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How to choose an ob-gyn

Here's how to choose a great ob-gyn to care for you during pregnancy and deliver your baby.

doctor wearing medical gloves holding a newborn baby with
Photo credit: iStock.com / Blend_Images

How to find an ob-gyn

If you need to find an ob-gyn, ask one of your healthcare providers to recommend someone, or talk to friends or relatives who have recently had a baby or who work in healthcare in your area. Childbirth educators are also a good source for referrals.

While most babies born in the United States are delivered by ob-gyns, you do have other options, including certified nurse-midwives (CNMs), direct-entry midwives, and family physicians.

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How to choose an ob-gyn

Only you can decide which are the most important considerations for you. You'll probably want to start with a list of caregivers in your network of providers if that's a requirement for your insurance coverage. Then rule out any whose office or hospital is too far away to be convenient.

Here are some other things to consider:

Your health history

Do you have any chronic illnesses (such as high blood pressure, epilepsy, heart disease, or diabetes) or previous complications (such as preterm labor or preeclampsia) that may require special care? If so, ask the doctors you're considering what experience they have in caring for patients like you. You may need to be cared for by a maternal fetal medicine specialist (perinatologist), who specializes in high-risk pregnancies.

If you've previously had a c-section, think about whether you'd like to try to have a vaginal birth this time. In you do, you'll want to make sure that both the provider and the hospital are supportive of vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC).

The doctor's outlook

Ask yourself: What is important to you in a provider?  In your prenatal care?  In your labor, delivery, or cesarean section?  Find out the doctor's attitude about issues that are important to you. Depending on your priorities, the kinds of things you might consider asking about include: ultrasound location and availability; genetic testing availability; routine use of interventions such as IVs, continuous electronic fetal monitoring, and episiotomies; availability of specific pain medications, if desired during labor. Is the doctor supportive of unmedicated vaginal delivery, if that's what you're interested in? Is breastfeeding encouraged?

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You may also want to determine the doctor's feelings about having a doula or other support people besides your partner present during labor and birth.

You can't predict what your individual situation will require, but you can get an idea of the doctor's general approach to care and practice patterns from their responses to these questions.

Lastly, we know that the risk of pregnancy complications and maternal and infant mortality is higher for women of color. If you are a woman of color you may want to ask the doctor how familiar they are with that problem and how you can work together to combat that risk. Is the doctor sensitive and responsive to your concerns? See our article on how to choose a culturally competent healthcare provider.

Compatibility

Pregnancy and childbirth are exciting, but they can also be stressful. So the best healthcare partner is one you feel comfortable with and can communicate with easily. It helps to ask yourself questions like:

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  • How comfortable do you feel with the doctor?
  • Are you more comfortable with a female or male doctor, or does gender not matter?
  • Do you find it easy to ask questions of the doctor?
  • Does the doctor explain things clearly and completely?
  • Does the doctor seem interested in you personally?
  • Does the doctor seem like someone who will respect your wishes?
  • What arrangements does the doctor have for after-hours questions and concerns?

How often will I see my ob-gyn for my prenatal appointments?

At some practices, you'll see your doctor at all or most prenatal visits. This allows you to develop a relationship with the doctor. The downside is that you would have to reschedule if your doctor were called to deliver a baby when you have a prenatal appointment. Some practices however, do not cover deliveries while they are seeing patients in the office.

You may have the option of seeing a nurse practitioner or another ob-gyn when yours is unavailable. It may be a good idea to meet all the ob-gyns in the practice anyway, since one of them may end up delivering your baby.  If you are not able to, however, don't worry - the delivering doctor or midwife will get to know you that day!

Some healthcare systems will have you see a nurse practitioner for every prenatal appointment unless you have a complication or high-risk pregnancy.

A nurse practitioner knows how to perform the routine procedures that happen at each prenatal appointment and can identify problems that require a doctor's attention. Nurse practitioners must complete a four-year degree in a nursing field as well as a master's level Nurse Practitioner degree, which can take another two to four years.

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What are the chances that my ob-gyn will deliver my baby?

Every group is different, and this is a question to ask early on.  Many group practices rotate on-call duty, so the likelihood of your regular ob-gyn being on call the day you go into labor may depend on how many doctors are in the practice.

If it's important to you to have your baby delivered by a doctor you know, you may be happier with a smaller practice. That way you can meet them all during your prenatal visits and communicate your needs and wishes to them.

In a larger practice, it might not be possible - or worth the effort - to book time with all the doctors. But you can ask your provider whether all the doctors in the practice tend to handle things the same way.

While increasingly uncommon, there may still be some individual practitioners who commit to delivering all their patients' babies. This may seem comforting to you, but keep in mind that providers have many patients and lives and families outside of work.  Ask the doctor what the back-up plan is if she or he has more than one patient in labor at the same time or happens to be sick or on vacation when you go into labor.

In any case, once you're admitted into the hospital in labor, you'll probably be cared for by the labor and delivery on-call physician at the hospital (who could be a resident in a teaching hospital) or midwife until you're ready to start pushing and deliver. At that point, your doctor (whichever is on call from the practice you are working with) comes in and delivers the baby. The hospital staff (nurses or unit physicians) are in constant contact with your covering obstetrician during your labor, and if there are any complications with your labor, he or she will come sooner to address them safely.

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If you end up needing an emergency c-section, things will likely happen very fast. The in-hospital doctors will likely start the surgery and call in your covering obstetrician at the same time.  Remember that while this experience feels like a blur to you, the labor and delivery team does this frequently.

How important is the hospital where the ob-gyn attends births?

Ideally, you should be comfortable with the hospital where you give birth as well as with your provider. Most obstetricians have admitting privileges to just one hospital. So when you choose a care provider, you're usually choosing the place where you'll give birth.

Some doctors will agree to attend births at an in-hospital birth center if one is available; others won't. If you already know where you'd prefer to give birth - whether in a hospital, a birth center, or at home - it's a good idea to interview providers who practice in that particular setting.

The maternity services in the hospitals in your community may vary. For example, not all hospitals have an anesthesiologist in-house 24 hours a day, and only some have neonatal intensive care units (something to consider if you have a high-risk pregnancy). And again, if you're hoping for a VBAC, make sure the hospital is on board.

If your family is complete and you want a tubal ligation either after your vaginal delivery or during your planned c-section, make sure that your doctor and hospital perform these procedures.  Some religiously affiliated hospitals refuse to allow your providers to offer these options.

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Look into choosing a hospital for your baby's birth early in your pregnancy. Some women wait until the third trimester to find out about the hospital where they plan to give birth. By that point, they've already developed a relationship with their provider, and making a change can be a hassle.

What should I do if I'm not happy with my ob-gyn?

If you feel you can, try to talk to the provider about your concerns. If your worries aren't addressed, don't hesitate to change doctors to someone who is a better fit for you.

Learn more:

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Sources

BabyCenter's editorial team is committed to providing the most helpful and trustworthy pregnancy and parenting information in the world. When creating and updating content, we rely on credible sources: respected health organizations, professional groups of doctors and other experts, and published studies in peer-reviewed journals. We believe you should always know the source of the information you're seeing. Learn more about our editorial and medical review policies.

Cleveland Clinic. 2020. Obstetric health care providers: Choosing one right for you. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/9698-obstetric-health-care-providers-choosing-one-right-for-youOpens a new window [Accessed August 2021]

Horsager-Boehrer R. 2016. 4 tips for choosing an ob/gyn. UT Southwestern Medical Center. https://utswmed.org/medblog/choosing-obgyn/Opens a new window [Accessed August 2021]

Tufts Medical Center. Undated. How to choose an obstetrician. https://www.tuftsmedicalcenter.org/patient-care-services/departments-and-services/obstetrics-and-gynecology/patient-family-resources/choosing-an-obstetrician-10-qualities-to-look-forOpens a new window [Accessed August 2021]

Karen Miles
Karen Miles is a writer and an expert on pregnancy and parenting who has contributed to BabyCenter for more than 20 years. She's passionate about bringing up-to-date, useful information to parents so they can make good decisions for their families. Her favorite gig of all is being "Mama Karen" to four grown children and "Nana" to nine grandkids.
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