I found one after my son was born, but it doesn't hurt to get one ahead of time to eliminate an extra stress after baby is here.

Depends they wouldn't let me take baby home unless I had an appointment already with one

I think it depends. I called to the pediatric office that I'll be taking my baby to and they just told me that when I'm in the hospital to tell the nurse who I want for my pediatrician and they'll contact them.

I guess it varies on hospitals, but for both my kids they assigned me one and I just kept them. I never got one ahead of time.