Kaiser San Leandro vs Kaiser Oakland - Prenatal Care

I just gave birth at the end of April at Kaiser Oakland. I was considered a high risk pregnancy so I had lots of prenatal appts even after the shelter in place started. I have to say the care I received there was amazing. My background is an RN with part of my work history being a perinatal provider, so I can tend to be a tough critic. My experience with prenatal care, delivery, and postpartum care was excellent. I look forward to having my care there for future pregnancies. Oakland has a NICU which I think a lot of women in general find comforting in case something did happen in delivery. A NICU usually means they are also more prepared for high risk stuff which might be beneficial if covid is something you are worried about. I haven’t had any care at San Leandro Kaiser so I cannot compare to that specific site. 

I had my baby through Oakland at the end of April and a really positive experience. I really appreciated the extra care my OB took with me before the baby came. Schedules were tricky because of less time available but everyone was thoughtful and kind. The hospital was great. Though my husband had to stay in the building while we were there, Tues-Fri, he was able go to the cafeteria when he needed. Staff were masked but friendly and reassuring. Patients were asked to stay in rooms unless going somewhere but I had a really great experience at Kaiser Oakland.

I did all my prenatal care at Kaiser Oakland (through the centering program), and it was great. When it came time to deliver, I had to be induced and I couldn't get an appointment at Oakland and had to go to San Leandro. I was a little disappointed BUT to be honest it was fantastic. San Leandro is brand new, super clean, the staff was fantastic, plenty of FREE parking (Oakland you have to circle up to the top of the parking structure every time, and wait at the end to pay to park). Highly recommend. 

I'd go back to SL in a heartbeat. Good luck with your first baby. Our's is now 1 and is been a wild, fun ride! Enjoy your pregnancy too

I had a very positive experience having my baby (also my first!) at Kaiser Oakland in March, 2018. I can't compare it to San Leandro, but I really have no complaints. The facilities were great and everyone was very respectful and helpful. When we first went in, I wasn't far enough along so I was sent home and then went back several hours later. (This is actually a good practice because you're less likely to need intervention the longer you can labor at home, and they knew I wanted minimal interventions.) I was very grateful that we lived nearby because being in a car during active labor is no fun! So my vote is to go to the one closest to you. You may also feel most comfortable being somewhere that's already familiar. Can you tour both locations and see if that helps with your decision making? You may end up with a gut feeling about one or the other.

Can't speak to the COVID-specific protocols but I delivered both of my babies at Kaiser Oakland (most recently in August of last year) and had a great experience both times -- the nurses are warm, caring, and helpful.

I did all of my prenatal care through Kaiser Oakland and had a good experience with Dr. Dawkins. I delivered at Kaiser San Leandro and had a very bad experience despite the facilities being super new and nice. If I could go back, I would probably deliver at Oakland as well. 

I had my first baby in early June, and I was facing the same decision about where to deliver (I had already been receiving all my prenatal care at KP oakland and was just making a decision about where to do the actual delivery. I was super happy with my prenatal care in Oakland. I can’t speak to the prenatal experience at SL.) I ended up choosing to deliver at SL primarily because it was closer to my house (8min vs 15min without traffic) and parking was easier. I think I would have been very happy at either place though. I have friends who delivered at Oakland the same week, and they also had very good experiences. The covid protocols at both places are very similar. I’ll offer some other things you might consider:

SL has a larger proportion of deliveries done by midwives (50% ish at SL vs 25% at oak). At Oakland, some of your care will be delivered by medical residents, whereas San Leandro doesn’t have a medical residency program (at least not in labor and delivery). Before I gave birth, people told me that having the residents there would mean more people in the room (especially during delivery), but honestly there were so many people in the room at SL, too, and I really couldn’t have cared less in that moment. Other than parking and proximity, those seem to really the main differences between the two (at least from my perspective). Kaiser facilities are pretty similar in most respects; I think your experience will be more impacted by who ends up being your nurse and the other people on your care team (unfortunately, you can’t control those things; but I had a good experience overall, and so did my friends who delivered at Oakland). 
Also, just as a disclaimer, I work at the KP regional offices but am not affiliated with either hospital, so I don’t have a bias between them.  

Best of luck and congratulations!

Don’t have any experience with San Leandro but had two babies with all care at Kaiser Oakland (prenatal, delivery, postpartum) in 2017 and 2019 and had good experiences all around. 

I loved Kaiser Oakland. We lived pretty close and I had a high risk pregnancy so I was in there all the time! I had an emergency c-section and spent about a week in the NICU. Almost everyone was wonderful and my OB was exceptional! 
we moved and are closer to Kaiser Richmond and I’m not impressed at all. 
fyi: even if you went to San Leandro, there are still several types of services that they recommend Oakland for. 

I gave birth at Kaiser Oakland in September and had a great experience, no complaints. Our birth team was extremely competent and professional, even when my daughter was showing signs of stress and needed vacuum assistance. I was listened to at every step, and were responsive when I changed my birth plan to request an epidural. Overall they did a great job. I had less luck with the lactation consultants there, I ended up hiring a private consultant after three appointments at Kaiser that we’re not very helpful. 

Prenatal care for me was fine at Oakland because I had an older doctor that I trusted. When it came to labor & delivery, I wasn't happy with a prenatal experience at Oakland with a resident, and that was the impetus for our entire family transferring care to San Leandro permanently, starting with switching to an OB at San Leandro and delivering there too. Oakland is a teaching hospital, San Leandro is not. I've been pretty happy with San Leandro.

That said, San Leandro has clinics and the hospital all in one connected building, and if you were trying to limit exposure, perhaps Oakland would be better. 

I can't speak for new COVID protocols, but also consider Kaiser Walnut Creek for delivery! My OB is at Oakland, but I had a great experience delivering at Walnut Creek, the nurse midwives were pro's and they really considered how I wanted my birth to go. Originally, my induction was scheduled at Oakland and was repeatedly pushed back because L&D was FULL. It was an incredibly frustrating experience, the resident intern was recommending more intervention than I needed (or was comfortable with) and they finally suggested I deliver in the triage room. Very glad to reschedule for Walnut Creek.