Anyone deliver at Banner Del E. Webb in Sun City West, AZ?

[joanna47]

I live in Surprise and am planning to deliver at Del E. Webb in Sun City West. We're doing the hospital tour tonight, but I'm interested in hearing any experiences from moms who've delivered there. I've had two successful, drug-free hospital births previously (at two different hospitals in North Dakota) and am hoping to continue my streak but I've heard that most Banner facilities are intervention-happy. Any experiences?

[CLSSmiley]

Depends on your care provider

I am a homebirth midwife on the West Side that has transferred a couple of clients to Del Webb and have been the doula for a few women at Del Webb. For the most part my experiences there have been very positive. However; as with all births a lot depends on your care provider.

Del Webb is a Banner hospital so they fall under a lot of the same guidelines but mostly they follow the direction of the OB you are with.

Make sure you clearly work out your wishes/desires with your care provider and make sure they communicate that to the hospital.

All the best to you on a beautiful birth.

[joanna47]

Thanks, CLS. The OB I'm currently seeing seems pretty natural birth friendly, but I only have something like a one in nine chance of getting him for the birth... (one in three if I deliver on a weekday during business hours!). Otherwise it depends who is on call at the hospital.

The hospital tour was good; I was glad to see that each labor suite has a nice jacuzzi tub, and that they strongly encourage breastfeeding and 24-hour rooming-in with baby.

At any rate, I plan to labor at home as long as possible and my husband's prepared to be an advocate for me, so hopefully everything will go smoothly. Thanks!

[CLSSmiley]

Banner Del Webb

It sounds like you have a good plan. It is really hard when you are working with such a big practice as you have no idea who you will be working with. The one thing though is that you really don't see much of the doctor while birthing. Generally they show up once you start pushing.

The nurses are the ones that care for you while in labor. Laboring at home truly is the best way so that you can eat, drink, move around and relax. Support is important to help you through the process. Stay focused, be educated on exactly what is happening so you don't start to worry about things.

I wish you all the best and hope that you have a beautiful birth.

[wifeyvana]

We're considering delivering here but still contemplating a home birth. I'm planning on attending the pickles and ice cream tour to help me decide. That is awesome that they have jacuzzi tubs, Thunderbird only offers showers and I wasn't impressed with their facility.

If I can ask, which OB practice are you with? My current OB doesn't deliver there. Also, does anyone know any midwives who have hospital privileges there?

[CLSSmiley]

midwives

I am a homebirth midwife so do not work in the hospitals. I do also doula work so in that respect I am familiar with the hospitals.

If you would like to find a midwife that works at the hospital you should talk with the nursed in labor and delivery. Just go in one day and talk with the nurses. Explain that you are interested in birthing at the hospital but you would like to work with a midwife and are there any that they would recommend.

Of course if you did want a homebirth I would be very happy to talk with you about it.

[wifeyvana]

We went on the pickles and ice cream tour at del webb over the weekend and while the facilities were soooo much better than Thunderbird, when I asked about fetal monitoring the nurse basically said that 90% of patients will get an epidural so they will be hooked up to the fetal monitor the entire time. I asked if patients still had to be hooked up the entire time and if I could walk around if they didn't receive an epidural and she looked at me like I had 2 heads and responded that I will at least be given pitocin. I just felt like it wasn't a very natural birth friendly hospital but I think a lot of this also depends on your doctor/nurse.

CLSSmiley - Thanks for the info! We're really leaning towards a home birth after touring 2 hospitals and talking to a midwife team today. I'll let you know if I have any questions

[joanna47]

Just wanted to update -- I had a fantastic birth at Del E. Webb. (Full birth story is here.)

Granted, my labor only lasted 2.5 hours start to finish, and I got to the hospital fully dilated and delivered 20 minutes after I got there, but still -- the nurses and my OB were very respectful of our birth plan, asked me or my husband before doing ANYTHING, and were great to my doula as well. (They even asked my permission before giving me pain meds AFTER delivery!) The only thing about my birth that I was disappointed with was the fact that I never got to use the nice jacuzzi tub in the birthing suite, but things just moved too fast!

My OB was Dr. Gary Newman out of Advanced Care for Women. He was TERRIFIC. Read and reviewed my birth preferences prior to my delivery and actually remembered what it said. I had seen him during my pregnancy so it was nice to have an OB I knew delivering the baby (lucky for me I delivered on a weekday during business hours!).

I did end up getting pitocin after I delivered, but he let me try breastfeeding first and then asked me very respectfully about the pitocin, explaining that my bleeding was more than he liked to see (my OB with my oldest daughter's birth, in contrast, was all grumpy about it and complained about having to give me a shot directly since I'd refused an IV and didn't have a heplock). I had a second-degree tear but it seems to be healing beautifully. At any rate, I liked him a lot and would recommend him.

BTW, one thing that made me kind of uneasy about the clinic itself was that the NP once said at an appointment that they "wouldn't let" a patient go past 41 weeks, and I was offered elective induction at 39 weeks several times. However, when I declined the elective induction I wasn't given any heat about it, so I suppose that's good. I think that my doctor would have been okay with me declining the 41 week induction, but as I only went to 40w3d it wasn't an issue.

Also, I had an AWESOME doula. She was actually my back-up doula, since she lives in my city and my primary doula lived further away and didn't make it to the birth. At any rate, Brealin was FANTASTIC and I cannot recommend her enough. She was 110% supportive before, during, and after Violet's birth. It would have been a lot more difficult without her. So, if you're in the Phoenix area and looking for a great doula, check her out.

[cubbbyaf]

Happy to hear you had a great experience at Del E. Webb. I also delivered my second baby there totally drug free and natural. I showed up at about 5 cm at about 12:30 in the morning and went into the birthing room, my contractions never got very close together so I got a lot of relaxing time and got to take advantage of the jacuzzi. Since it was the middle of the night I was already very tired to begin with. I had no drugs and I was actually falling asleep between contractions just before giving birth at 4:30 AM. I was a quick, and well relitively painless birth (as much as one can be with no drugs). I was never pressured to use any drugs, and able and encouraged to breastfeed right away. I also had a second degree tear, the Dr did numb that up for stiching up though. My OB was Mary Fadool, also from Advanced Care For Women, though I never saw her that day, the on call Dr delivered my baby. And as usual, you never really see the Dr till your ready to push. She came in once before that to introduce herself, but that was all. I did get continually pressured to take motrin after the birth and get like roll of the eyes when I said I didn't want any but, All in all I'd recommend Del E. Webb. I never really looked into home birth or doula's, I think home birth would just be so messy, I don't know, like I said I've never looked into it. There are things I think could be better there. I delived my first in NY state and they had alot of little things that made the recovery alittle easier and nicer. Like nicer rooms, and better sleeping accomodations for the father(we had some broke down chair in the room that was supposed to fold into a bed but was all broken, I just sent my husband home to sleep), and little ice packs for you sore bottom and tears instead of makeshift, frozen maxi pads. Just stuff like that could make Del E. Webb better.