Childbirth at Kaiser San Leandro
- See also: Kaiser San Leandro ObGyns
Parent Q&A
Parent Reviews
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 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!
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 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
Hello,
I am a Midwife at Kaiser San Leandro. Congratulations on your first pregnancy! It's true that at Kp Oakland the Midwives supervise residents, in their role as teachers of normal birth. The Medical model is predominant over the Midwifery model there.
At both the San Leandro and Walnut Creek practices the Midwifery teams offer 24/7 labor and delivery care and provide Midwifery Management in a collaborative and patient centered approach. Our 18 midwives work alongside the OBs who support us and step in when invited/needed. Otherwise they trust us to care for our patients which we do with a high level of respect and integrity for the birthing family.
we have no residents. Everyone is fully trained. We occasionally have Midwifery or medical students and you may decline their involvement.
everyone who is low risk will be offered and may choose to have either a Midwife or Ob-Gyn care for them.
Midwives also offer prenatal care either in office or through Centering Pregnancy which is wonderful. I recommend Sara Flores, Kate Harris, Qui Tang and Doris Untalan, CNMs.
At San Leandro we also offer a class called "Meet the Midwives" the first Saturday of the month 12:30-1:30 to welcome and introduce you to our Midwifery team. You can register via the health education department.
I hope that your enjoy a healthy and pregnancy and empowering birth.
best wishes,
a KP SLN Midwife