Birthcare Midwives in Bart, PA? - Page 2

[callieollie]

congrats and good luck! I had a wonderful birth at birthcare and would go back again if it weren't for the fact that it's an hour away from me and my last birth was about 3 hours from start (I'm having braxton hicks, let me go drink some water) to baby born. By the time I realized I was in labor, I spent most of it in the car! If they travelled here, I'd have a homebirth with them, but unfortunately they don't. You'll get great care!

[Triciabn]

I have birthed with birthcare 2x...and a friend of mine has done the same... and I can tell you that I am pretty sure we slunk under before the New Regime entered Birthcare. Since then I know a few women who have birthed with them... and I would never go back there... I have the sneaking suspicion they sold their soul to a bigger biz. On the same note those women thought it a great experience...all were first timers.
Maribeth is still good.... but I have heard very little to tell me the rest of them are the crunchy good midwives that used to be there and *run* the place.
I am sure it is good for rookie births...because I mean, what are you options?... but if you have more of solid feel for birth and what to expect... ehhh.... There are quite a few awesome crunchier midwives out there right now....Mary Mclane, Barb Cavanuagh... and Crystal Somebody or other. Google it.
So my very experienced view of Birthcare is ...a strong: ehh.
Tricia

[kchristman]

I just had my appt. with Ruth! She was great.

This place is awesome. I'm so excited to birth there.

I have a tour of the center on Monday, too, and will be taking classes there soon.

Yay!

[hipmamato4]

Triciabn,

I am so sad to hear that. I DO understand where you are coming from though. Birth Care has gone from being two crunchy hands off midwives to being four+ midwives with several dozen births a month and a wider spectrum of individual care practices and personalities. Know too, that some of the mws see this and wish it could be different as well.

I just attended a birth with Valerie and it went great and she was wonderful again, as she has always been. It was in the hospital. I've attended MANY births with those mws and have very few complaints overall.

The great thing is that there are so many options for women out there. If someone is looking for a really crunchy hands off birth, then there are great CPMs --Kate Fawley Aseron, Christy Santoro, Meredith Klein, and more. But for the vast majority, Birth Care is the option that would appeal to them, as they can do birth center, home AND hospital. The last birth with them the mom wanted to be home and dad wanted to be in hospital. We labored at home until complete and pushing, got to the hospital and had a baby 15 minutes later. They left a few hours later an early discharge. Not for every mom, but it all worked for this one.

The other really great thing about Birth Care is that these mws have seen A LOT! Experience level with out of hospital birth can't be matched, even with the homebirth CPMs. And while many of us (myself included) know that the chances of something happening is so slim, a lot of mothers/fathers are reassured by this. They've seen prolapsed cords, placenta issues, congenital anomalies, etc. If a transport becomes necessary they can follow you, unlike the CPMs in the area. Some of the CPMs only take 6-10 births a month, while Birth Care had upwards of 50 last month. (And yes, this is unfortunately what makes it a less personal practice.)

So, I guess that even though I totally agree with you on the changes to Birth Care, I still feel an obligation to defend them as a great option for most women. You'll be happy to know that I heard that Michelle,the new mw, is pretty hands off too, and probably more what some moms are looking for.

[kchristman]

Just to update, I took a tour of the birth center and I'm really excited to give birth there.

I'm not so worried about the "crunchiness" level of the midwives there. Though it might not be what it once was, its a MILLION times better than the care I was getting at my OB/GYN.

The experience level really comforts me, too. I feel as though I'm in very good, caring hands.

I'll keep you posted on how everything goes!

[hipmamato4]

Hello all,

I just spoke w/ MB about the concerns expressed here. She knows it was rough as they tried to cope with a massive increase in women seeking their services. They didn't at all TRY to get big and busy - but who would, could, should they turn away to stay small and intimate? MB said that actually the less crunchy midwives aren't working with them anymore. There are four now that catch babies: Maribeth, Valerie, Karen and Michelle. Michelle had her own 5 year old twins at home and just moved from OR and is super natural. Birth Care actually hopes to split into a northern branch and a southern branch as they want it to be more intimate again soon.

Maribeth and I have actually had many conversations about this and it is sometimes hard for people to realize the difficulty of the situation that they are put it in. The word has gotten out that they give care that far exceeds anything that you would find in the hospital (where 99% of women birth) and now they're experiencing growing pains. Plus the fact that so many IN the community have a long history with them and many of the Plain women don't go for their first prenatal until 25+ weeks of pregnancy. So, when the month has a lot of births scheduled already, and then the Plain mom comes in at 31 weeks, and then they get the phone call from the English mom who wants to fire her OB and can't find anyone to take her care at the eleventh hour...I've had a few moms who were doula clients that called at the very end of pregnancy and Birth Care took them. Not b/c they wanted more business, but b/c the moms had no where else to go and b/c the midwives and staff at Birth Care know how important the experience is for ALL moms.

I think that we all (mws included) miss the way it used to be. But I'm also confident that as things settle down, the midwives and staff will work to create that perfectly balanced scenario, where a large number of women will be served and still have the intimate experience that they hoped for by choosing an out of hospital (mostly) midwife.

[kchristman]

Thanks for that input.

So far, I've got nothing but positive things to say about the midwives at Birth Care. I've only met Valerie, but she was really great, taking the time to answer all of my questions and closely review my file.

I am one of the "English" women who switched over to Birth Care after realizing late in pregnancy what lied ahead for me at the hospital with my (former) OB. I am so, so happy that they accepted me. I was turned down by 2 other birth centers before luckily finding Birth Care, so I MORE than appreciate their willingness to take on women who need them.

I have my 2nd appt. this Friday and I can't wait. I'm looking forward to meeting another midwife and discussing some more questions I have.

I couldn't be more happy and relieved that I'll be giving birth with these women!

[SarahsMom08]

I was overall pleased with the birth care center for my first birth. Maribelle and Angela were awesome birth attendants! The birth care center rooms are wonderful and so relaxing for birthing in. But beware of regulations, I ended up transferring to hospital because of time limits to pushing stage. The main downside was all the midwives were overworked. At the time I gave birth Valerie was on vacation and Maribelle and Angela were swapping 24 hr shifts. It seemed like some things fell through the cracks, like post partum support. Because I birthed in hospital, they did not do a home checkup. When I called them because I was worried about my baby not pooping for several days, I was told that was normal. So I was very surprised to find out my baby was 1 lb below birthweight at the 2-week checkup.

I didn't know Angela had moved to Africa? I wonder what instigated that? I know she had worked in Bangladesh before, maybe she felt a calling? I still think about her sometimes, she was my rock during labor.

[heidirk]

It'd be really nice if they do split into a North and South location. They were stretched pretty thin last year when I birthed DS2.

Any ideas where the northern location would be?



Angela's going back to AFRICA!!!! Wow! She will be missed.

[joyvs123]

Birth Care

I had to travel an hour to go to birth care and I gave birth to my first there on Sunday to a beautiful boy. The experience was wonderful and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

[smeisnotapirate]

I know this is an old thread, but I love Birth Care so much. They were my MWs for DS's birth 6/08.

I'd like to add, if you want a VBAC from a truly hands-off midwife, you can also contact Karen Webster (CPM) at WomanWise Midwifery. She's who I'm using for this birth, and she is amazing. Very small practice (just her and a student MW) and she is so knowledgeable and gentle. She is also willing to travel (she's in Elkton, MD, but her website shows her wide geographic range). She also will do VBAC out-of-hospital, while BirthCare limits you to in-hospital VBACs as well.

But if you're ok with in-hospital care, Ephrata is an AMAZING hospital (I ended up transferring there with DS's birth, and they were spectactular with all my crunchy requests, never gave me a cross eye, and let DS room in with us 100%) to give birth at, and BirthCare midwives are amazing midwives to give birth with.

[astar326]

Originally Posted by hipmamato4

Michelle had her own 5 year old twins at home and just moved from OR and is super natural.

Michelle attended my son's birth last month. We hoped for a hb but at 42 wks had to be induced at Ephrata Hospital. They were really nice. We met all of the midwives and really liked the birth center (except their early hours). I would recommend them.