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It’s not easy for most women to talk about the most intimate parts of your body and your life. So, whether you’re planning to have a baby or have just found out that you’re pregnant, you need to find the right gynecologist for you. How do you do that? Here are some tips:
Recommendations
Consult your family and female friends before zeroing on a gynecologist. When you ask them for recommendations, you will get first hand information about their skills and experience.
Reviews
Once you get the names of a few gynecologists, check their reviews online. From this, you will also understand how many patients they have, along with their personal experience. Watch out for low ratings and reviews as it can be a red sign for you.
Experience & Credentials
When you’re searching online or consulting friends, find out about how long practised, which hospitals they’re associated with, their speciality, their qualifications, and if they have any malpractice suits filed against them.
Insurance
Pregnancy and delivery is a costly affair, and hence you’ll need to know if the hospital that the gynecologist practices in accepts your insurance.
Shared Values
Your gynecologist is going to be the one who will advise you on birthing options, ultrasound scans, and everything about your pregnancy. Hence, it’s important to understand if your ideas and opinions about the same match. Even if it doesn’t match, you need to know whether you can trust her advice.
Comfort Levels
Your gynecologist will be getting very personal with you when it comes to your body as well as your personal life and reproductive health. It would help if you were comfortable enough to talk to this person about everything for your pregnancy to go smoothly.
Gender
Because you’re going to talk about your personal life and preferences, you need to figure out if gender matters to you. If you’re not comfortable discussing these intimate topics with male gynecologists, you must choose a female doctor. You wouldn’t want to put yourself and your child at risk because of experiences you wouldn’t be able to discuss with your doctor.
Hospital Quality
Research the hospitals that your doctor is affiliated with. You need to understand the quality of care at the hospital and the facilities as well. Location is also an important factor when it comes to you getting to the hospital on time. Remember that your gynecologist is going to be an important part of your pregnancy and delivery team. Make sure you find someone who you trust and are comfortable with. Just knowing that you are satisfied with your doctor is half the battle won for a happy and smooth pregnancy.