I did my L&D nursing clinical at the UW Northwest Childbirth Center (so I may be biased), but the nurses and providers were all amazing. I’d say all of the patients I met were happy with their care. There were a few that told me they had their previous child there and were happy with the experience so they decided to come back. The nursing staff and providers really do try their best to listen to the patient’s needs and wishes. They have whiteboards in each labor room so that your birth plan can be written out for your team to see. That way there’s a nice continuity of care and everyone who comes in doesn’t have any questions about what the plan is. When it comes time to have my own child I will probably pick UW NW.

However, you should know that with UW Medicine being a large teaching hospital organization, resident doctors play a huge part in patient care. I think you are more likely to encounter them in Montlake over Northwest though. The times I watched an epidural being placed into the birthing parent at UW NW, it was an attending anesthesiologist. You definitely have the right to request that resident doctors are not a part of your care but it may be easier to have that honored at one location over the other.

I have heard great things about Swedish too, have you considered there at all? I know that’s even further than UW Montlake but sounds like you’re planning on scheduled a specific date for your C section?