VBAC Mom looking for fantastic midwifery and hospital

[rclaz]

Hi,
I'm 17 weeks pregnant with #2. I had a c/s with DD due to a placenta previa. So, I'm a pretty good vbac candidate. No problems at all with first pregnancy or c/s. I'm currently with an OB who births at St. Lukes in NYC. BTW, I live in Nyack, NY. I took a tour of St. Lukes and wasn't at all impressed. I'm not a candidate for the Birthing Center. I have met with The Midwifery of Manhattan, and didn't feel it was a good fit for me. I met with Lonnie Morris out of Fort Lee NJ (births at Palisades), not a good fit. Met with Full Circle Midwifery, and liked them a lot. Have mixed feelings about Phelps where they birth. I'm looking for hospital and midwifery recommendations. I'm a middle of the road gal. I want to be safe, due to VBAC, but I also want to give myself the best chance and every opportunity to have this baby naturally. Any suggestions??
Thanks
Rebecca

[murphysaangel]

I'm in Chester (Orange County) and am in the same boat. I was thinking about Full Circle and Phelps. That was my previous hb midwife's 1st recommendation. I haven't met with them yet because I wanted to get out all my questions to the midwives who deliver out of Good Sam in Suffern (Tallman OB/GYN). So far, with them, I am not impressed and even less so with Good Sam. I have heard that Hudson Vally Hospital is good, in Cortland Manor. I know they allow waterbirth there but I am not sure if it applies to VBAC's (grrrr). I think the midwife I heard about is Sue Cavanaugh up there. I am planning on meeting with her soon, too. If you are at ALL thinking about a homebirth, Anne Margolis in Suffern is amazing. If I lived closer to a better hospital (and trust me, Nyack is WAY better than what we got up here!) I'd totally do that. She attended my 1st which unfortunately was a transfer and subsequent c-section, and I absolutely HATE having to go elsewhere. Unfortunately I just don't feel comfortable having to transfer again, not being so far away.

here's the link for Hudson Vlly (I liked what I read)
http://www.hvhc.org/serMaternity.asp

You should post this in the tribal area for NY, you'd probably get a bunch of recommendations, especially if you are willing to go into the City. And I'll keep my eye on it too!

By the way, what exactly didn't you like about Phelps?

Good luck...

[rclaz]

Hi,
Thanks so much! I really liked Full Circle. I liked their approach. It is very middle of the road. They say they make every attempt at a natural holistic birth first. The practice is pretty cool too. Full body approach.
What didn't I like about Phelps? hmm... I know this may sound silly, but I didn't like the drive in. There were almost NO cars there. Deserted hospital is a little creepy. The maternity floor was very small, 2 wings. I actually liked that. There was 1 nurse, and 1 midwife in the LDR. I'm not sure what I think about that. I guess I expected it to be bustling. There were no laboring women. Granted it was 10am on Sunday morning. The maternity wing, on the other hand, was packed. I couldn't see a room. Just one in construction. It was very low-key, which was nice. But, I guess made me a bit worried about security. The baby HAS to go to the nursery for testing, rather than at bedside, and dad/partner is only allowed to go if no medical testing is being done on other babies in the nursery. I really didn't want to be separated. I guess I probably WILL need to shower, but I wanted my husband to go with our baby. He did that last time. The nurse showing me the tour said at one point, in response to how many people can be in here with me, "as many as you want, as long as they're not taking advantage of the staff. We're here for you, not them. If we feel like they are, we'll start to not be so nice to them...or you." I said, "well, it wouldn't be my fault, I'd hope you'd be nice to me." She said, "well, yes, but we'd expect you to ask them to leave." So, it was a little awkward. I can't think of anything I'd want to do less during labor than confronting a family member. I guess this is partly why people have home births!! Since I'm VBAC, I just didn't feel 100% comfortable with a home birth. Anyhow, nothing was completely stand out. I just wasn't wowed. Maybe I'm asking for too much. It was very friendly looking, if you can imagine that in a hospital! The nurses were all pretty nice. I didn't leave feeling like, absolutely THAT is it!! I want to feel that way. Maybe it's not possible?

What didn't you like about Good Sam? I was thinking of checking out that hospital. I've heard of Anne Margolis. I didn't realize she was home birth only? I was also trying to look at Holy Name, but got no leads other than Anne for Midwives. I guess Midwives do not go there much? Have you heard of Olive Crone? My Doula recommended her. She births at Good Sam.

What didn't you like about Tallman midwifery?

I'm flexible to going into NYC, Rockland county, Westchester co, or northern Jersey. You think I should post this on the tribal page? To be honest, I didn't really know what that was

Thanks for the info on Hudson Valley. I'll check them out.

[murphysaangel]

Well that conversation with the nurse sure sounded nutty. I am not sure I'd be comfortable either! Of course, that was just ONE nurse, we could hope that some more sympathetic ones would be on staff during your/my/our labors! I had my c at Greenwich hospital. I loved most of the nurses there, but of course there were some that just didn't share the same love and tolerance that the rest did! I would look into Greenwich, too...I know the dr's that did my C do not attend VBAC's but there might be another that will, or midwives that will. Greenwich hospital was AWESOME. It was totally low-key, very pro-breastfeeding, I remember asking the ob's IN the operating room (well, probably yelling) not to vax my son, and they just said "we don't do that here". In CT you can also refuse the vit. k and eye ointment, since in NYS its a law. You could look into all those CT hospitals - I'll ask a friend of mine for you who used to be an L&D nurse in the area.

I have an appointment with Hudson Valley Midwives next week and I will let you know how it goes. I am already impressed because they asked me to get them all my old records from my last pregnancy as well as this one, and Tallman never seemed interested in any of that. It makes me feel like they really care, you know? With Tallman they listened to about 1/2 the story of my c-section and just wrote "failure to progress" in my chart, which I feel is a little misleading. Also it just didn't seem very clean, the bathroom was FILLED with other people's urine in cups, like they just leave them in there all freakin day. I liked the midwives themselves okay, just not the practice. The whole time it just seemed like they were assuming I knew what goes on in their practice, like I wasn't a new patient. They left a lot of information out unless asked directly. I wouldn't have even known that I'd be seeing BOTH midwives throughout my pregnancy (I just assumed I'd be seeing one since that's who I had made the appointment with) until I showed up at my 2nd appointment expecting to see #1 and #2 was there instead. I guess I am spoiled by my experience with Anne. Her office was in her basement and it was MUCH cleaner than either office at Tallman for God sake!

Anywa, I hope we both find what we are looking for! Let's keep each other informed, k? Feel free to PM me if you have any interest in doing a hb with Anne.

Meghan

[majormajor]

i attempted to vbac with an OB from New York Presbyterian, who was more like a midwife in OB's clothing. very pro natural birth, very pro-vbac (never even offered me a repeat c/s actually, just reviewed my history and said, "well there's no reason you can't have this one vaginally"). NYP is not generally a NCB friendly hospital, but this OB is in solo practice, so it doesn't matter. i loved her and didn't want to deliver anywhere but NYP, because i love it there too. if you're interested, page me and i'll give you her contact info.

[provbac]

I would love to meet this doctor I'm having my third baby and I want to have a vbac. I'm very interested in this doctor may I have her contact information.

[Lini515]

I just found out I am pregnant 2 years after having twins via c section.
I would love a practice/OB who leans towards more what's more natural.
Can you tell me the name of your OB who was like a midwife in a white coat and who could do a vbac safely?
Thanks so much

[cdns]

Hello, majormajor, I also would like to know your OB. Please message me. Thank you.