As we are from out of town and have only been here for six years (wow, how time flies). It has never been a priority for us to find a family doctors as we have always just gone to the clinic for any ailments or check-ups and they have always been able to refer us if need be.
Well with the baby on the way, we don't have a family doctor to lean on for a recommendation to a OB/GYN. What actually happened was the wife got a few recommendations from friends, colleagues or random people that found out she was pregnant. We took those recommendations and did a search fro reviews online. We found one that we liked the looks of and when we went to the clinic to confirm we were pregnant after the initial blood work, we got the referral to Dr. Dante Pascali. We were told to wait a week and if we hadn't heard anything to call them to see the status. After two weeks passed, and about 6 calls that were not answered (busy i guess?) we finally got through to a rude receptionist who basically told us that they would get to us eventually and that it could take months.
As I'm sure you can imagine, the wife didn't take to lightly to that as all the books say that "the first trimester is critical to your baby's development" and that "it is essential to get care in that first trimester". After having read about 17 books already, she was starting to get angry/worried that she hadn't seen anyone yet.
After discussions between each other and a few people, we chose to go with SoundCare Medical Centre (http://www.soundcaremedical.com/) which is near South Keys. Not the ideal location for where we live but we knew them as they took care of our dear friends during their pregnancy. We requested the same nurse/doctor duo which our friends had as well. Nurse Nicole is super down to earth and a no BS kind of gal. I like her.
Dr. Rousseau, who is the second half of the duo, works as part of a team out of the General Hospital so that is where our birth is "scheduled" to take place.
The hospital of choice was also cause for great debate for me at the beginning of the pregnancy... I told you... comparative shopper. I wanted to know which hospital would be best for my wife and unborn child. I went on to their websites, talked to friends and went onto "mommy and me" websites... which was kind of weird in itself. I was trying to dig up dirt from any one of them that I could.
In the end, I was able to find good and bad for each of them. I would be comfortable using the birthing units at any one of them but I think the biggest thing that stood out to me was that not all hospitals had a NICU and that should there be complications, the baby would possibly need to be separated from the mother and brought to CHEO. Whereas the General is attached to CHEO so that was a plus for me.
Not that we had much choice after we decided to go with SoundCare but it's reassuring none-the-less.
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