Who lives in LI and works in Manhattan?

The wife and I are on the hunt for a house....we are thinking of getting a place in LI, but she works in Manhattan.

This raises the question of....should she get a Ob-GYN in Manhattan or LI?

Manhattan
Pros
Easy to get to appointments during the week

Cons
If she is home when the baby is coming, will be tough to get into the city

Long Island
Pros
When the baby is due, and she is home, very easy to get to the hospital/doctor

Cons
Tougher to get to appointments.
If the doctor is in LI, then it is impossible to go during the week. The wifey doesnt even get off work in Manhattan until after 7pm. She won't make it back to LI until close to 9.

How did you all handle the work in Manhattan but live in LI.
Did you go with a doctor in Manhattan or LI?

Thank you

Re: Who lives in LI and works in Manhattan?

My doctor is in LI..it is just more convienient for me. My doctor has evening appts as well as Saturdays..so that works.

Re: Who lives in LI and works in Manhattan?

Same here. My dr has night appts. I can work from home also so I can do daytime appts.

Re: Who lives in LI and works in Manhattan?

I don't live in LI anymore but I work in Manhattan and live in NJ. My gyno was located by work and it was super convenient for regular appts but as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I switched to an OBGYN by my home.

I hate driving through the city and can't imagine how stressful it will be when I'm in labor so I prefered to stick closer to home. less than 10 min drive.

I can do appts early in the morning and go straight to work so I don't really miss too much work. especially now that appts will be 4 weeks apart.

hope this helps, and good luck!

Re: Who lives in LI and works in Manhattan?

I chose a doctore in LI, his office is literally in my backyard so its very convenient and I wanted a doctor to be affiliated with North Shore LIJ since I knew I wanted to deliver there (its 5 minutes from my house and would be much easier for family to get to, etc when I am in for labor and delivery).

I considered that it would be difficult to get to appts during the day since I work in the city and I dont get home until after 7pm- but here is the thing--
Appts are only about 1x a month for a "routine" "not high risk" pregnancy for like the first 6-7 months, and then its two times a week and then once a week. So whereas there are a significant amt of appts its not like you have to go every week. My doc has "late appts" i.e. 7pm. So it just means I need to leave work an hour early on those days, or I try to get an early morning appt.

I have found that with docs in the city, by the time you get from your office to theres, wait to be seen etc. you are still out of the office for like 2+ hours sometimes. I rather do it at the end of the day close to home and avoid the back and forth.

Re: Who lives in LI and works in Manhattan?

I do and my Dr. is close to my home on LI. I would rather have the hospital closer to home than my office. My Dr. has some evening hours but I usually take the first at 9 a.m. and just go in late.

You are entitled to time off for Drs. appointments.

Re: Who lives in LI and works in Manhattan?

Posted by ODonnell
You are entitled to time off for Drs. appointments.

Re: Who lives in LI and works in Manhattan?

I live on LI and work in the city and i would never even think of going with an OB in the city. What if you are home on the weekend or middle of the night and thats when the baby decides to come? you want to drive into the city, or you want to drive 15 minutes away? That's how i thought of it..

ultimately when it comes down to me having the baby.. i'll be home by then or working from home, and the LAST thing i want to do is have to drive into the city (since i'm not going to hop on the LIRR either). The delivery location is the most important thing, so i'd chose where you want to deliver and base your decision off of that.

For most of the duration of my pregnancy, i've had appts once a month, then at the end it was every 2 weeks, then every 1 week.
In the beginning i just scheduled my appts for the very first appt of the day and ended up getting into work an hour late. It really wasn't a big deal, since everyone knew i was pregnant and its understood that you need to go to the dr's every once in a while.
Now that i'm at the end, there have been a few times where i've had to take a day off because the only appt i could get was in the middle of the day - but at this point.. ive dealt with it and worked from home if i had to.

I know that for me.. having the OB/GYN closer to home is much more important than having it closer to work

eta: i totally understand the long working hours thing - i leave my house by 8 and don't get home til 7 on a good day.. so dr's hours are never convenient, but you figure out a way to work around it and hope your workplace is understanding!

Message edited 9/9/2011 2:43:52 PM.

Re: Who lives in LI and works in Manhattan?

I live on the nassau suffolk border and work at Grand Central. My Dr is out by Good Sam. I work from home the day I have appts and I figured I want to deliver closer to home so that it willl be easaier for DH to visit and just to be closer to home for the drive home fromt he hospital.

Re: Who lives in LI and works in Manhattan?

I live in Queens and work in Weschester, my GYN is 5 minutes from my house. They have appointments as late as 9:50PM so it's very convenient.

Re: Who lives in LI and works in Manhattan?

When I was preggo with #2 I lived in queens and worked in the city. my dr was in the city. I lived in the city when I was pregnant with my first and used the same dr. I have no idea how I would have managed with appointments outside of the city. it would have driven me crazy. i would have had to take a half day off each time with the commute and waits. and i dont have the type of job where i can guarantee a half day off like that. i would run out for 2 hours or so for each appointment with the dr being in the city.

also, there are a lot of appointments (once a mth for awhile, then every 2 weeks, then every week), and, most likely, 1 trip to the hospital, and it's only a crazy rush to the hospital in very rare cases. With both my babies my trips to the hospital were in the middle of the night, so there were no traffic issues.

Re: Who lives in LI and works in Manhattan?

Slightest complication and you'll want her to be close to home in case she needs to NOT be at work. I had to take two days off and be seen on the second day before I was cleared to go back to work. If I had a doctor in nyc I would have had to travel just to see him. Not ideal at all for me. Plus, at the end I'll be going more and might not even be working.

Re: Who lives in LI and works in Manhattan?

Since no one else has mentioned it, what about an ob-gyn with offices in both LI & city? I used to see a dermatoligist with offices in both Great Neck & midtown. Do a quick google search? Just a thought. Good luck.