Homebirth midwives in Columbus, OH

[OSUvet]

Hello! I am newly pregnant and looking for a homebirth midwife in the Columbus, Ohio area. The only group I know about is CHOICE. Does anyone have experience with them? I would love to hear about it.

Does anyone know of other groups/midwives available? I am trying to consider all my options. TIA for your help!!

[monica82]

I am new to the area, but also wanted to look for a midwife-though we are going to do a hospital b/c of DH concerns. A friend of mine gave me this link & I'm working on calling them. http://www.mymidwife.org/about.cfm

top right hand corner it says find midwife. I know that Columbus Neighbborhood Health Center has midwives-but they do not "deliver" which confused me a little. I'm searching too-so good luck & let me know what u find.

[OSUvet]

Thanks! I have some friends who use midwives that deliver at hospitals (CNMs), I will ask them and let you know who they use!

[womenswisdom]

I have a friend in Columbus, which is about 1.5 hrs away from here. She is ttc and wants a hb, so I asked my mw down here and she said the only practice she recommends is CHOICE. Hope that helps!

[monica82]

I called several places and only found 2 practices w/ midwives & they deliver to hospitals. Sorry... The practice I found seems really awesome so far. I heard Riverside is very supportive of unmedicated labor/births-fyi. Good luck.

[MommaKitten21]

Tiffany Elkins might not be too far from Columbus... she is amazing! She attended my first child's home birth as a midwife assistant... and was just wonderful!

Also, you could check with becky Fry. She is great as well. She was the head midwife at my first child's home birth and is also an EMT (which put my mom a little more at ease)

There are several others down in that area for home birth.... I can help get you their numbers if you would like.

[pinkyfinx]

I have used CHOICE for a past birth and LOVED them. I would recommend them to anyone considering a homebirth. They are a bit flaky but they rocked my birth and I'm planning on using them for my next one.

I do know of one of other midwife that is based in Licking county who does central Ohio births. If you call CHOICE (ironically) I'm pretty sure they have her contact info. I don't unfortunately. I know about her because there were a few families in my birth classes who used her (and loved her). She's cheaper than CHOICE, but you only get one midwife, not two.

BTW, FWIW, I would NOT use Riverside. It is a baby factory! I had a mom friend tell me that a nurse there told her the stat was 96% of women get some sort of pain relief and that she (on her third child) had to argue that yes really she didn't want anything. They just wouldn't believe her because it was so unusual. My midwives recommended Grant and the new hospital in Dublin as places to transfer to that were more midwife/natural birth friendly and they've experienced pretty much every central Ohio hospital. So if you're strongly considering Riverside, instead of looking at the pretty tubs and birth items ask what percent of women actually get to use them or use pain meds.

Good luck!

[AutumnSunshine]

My BFF delivered with CHOICE almost 8 years ago. She had a very positive experience and they were also able to offer her a lot of help when her son had serious breastfeeding issues that took months to resolve. HTH.

[Midwesterner04]

BTW, FWIW, I would NOT use Riverside. It is a baby factory! I had a mom friend tell me that a nurse there told her the stat was 96% of women get some sort of pain relief and that she (on her third child) had to argue that yes really she didn't want anything. They just wouldn't believe her because it was so unusual. My midwives recommended Grant and the new hospital in Dublin as places to transfer to that were more midwife/natural birth friendly and they've experienced pretty much every central Ohio hospital. So if you're strongly considering Riverside, instead of looking at the pretty tubs and birth items ask what percent of women actually get to use them or use pain meds.

Good luck![/QUOTE]

I second this advice! Although I moved to Indiana a few months back, I spent years in Columbus plugged into the local birth and lactation communities, and rarely heard or saw great natural birth-related things involving Riverside. (I do know one mom who had her 4th through 6th children naturally at Riverside--she managed it by showing up fully dilated and pushing the babies out before there was time to start IVs and other interventions.) If you're interested in breastfeeding, you'll also have a much easier time of it at Grant, which has 20+ hour/day IBCLC lactation coverage with lactation-trained nurse backup, or Dublin (still too few patients for full lactation support, but a more supportive "culture" than Riverside's) than at Riverside, which has never quite joined the BF and mother-baby bonding bandwagon.

[llwr]

I don't have any experience with CHOICE, but I loved CNM Becky Wagner with Women's Contemporary Health Care. She delivers at St Ann's, but waterbirth is an option. The practice is pretty laid back. They do a free meet and greet appt if you want more info.

[monica82]

It's been a while, but I just got to read all the responses.
I will have to check and see if the practice will deliver at Dublin b/c it's just as close as Riverside. I have one friend up here who delivered at Riverside & her experience was a good one. So I don't know if her dr/midwife was just really awesome and told the hospital what she was doing or what-but she did go epidural free.
I definitely want a hospital that is in favor of BF...what kind wouldn't want to be? It's like the formula people giving out advice on BF...ticks me off.
I don't care about pretty rooms, I'd rather have support & safety. Thinking I might need to look for a doula in training so I can have more support. I've heard of St Ann's, but I think it's there are a few that are closer, but I could convince hubby to go there if that's an option instead of Dublin.

[BrittneyMarie]

I wouldn't reccomend St Ann's. We had a horrible experiance there with an epidural-pushing l&d nurse and a formula pushing pp nurse. We won't be going back.

[buckeyedoc]

I do hear good things about CHOICE.

I also had a good experience with OSU, a so-so experience with Riverside, and have no hospital choice other than St. Ann's this time. Luckily, I do have a doula.

[larzanna]

Yes, Grant is much more supportive of a natural birth and are willing to work with whatever birth plan you have. Riverside=baby factory.
Yes, there is another HB MW in Licking County. I was in the CHOICE birth class though and they do seem pretty good and i have heard good things about their doulas too.

[Blanca78]

When you all say the Dublin hospital, which one do you mean? Is that the Stoneridge center?

Anyone have experience delivering at OSU? That's the only hospital my insurance covers.

[buckeyedoc]

The Dublin hospital is Dublin Methodist, the newest Ohio Health hospital. It's out off of 33 near Muirfield.

I liked OSU when I delivered there in 2004. They mostly left me alone to labor and were positive about having me walk around and sit on a birthing ball. They did not have tubs in the rooms, at least then, although they did have showers. They were pro-breastfeeding and had good lactation consultants that were easy to get for one-on-one meetings post-partum. They never asked me about circumcision at all (we don't circumcise). There was a decent bed in the post-partum room for a husband or partner. The food wasn't bad IMO.

[Blanca78]

Originally Posted by buckeyedoc

The Dublin hospital is Dublin Methodist, the newest Ohio Health hospital. It's out off of 33 near Muirfield.

I liked OSU when I delivered there in 2004. They mostly left me alone to labor and were positive about having me walk around and sit on a birthing ball. They did not have tubs in the rooms, at least then, although they did have showers. They were pro-breastfeeding and had good lactation consultants that were easy to get for one-on-one meetings post-partum. They never asked me about circumcision at all (we don't circumcise). There was a decent bed in the post-partum room for a husband or partner. The food wasn't bad IMO.

That's very reassuring; thank you. I don't think I want a water birth, but I DO want to be able to move around, use the birthing ball, etc., so that's good to hear. I had heard a couple of mixed things about OSU, ranging from it was very medicalized/staff wasn't so great to it was just fine. I really like my doctor and so if I could have a natural hospital birth with her, it would be perfect. She also did mention that there are some midwives that deliver at OSU, so I might look into that.

[MamaSmurf29]

Please please please steer clear of OSU!! Unless their policies have changed significantly since the time I gave birth there in 2004 (which I seriously doubt since I've heard stories from other moms AND they still have cesarean rate that is through the roof!) they are the worst place to give birth in all of Columbus. I almost had an unecessary c-section there due to their over-management of my birth and faulty equipment and just a horrible experience in general. The nurses there also called one of my friends fat several times while she was in labor and were just flat out rude to her.

As far as I know the only midwives here who do home births work at CHOICE, though there is another in the area who will only deliver for Aumish moms. I had a good birth experience with them and healthy baby in 2006. I can also vouge for St. Ann's as I've also given birth there. Their c-section rate is 14% which is the lowest in the area for a hospital. If I had to choose a hospital again I would definitely choose St. Ann's.

[MamaSmurf29]

This is REALLY helpful. It lets you look up numerous statistics from the hospitals in Columbus. According to them, St. Ann's now has a 24% incidence of c-sections for low-risk, first time moms. OSU is 30%. CHOICE is 4%. (I'm just really big on not having an unecesarean lol, as you can see).

[Casha'sMommy]

Just poking my nose in to drop a name. Deanna Baker of Belly Water Birth is a wonderful woman although, I'm not sure where's she's working right now or how far she'll travel. Also, She may be able to point you in the right direction if she cannot be of service.

GL!