Homebirth Midwife Recomendation in Madison?

[Olives]

Hello all,

I had my first baby at the Madison Birth Center and this time around I want a home birth. Unfortuantly they are not doing home births for the time being and now I need to find a midwife.

Anyone have a positive recomendation or information for me, if you don't want to share publicly please PM me!

thanks so much!

[Shell_Ell]

Ingrid Andersson www.gentlehomebirth.org was my midwife with my second and third child. She was a good fit for me.

Debbie Healy and Britt Wanta have a practice www.openarmsmidwifery.com, as does Leah Hatcher www.leahhatcherbabycatcher.com. All are wonderful, skilled midwives. Each has their own unique practice style, so your best bet is to talk with them and see who fits best with your personal expectations.

[Partaria]

Hi Olives,

If you don't mind me asking, could you tell me why you have decided on a HB after being at MBC?

I'm pregnant with my first baby, and I'm trying to decide between a few options, two of which are MBC and a homebirth. Any experiences you could share would be most appreciated. Thanks!

[Olives]

Hi Partaria,

I love birthing at the birth center. It was amazing, I transfered care there late in pregnancy as I just never felt right about a hospital birth and my ob was just not my style.

I was so very nervous about giving birth and really wanted to not worry about anything making the birth center a perfect choice. Plus our house at the time was just not suitable for a homebirth in my opinion.

We've since moved and I feel more confident in my ability, I know what to expect and I'd love to try it at home this time around. And since the birth center no longer offers home birthing options I'm looking for another route.

Really, I can't say how please I was with the birth center. It was so perfect for a first time nervous momma like I was. They gave me power and strength and I'll be forever grateful for their care. They make you feel as part of a large family and so. soo watched over. The after care was amazing as well.

Best of luck in your choice!

Shell_ell~ Thank you for those links, I'm currently in the process of setting up meet ups!

[treeoflife3]

I had my kiddo at MBC too! I'm so sad Asani, Mary, and Anastacia are gone now

I don't know any homebirth midwives but Britt Wanta I believe was the midwife in training when I had my kiddo. If she is the woman I am thinking of, I ADORED her and she attended my birth with Mary. I know it was someone named Britt and she looks really familiar....

I plan on doing a homebirth next time around and I'll probably be back in the Madison area again then! Good luck with yours

[birthwithlove]

In addition to the other midwives in Madison already mentioned, you can also try Tehmina Islam at www.accessmidwiferywi.org or Emma Swift at www.athomemidwifery.com. 

[Partaria]

Wow, I posted here what seems ages ago!

I ended up choosing a homebirth and went with Ingrid. gentlehomebirth.org. She was fabulous, and a great fit for my family. Tehmina was one of her apprentices at the time of my birth, so she was also in attendance. Tehmina now has her own practice accessmidwiferywi.org. She is also incredibly skilled and a wonderful person. She and Ingrid watched over our family for a marathon 3-day birth that ended in a hospital transfer. They never left our sides, and I cannot say enough wonderful things about them.

[luxmiel]

I highly recommend Emma Swift. Her practice is called At Home Midwifery (www.athomemidwifery.com).  Emma was our midwife and was amazingly kind and wonderful to see for prenatals - she is on top of all the current research and  was so knowledgeable on every topic I had questions about. She was also just an incredible midwife at our daughter's birth - very calm and collected and loving, especially as we faced a 6-hour pushing stage and had to consider transferring. We ended up having our baby at home after all and Emma's suggestions for various pushing positions really helped us accomplish that.

[flecet]

Hi! I had a home birth With Britt Wanta and Tehmina Islam as assistant in 2011. I used to live close to Britt and so she did all my visits in my own home. I went to the office maybe two or three times total. We had Badger care and paid 800$ out of pocket (This was when Britt was with Open Arms Midwifery). Cash it's around 3700$ I think. We are Muslim and they were super accommodating and very comfortable talking about how our lifestyle would affect the birth plan. Britt also answers her cell DAY OR NIGHT! We would sometimes even text (we were worried at the time that I might be leaking fluid so she gave me a whole roll of test strips and explained how to use them). When the test came up positive, she immediately booked me (within hours) with a pro-homebirth, very experienced OB-GYN MD who spent an hour with me and confirmed I was OKAY, and was not loosing amniotic fluid, sometimes vaginal secretions can give a false-positive). She is SAFE and referred me for an optional ultrasound because I wasn't growing for a few weeks (tummy was staying same size).

If you are planning to circumcise CALL THE HOSPITALS before your baby is born and have 2 or 3 pediatricians lined up. Here in WI they cannot easily circ after 14 days and then they told us we would have to wait until he was 6 months and he would need full anesthesia! But under 14 days it's a 15 min procedure with only local injection anesthesia.

[molive]

flecet:  I live in Madison and was wondering who the pro-homebirth OB-GYN was that you worked with.  I just had an appointment with a doctor who was very anti homebirth and it was not a good experience.  Please help.

[Partaria]

Hi molive-

I did not work w/an ob/gyn during my pregnancy (planned homebirth). However, after I had my little boy, we changed doctors b/c of a change in insurance. My new doctor is very open to homebirth, and I believe the other doctors at her practice are the same. In fact, my midwife recommended this practice to me because many of her other midwifery clients have loved working with the docs there. It is Wildwood Family clinic. They have an office in Madison and one in Cottage Grove. I know they take several kinds of insurance- maybe check them out!

Dr. Leila Midelfort and Dr. Jill Mallory are two names I know for sure that people in the local homebirth community have had good experiences with. :)

[molive]

Thanks very much!  I'm planning my third homebirth but my first in Madison.  I lived in Indiana before and had wonderful, supportive care with my CPM and an OB.  I'm hoping to find similar support here.  I'll definitely look into these doctors, I have GHC so I'll look into coverage.  Any other advice/recommendations?  I've decided to work with Leah Hatcher and so far I think she's wonderful.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate the help.

[Partaria]

No problem! I'm on a local homebirth yahoo group- I will ask if any of the other members know of homebirth friendly MDs who take GHC. :)

[Partaria]

molive- 

When you go into GHC, they'll have you do an intake appointment with Joan Young. Joan will give you basically a super long lecture about what GHC does and doesn't offer for you. She'll likely recommend that you see Dr. Bull or Dr. Vohmann, who she will say are more homebirth friendly. Other moms on the local homebirth yahoo group who've worked with those doctors have shared that they didn't have the best experiences with these docs, and felt that they weren't as HB friendly as they'd wished. I met with Dr Bull and my experience was less than ideal. I've also recently heard that they aren't accepting new clients anyway. 

The GHC doc that I HAVE heard good things about from homebirthers is Dr Michelle Thomas at GHC's Capitol Clinic. Maybe check her out? 

If you'd like to talk more about navigating GHC's care you can PM me. I had GHC during my pregnancy up until a little while after my son was born.

Oh, and I've heard completely awesome things about Leah Hatcher. I am sure you'll have a great experience with her!