Looking for Birth Center/Midwife-Friendly Options in Bucks County Area - Page 2

[yell]

Great post, although I'm sorry that it seems like you had a bad experience.  I think it's also important to point out that while c sections are common in the US, it really depends on the Dr.  My gut told me, by the way he talked about it, that Dinesen would be quick to perform a c section.  And I know he doesn't perform VBACs while other Drs do.  My mom delivered my twin brothers at Abingotn and everyone was worried at one point because one of them hadn't turned to face the way he needed to for delivery, and her Dr said "don't you worry, if I have to go up there and turn him around myself I will".  This was one of the scenarios that Dinesen pointed out we would need a C section for - all depends on the Dr.

Also, I did meet with the Midwives at Doylestown and they do use Dinesen as their back up. 

 

Originally Posted by wjey 

As another poster said, Dinesen's c-section rate is around 30%, which is normal only in the United States and those "typical responses" are only typical here, as well.  The rate is so high if you look at worldwide statistics.  C-sections are WAY overused here and Dinesen goes with the flow, unfortunately.  Please, please, please research this before you let yourself be conned into believing that you'll only have to have a c-section if you really need it.  Most of the reasons given for "needing" a c-section can be overcome (and they are in areas where c-sections are not so normalized).  Once you have that first c-section, you'll often be told that you'll have to have one for all of your other babies, as well (also not true!).  I'm hoping that I'm not coming across too mean, here, but I wish I knew before I had my son with Dinesen what I do now and I'm just hoping that I can help somebody else avoid the pain (physical and emotional) that I had as a result of having my c-section.  Last I checked, Dinesen is the emergency surgeon for Doylestown Midwifery, so he's still there in that capacity, if you were to switch. 

[Kizz]

Yell


How was your meeting with Doylestown Midwifery ? Any first impressions and are you planning to switch over ?

[yell]

I'm not using them.  They have 2 midwives there and one of them has only been catching for a year, which makes me uneasy.  But they seemed fine if that's not a concern to you.

[5xmomma]

The Midwives were very conforting.  It's hard to explain, but I'll do my best.  I never felt rushed with them, I felt that I was in good hands, they are extremely educated, Graduates of University of Pennsylvania.  The staff was friendly, it's kind of like "Cheers" where everyone knows your name, it was a nice, relaxing environment, not so clinical in the sense that it's all about the $, they listened to me, they got to know me and my family and also worked with my outrageous birthplan. Good luck!

[MandaGD2003]

I'm currently at Dinesen and I'm not liking it. I have an appointment at Doylestown Midwifery on April 12 so hoping to get a better feeling from them. 

I am about 9 weeks along at the moment, and I'm trying to do all natural no meds/IV/constant fetal monitoring. I know they deliver at Doylestown Hospital so I have a lot of questions for them about that.

Thanks everyone for all the info on this board, it's been helpful for me. Any additional info would be great as well (some of it was a little dated).

[wjey]

Manda, good luck with the midwives.  If you don't like Dinesen now, it's not going to get any better for you.  It's pretty much a show-up-at-the-hospital-and-let-the-nurses-tell-you-what-to-do kind of birth with him.  The nurses are pretty nice at D'town, but if that's not the birth you want, you're going to want the guidance of a midwife to prepare and empower you.

[Natas3]

I want to share the following review my husband wrote after our experience with The Birth Center in Bryn Mawr, PA. It's long, but we felt it necessary to share what happened to us!

It was all good until it wasn't.

 

Just like that. Everything seemed pretty much as described in the great reviews of their practice all over the internet, and following the procedures they explained to us in the two-hour orientation session. Perhaps the only bad note was the constant rotation of midwives, since they have quite a big practice. But I believed we liked everyone we met in the months we spent with them.

 

In week 18th we noticed a small protuberance (ping pong size) in Natasha's belly. We thought it was the baby but a midwife identified it as a fibroid. She also explain that fibroids are very common and normally don't represent a problem. We were advised to perform an (otherwise unwanted) ultrasound just for safety. The results were as expected; our baby was fine and the fibroid was small and out of the way of an eventual vaginal delivery. No other fibroids that may have been present were big enough to be detected in the ultrasound. We needed to keep an eye on it but as far as fibroids go they don't come much easier.

 

We kept going to our appointments, exams and controls, with TBC staff always reassuring us about the development of the pregnancy. Natasha was happy with the idea of having our first baby there, I was already acquainted with the idea of hanging the "it's a girl" flag from the window and even my mom visiting from Chile had toured TBC's facility. In week 28th Natasha received a phone call. One of the midwives told her that after a medical meeting where our case was discussed they didn't feel comfortable with receiving our baby at TBC, and that we should look for an alternative.

 

The shock was big. Seven months into our pregnancy we were not prepared for the stress of having to look for a new practice from the scratch, and we didn't know if would even be admitted in a different birth facility (I'm not sure if even TBC doesn't accept mothers so far into pregnancy). 

After a week of disconcert, we sent them an email requesting an explanation on the  whole situation and the procedure, asking why we were not included in the decision-making process, why they were not providing any help with a back-up plan, if we were technically considered now a high-risk pregnancy, and all the doubts that arose from this abrupt termination. We also requested a meeting to discuss what happened face to face and to have some kind of closure. Clinical director Peggy Stone apologized to my wife on the phone and helped us getting an appointment for another ultrasound. She left a long message on my voice mail saying she would be available to talk on the phone but didn't have time to meet with us. After that TBC staff was very diligent in helping us transfer our records to our new providers, and that was about it.

 

I am not arguing the medical decision. I'm not trained for it and I would not want anybody taking any chances with my wife's or daughter's lives. Still is hard to understand how can a decision like that take 10 weeks to make with nothing changing in the patient. My frustration is about the breaking of the contract established at the beginning of the pregnancy. I am talking  about the spirit - and the actual wording - of the agreement between us and TBC. They are all against the alienation of modern medicine and about integrating the families into the decision, still they did everything without us. They emphasize the importance of the partner for the pregnancy (husband or otherwise) but they never communicated with us about this as a family. We never received any written report about what happened, how the decision was made, and what exactly meant for Natasha's and the baby's health. They didn't have any kind of back-up system in place even though in all their communications (written and verbal) the understanding is that you will be transfered into Bryn Mawr's Hospital if something goes beyond their parameters of safety. Finally, and from a human point of view, we were really hurt they would not make the time to receive us, to help us with the transition and the frustration of this abrupt decision way into our third trimester. Emails and phone messages are wonderful tools of the digital era but I believe they are not the proper ones to handle situations like the one I am describing. 

 

I believe that their delayed response to the fibroid is something that can happen. It may have been a difficult call discerning safety from risk, and in that matter better later than never. What is really disappointing is their reaction once we were informed even though we communicated with them very specifically about our needs and concerns. And I think their communication practices need deep examination.