that something must have gone wrong but that there were so many c-sections and things far more important that the anesthesiologist couldn’t come back for a long while. After several hours and many useless “epidural top-offs” an anesthesiologist finally arrived- to inform me that the catheter had been inserted much too high and that is why it wasn’t working. After many hours of hard labor, I finally was able to have a vaginal birth (although I wasn’t satisfied with the hospital, I thought my doctor did an excellent job- though I wouldn’t see her again either due to hour + wait times and slightly rushed visits). A lactation consultant was there after my daughter was born, and she was good- but, this was before I actually had real questions. The first night with my daughter at the hospital I was having a hard time nursing and I thought that the consultant they sent when I called was very rushed, quick, and basically not helpful at all. I also learned from my
husband that the nurses had given my daughter formula without ever having asked me! This really upset me. The experience overall was almost the opposite of what I had originally hoped for. The euphoria of meeting my daughter for the first time helped to erase some of these memories, but I realized something upon switching OBGYN’s.(For the purpose of delivering in a
new hospital for my next child). The doctor asked how my prior birth experience was and I told him- then I said, but I understand everyone wants this to be their most wonderful, special day, yet for the hospitals no one is that special, it is their job, so this is why is seems so clinical. He corrected me and said that that was ridiculous, that I should be treated like the most important person on that day, and have things just the way I want them. He promised me a much better
experience on my second go. I sure hope so
-Rhonda

I gave birth at the birthing center at Roosevelt Hospital and had a really great experience. It was calm and quiet, the nurses were amazing and I felt like I got a combination of a natural birth while also the reassurance of being in a hospital just in case anything was needed. The birthing rooms look a bit like a room at a Holiday Inn with all medical equipment hidden in corners. I spent most of the time laboring in the tub (though you can’t give birth in the tub) with just my husband in the room while our midwife and the attending nurse would pop in every once in a while to check on us. After I gave birth, we stayed another 12 hours or so and then went home which surprised the older generation but I was glad to get home!
-Nina

I gave birth to both kids at St. Lukes’ Roosevelt and was happy with both experiences. I had an emergency C-section & a VBAC. After care was very good and I the nursing staff was excellent. Nonetheless I think having a baby at home is the best way to go……
-CH

St. Vincents Hospital
http://www.svcmc.org/body.cfm?id=32
170 W. 12th Street at 7th Ave
New York, NY 10011
212-604-7000
As the academic medical center of New York Medical College in New York City, we provide training for tomorrow’s health care professionals. While medical technology has changed dramatically over our 150 years of serving the medical needs of the community, our original mission of caring for all those in need has never wavered. This philosophy has contributed to our evolution as a tertiary-level health care, academic and research center and as a community resource offering a diverse mix of programs and services. Located on the border of Greenwich Village and Chelsea, and with outpatient facilities in Chinatown and on the Lower East Side, we are committed to delivering culturally sensitive care to patients, their families and significant others.  We also serve our community through a variety of educational, outreach and support initiatives, many of which are listed on this site, and we provide these services with a level of caring and compassion that sets us apart in the New York health care marketplace.

I struggled with this decision for 7 of my 9 months of pregnancy! There is a lot of information now stating how difficult/dangerous/unpleasant hospital births can be (and some rightly so). We ended up chosing a home birth with JJB Midwives (Karen Jefferson & Martine Jean-Baptiste). The irony of it all is that my water broke 4-1/2 weeks early which meant I could not birth at home. But one of the reasons we felt strongly about JJB is that they have admitting priviliges at St. Vincent’s. My experience at St. Vincent’s was mixed. 60 hours from water breaking until my son was born…several kinds of inductions, an epidural I was not planning on, 4 hours of pushing, a retained placenta that required manual removal in the O/R, serious blood loss … almost 5 days in the hospital!! My midwife was with me for almost the entire time – she slept 2 nites in the hospital. She was amazing and made me feel safe and comfortable with every step we took. The staff at St. Vincent’s was half great and half horrible. Some of the nurses were so helpful and really good at their jobs….others were plain mean and scolding to some of the new moms, really??!!
-JJ

The first thing I always tell people about St. Vincent’s is it’s very important to know that you can order in and you don’t have to eat the hospital food. Being in the West Village this is very important to know. I didn’t. I ate bad mac n cheese and pudding while awaiting the bowl movement necessary for me to be discharged! As for St. Vincent’s, like many hospitals it was wonderful in some ways, not so in others. Things didn’t go as I had planned/hoped – no one plans to have an emergency c-section – so my experience did throw me a curve ball, but the reality is for many women, intervention is often needed.
Arrival – wonderful nurse checked me in, nice attending doctor checked me out to make sure I really was in labor, and very pleasant birthing room. Labor – the nurse and my OB were very present during my labor. I never felt ignored or abandoned. Epidural – St. Vincent’s is a teaching hospital so I did have to have a resident try 3 times (!) to get my epidural in, until thankfully the attending stepped in and did it straight away. Curve ball – when my son started to go into serious distress the situation was handled very calmly. I was quickly prepped and taken into the operating theatre. I was inconsolable but thankfully the anesthesiologists were a great distraction and were very engaging with me which helped ease my fears. Recovery – not a fun place to be in the best of situations, especially when you have to see the first images of your child via the window of your husbands digital camera. Our son spent 8 hours (which felt like an eternity) in the NICU. But during that time my care was good, although maybe a little clinical. Nurses – I adored all but one of my nurses. I was lucky to have a private room and lucky to have a lot of attention from the nurses which I was so grateful for having never had surgery before. They were gentle, reassuring and a wonderful calming presence. I was desperate to see our son, and they really helped me get ready to go to the NICU. When our son was finally able to be with me, they were also wonderful with him. Pediatric care – overall I was a little disappointed with the doctor pediatric care. The visiting doctor was clinical, seemed to be phoning it in, and didn’t really seem to show any real nurturing instinct which I had hoped for considering our son’s time in the NICU, that he was 3 weeks early and was also born with an unusual and unexpected physical uniqueness. I also didn’t like the hospital doctor (I think he was still in training) who said, without any sensitivity, that the reason our son was in fetal distress and had such a low apgar score was that I had taken anti-depressants during my pregnancy. Great way to counsel a traumatized mother, with a history of depression when she’s feeling very vulnerable. He also told us that our son’s low birth weight would probably mean he’d always be ’small’. Lactation help – I didn’t really like the lactation expert they had. I had a lot of trouble nursing and almost found that she knew that in a day I wouldn’t be her problem anymore. Other nurses tried really hard (some almost too hard) to help me with nursing. Unfortunately I left the hospital unsuccessful, but that is another story/thesis! Teaching hospital – as I mentioned before giving birth in a teaching hospital has its ups and downs. During the day when I was asked, in front of several doctors to talk about my experience I found it wonderfully cathartic. At 5am in the morning when one trainee doctor came in, turned on the florescent lights, and asked me how I was feeling I was too shocked to ask him to come back later. I put that down to personal maturity and sensitivity rather than hospital policy though. My advice to expectant parents is not to make their birthing decision based on the hospital but the doctor/midwife care you get while pregnant and after the birth. The reality is that most of us will spend 1 – 4 days in the hospital, and although it can seem like an eternity, the comfort, reassurance, trust and rapport you have with your doctor/midwife is more important than a hospital which will always have good days and bad days, good staff and not so good staff, and in some cases good take home bags – chanel – and bad – similac!
-Daphne

I would just like to say that my experience at St Vincent’s was wonderful. The doctors were fantastic and everything was extremely calm despite complications with my daughter’s birth which led to an emergency c-section. The nurses were all great – both those during labour and those after, I had trouble breast feeding but they were really patient and spent loads of time helping me to get my baby to latch on. I can’t recommend them more, it was a busy weekend yet no one made me feel as though I was wasting their time in any way. I do agree that the food was awful but it is a hospital so hardly surprising.
-Emily

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Tisch Hospital, one of New York’s finest acute-care general hospitals, is the main teaching hospital of NYU Medical Center. The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery provides orthopaedic services at Tisch Hospital which include joint replacement, orthopaedic oncology, spine, sports medicine and general adult and pediatric orthopaedic services. NYU HJD physicians perform 2,500 ambulatory and inpatient orthopaedic procedures per year at this facility.