Which Midwives?

I have to make a decision about where to get prenatal care. I had pretty much decided to stick with the midwife practice that got me pregnant, except for one thing... The hospital where they deliver doesn't have the greatest reputation. Now, that being said, the not-so-good reputation is not specific to the labor and delivery unit, in fact, it could be not even including it (but I have no idea). The other thing is that the practice has somewhere around 15-20 midwives. So, even if I see a different one for each appointment, I could still end up delivering with one I haven't met. But other than the hospital and the size of the practice, I really do like them and have no reason to switch.

But then today I decided to do some research on other midwife practices in the area that deliver at different hospitals. And I ended up at this website that said they have an information session the first Tuesday of each month. Lo and behold, that was today! I figured it was maybe some sort of sign, even though I don't generally believe in that type of thing. So, I went. And it was nice. It's a small practice with only three midwives, and one of them is always on call. There are also three doctors in the practice, so in the event you need to see a doctor for something, you can stay with the same practice and continue to see the midwives, too. And the hospital they deliver at has a much better reputation than the other one. A friend at work delivered both her babies there (one just a few months ago), and highly recommends it. Another friend also delivered there, and I'm going to try to ask her about it soon. Neither of them used this practice, but they can at least tell me their feelings about the hospital itself.

Both hospitals are considered "community" hospitals, and both have level II nurseries (I think). Both only deliver if you're 32 weeks or later, so I'd be shipped off to a larger hospital either way if I went into premature labor, and end up delivering with a doc I've never met before.

I'm tempted to switch and use the smaller practice, but it sort of feels wrong, in a way. I mean, the first practice has really NOT been bad at all, and I DO like them. And they got me pregnant. On the first try. And it's not that I think I'd have a bad experience delivering at their hospital... I'm just not totally sure about it. I've toured the L&D floor there, and not at the other hospital (although I did visit a friend there after she gave birth), but I'll see if that's a possibility. And the first practice still has 5 vials of my sperm in storage, so if I wanted to T42, I'd end up back there eventually, anyway, at least for the ttc part.

Ok, well, as I've typed this, I've started to lean back towards the original group. Oy. I need to figure this out!