Hi Everyone-
I just found out today that my husband and I will be relocating to the Cleveland, OH area (West Side) in 2 weeks (February 13th). I will be 30 weeks pregnant with my first child and need to find an OB, Pediatrician, and hospital to deliver my baby ASAP. Any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
OBGYN - Sharon Sutherland, Strongsville Cleveland Clinic Health Center
or David Samanich, in Westlake
Hospital: Fairview Hospital, Has level III NICU
Mostly I would say stay away from Marymount Hospital. Almost any other Hospital is fine Hillcrest is where most of my friends go. I go to Robinson Memorial but it's in Portage county. The reason I like them is that they have midwives AND tubs to labor in.
Congrats on the pregnancy! Your choice in hospital is going to depend on your approach to birth and what options you want available not only for delivery but for post partum care.
Both Lakewood Hospital (Lakewood) and St. John Westshore (Westlake) have Labor, delivery and recovery occur in one room, so no transfering to a new room once the birth has occurred. They also offer water labor and birth, as well as OBs and midwives. They are hospitals, so they are able to handle most emergency situations but in the case that super specialized care is necessary, a transfer to another hospital for the infant is possible (rare, but possible). I am 32 weeks pregnant and see Pat Serio at St. John's (http://www.westshoremidwives.com/). She is an amazing midwife, and delivers all of her own patients which is a major plus.
Fairview Hospital (Cleveland) offers a level 3 NICU, the highest level available. Southwest General Hospital (Middleburg Hts.) has a Rainbow babies' hospital wing. However, neither offer midwives or the option for waterbirth/labor. Also, their labor/delivery rooms are in/on a separate room/floor than recovery.
All of the hospitals I mentioned are on the westside of Cleveland. They also all have websites that offer tours of their birthing centers. No matter what you decide on, it will probably be a good idea to call a few doctors' offices and see if you can conduct over the phone interviews of the doctors you are interested and get some of your most important questions answered before you even make the move. Good Luck with the move, your labor and delivery and new mommyhood. :)
I'm an East sider so can't help much but all my West side friends have delivered at Fairview. Several of my East side friends have delivered downtown at UH so that they were close to Rainbow. Good news about Cleveland is there is great medical care here with Rainbow Babies & Children and the Cleveland Clinic. (My kids are both adopted and were not born in Cleveland, so I can't provide any personal experience with regards to delivery.) Good luck with your move!
There are 2 hospital systems and one independent hospital in Cuyahoga county. University Hospitals (UH)& Cleveland Clinic systems, and Parma the only independent hospital. Southwest and St John Westshore are somewhat independent but have affiliations with UH. Fairview and Lakewood are Cleveland Clinic affiliated. I did RN clinical rotations at all of them when I was in school, and I was appalled by Parma. I personally think UH is the better system for Pediatrics & OB, unless you are concerned about cardiac issues, then I would recommend Cleveland Clinic. Southwest has a level 2 step down unit for newborns that have issues that don't require a level 3, (my son spent some time there and they were AWESOME) but if they require more intense care, they send them to Rainbow (UH) NICU, which is by far better than the Cleveland Clinic. Southwest does NOT have a pediatric wing, kids that need more care get transferred to either to St John Westshore or Rainbow. Fairview is really nice for OB, but if you aren't anticipating problems, you and your visitors will have to pay for parking, and it isn't cheap. Do you know which system your insurance will cover? That makes a huge difference. It also matters where exactly where in Cleveland you will be moving. If you are inside Cleveland proper versus a suburb. We live in North Olmsted, I used Southwest for my OB care, and we now use St. John Westshore for emergencies. My pediatrician has privelages at St. John Westshore and Fairview. I LOVE my pediatrician. Mark Gipson ###-###-####, 26908 Detroit Rd, Westlake OH 44145. As far as OB's go, it might be best to pick a hospital based on the needs others have listed and location, then pick an OB. I loved my OB, and she has offices attached to Southwest and in Strongsville: Johanna ONeill 18181 Pearl Rd B206 Strongsville, Ohio - 44136, ###-###-####. Hope that helps!
My OB's name is Dr. Hahn. He is located in Parma and his office is right next to Parma Hospital which is where he delivers. His info is
Southwest OB/GYN Inc
6681 Ridge Road Suite 206
Parma, OH, 44129
Phone Number:###-###-####
Our pediatrician is also in a building next to Parma Hospital & their info is:
Pediatric Services
###-###-####
6707 Powers Blvd # 203, Parma, OH 44129
Jo Ann Brewer, MD
Michele Carruozzo, MD
Daniel Hostetler, MD
Julia Libecco, MD
John Toth, MD
Jon Trudeau, MD
David Walker, MD
We see Dr. Trudeau but have seen several of the others when the boys were sick and never had any problems.
I hope this helps and good luck with the move and baby.
We are in Shaker HTs, so my MDs are East side but awesome so I thought I'd share anyway. Both of them are located on Green Road. OB: Mitch Reider. Ped MD: Kelly Joyce of Green Road Pediatrics. If you can, I would suggest delivering at University Hospital in Cleveland, great hospital, great care. I guess it may depend on your insurance? Good luck!
hey girl - congrats on your new little one on the way & your move to cleveland! i live on the west side of town as well, but my OB is over on the east side, but i don't mind the drive because i love the practice, and i am high risk (i get hypertensive in the 3rd trimester) - my OB is Mark Chapman, and he is in the same practice as Missy's (Mitch Reider) - Dr. Reider is great too :) I deliver downtown at UH, again, a bit of a drive, but i don't mind because i am so high risk - i know that if i did deliver early, my child will be in one of the best pediatric units in the country. We take our kids to our family dr on the west side, Dr. Walter Wojnar, who is part of the Ohio medical Group - they are located in Berea.
Good luck with the move, and make sure to check out the early childhood pta's in the area - it is a great way to make some friends & have playdates! :) i'm involved with the Westlake Early Childhood PTA (http://wecpta.org) - we have a kiddie kloset coming up in April, which is a great place to get nice clothes for your little one, without spending a lot of money! :)
sending hugs!
~T.
