Prenatal Visits at Kaiser

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Parent Q&A

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  • Kaiser San Leandro vs Kaiser Oakland - Prenatal Care

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    Jul 12, 2020

    It’s my first baby and COVID has been pretty tough on our decision making as to whether or not we should go to Kaiser Oakland or Kaiser San Leandro for our prenatal care and delivery. I am currently assigned to getting prenatal care through Oakland. We are told from family members that San Leandro would be better, but Oakland is closer and I’ve always gone there for care. Any stats, suggestions and experiences are encouraged! 

    Jul 12, 2020

    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. 

    Jul 15, 2020

    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.

    Jul 15, 2020

    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

    Jul 15, 2020

    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.

    Jul 15, 2020

    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.

    Jul 15, 2020

    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. 

    Jul 15, 2020

    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!

    Jul 15, 2020

    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. 

    Jul 15, 2020

    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. 

    Jul 15, 2020

    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. 

    Jul 15, 2020

    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. 

    Jul 16, 2020

    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.

    Aug 4, 2020

  • Gestational diabetes care at Kaiser

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    Feb 20, 2019

    Hello,

    I'd love to hear about any recent experiences folks have had with a gestational diabetes diagnosis while being cared for at Kaiser. 

    Kaiser Oakland is very close, but I'm willing to other Kaisers for a great provider. So far, I have been unimpressed by my experiences at Kaiser Oakland and am wondering if this is due to the providers I've encountered, or the general systems in place there. 

    A little context: This is my second pregnancy. I gave birth to my first at Alta Bates (induced, uncomplicated vaginal birth to a 9lb 5oz boy- very similar in size to his father and smaller than my father at birth). I had hoped for a homebirth, but after the dx moved forward with East Bay Perinatal and delivery at Alta Bates. I appreciated that there was a nurse midwife on staff that was able to deliver us and never pushed for a c-section, while every OB we encountered mentioned it at least once in the course of our conversations. I'm all for full disclosure of possible complications and keeping an awareness of what eventualities may come to pass, but am put off by the general GD=big baby=c-section mentality that many providers I encountered seemed to possess. 

    If you've encountered a provider at Kaiser who has been willing to look at the patient as an individual and not just a diagnosis I would be very interested in learning about them. 

    Thank you.

    Feb 20, 2019

    I attempted a home birth for my second, while getting concurrent care at Kaiser Oakland, and felt frustrated and belittled by them as far as sizing my baby in utero. I ended up transferring to Kaiser San Leandro at 37 weeks and having a c section there (breech baby). I found that Dr Hong in San Leandro was very responsive to my concerns and listened to and believed me about what I was saying about my baby's size vs the sizing ultrasound at Kaiser Oakland. My baby ended being 8 lbs, which is not that huge. 

    The only issue is- you can see midwives in the clinic in Oakland, but for delivery they supervise residents to attend to your birth. In San Leandro, you see OBs, and midwives attend to your birth (no residents). That ended up being what we needed since we already had a homebirth midwife. Good luck to you!

    Feb 27, 2019

    Hi, I had a very positive experience at  Mission Bay San Francisco. I loved my OB and the remote GDM care and management they provided. Also educated me about the medical risks for GDM babies and thus the desire for a C-section (not just coz they are big). But ultimately I was given a choice. BTw i’m very small. May be the provider..?

    Feb 27, 2019

    I don’t have personal experience with GD but have a couple of thoughts. I delivered my first baby at Kaiser Oakland in June 2017 and am now 22 weeks pregnant with my second. I’ve had a great experience so far both times. I was sure I wanted an unmedicated labor with my first and the staff completely respected that, although they checked with me to make sure when my labor dragged into 36 hours. I felt like my choices were respected. Also, I have a friend who had GD a couple years ago when she was with Kaiser and she was never pressured into a c-section at all. Granted, her GD was well-managed and her baby was actually on the smaller side but my sense is that Kaiser wants to avoid C-sections whenever possible. Good luck!

    Feb 27, 2019

    I apologize for not having a response to your question about Kaiser. But I really wanted to weigh in on the gest diabetes=big baby issue. This is just not the case and they should not be pushing this on you. I had mild gest diabetes that was managed with diet until the last 4 days of the pregnancy in which I used insulin. My child was always right in the middle of the weight distribution. I did a lot of research about this and found that mild GD is not necessarily related to large babies. It's typically when the woman had uncontrolled diabetes BEFORE her pregnancy and had uncontrolled GD are the babies bigger. Push back on them about this c-section stuff! 

    Feb 27, 2019

    I had gestational diabetes for first and 2nd pregnancy and was seen by Dr. Solh at Kaiser. She was a referral from OB that I really love in Richmond that would be too far from where I live for prenatal care. I also dreamed of having a home birth and using no medication but since I had gestational diabetes, I decided that a hospital birth would be most safe and I was still able to be med free. I've always had Kaiser and in general you are a number, they seem to follow a certain procedure until you really get to know your provider, advocate for yourself and your provider knows you..in my experience this happens through email. Dr. Solh has been responsive to my lengthy email attachments. What I didn't like was with gestational diabetes they use a "regional center" you work with a nurse and they lecture you about diet and take your weekly glucose numbers, this was a joke and not good care so I really advocated to work with her (I can say more about why this was important for me) but it's not something that most people do. 2nd pregnancy I also had gestational diabetes and thought it would be great to be in their new "centering program" work with midwife since I like that approach and think there's always things to learn being in group however if in centering I had to be monitored by regional center not OB which was odd so I declined to continue. There were pros and cons of working with provider mentioned but overall first pregnancy was a dream and second took a lot of advocacy, even during delivery but Kaiser San Leandro is a really nice facility and care I got with OB was good. Biggest con is appointments always started at least 30 min. late and best advice to schedule NST easy so you get dates/times that work best for you (they also always started later than scheduled appointment).

    Feb 27, 2019

    I had a good experience with both Dr. Kaaren Nelson-Munson and Dr. Lindsey Pierce, both in family medicine.  Was never pushed for a c-section or any intervention, and during birth at Kaiser Oakland was given a lot of support and never pushed to do anything (this really depends on your nurse though, because your gyn will not be present at the birth).  They also have nurse midwives at Oakland who oversee the residents and I had a good experience with them.

    Feb 28, 2019

    I just recently went through a GD pregnancy last year at Kaiser Oakland (and unfortunately it seems now that this has translated to type 2 diabetes postpartum) and I had maybe the opposite problem as you. This was my second pregnancy and my first was a c-section with twins. Everyone I talked to at Kaiser, and my OB very much kept insisting that I was a great candidate for a VBAC. They didn't push me toward vbac necessarily, but made it clear that this is what most women choose to go for and very rarely brought up the idea of a repeat c-section.

    The gestational diabetes diagnosis didn't really affect the choice of vbac or c-section at all. The only thing they were strict on was the possibility of an induction which they did push for once I was past 38 weeks and my baby was measuring to be pretty big, but even then I asked them to wait on the induction and they were ok with doing so since my baby and I were pretty healthy on the whole. I did end up having a successful vbac after my water broke on its own. It wasn't a great experience. I kinda wish I had gone for the c-section instead (my first c-section was super easy, both the surgery and the recovery while my vbac recovery was very rough). But my OB at Kaiser never was pushy about c-sections at all and on the whole she has been a great OB. Her name is Dr. Medha Donde. 

    Mar 4, 2019