Midwife or OB now???

[moobiegirl]

I'm torn now.  I am going to Valley Birthplace so far with the hope of a home  birth or the birth center, but now the home birth option is gone.  I had dd at Montgomery Hospital and really don't want to go back there (DD was seperated from me for hours on end twice and it was just not that pleasant of a stay for me and the pedi would not release dd for almost 36 hours).  I'd rather go to St. Mary's(had ds there and the post partum experience was much better) with an open OB or midwife as opposed to taking my chances of being risked out of the birth center.  DH isn't really that onboard with just a homebirth midwife.  He was open to the idea of HB, but secretly only supported the birth center.  A little background:  I was risked out of the birth center at 39 weeks with dd last time. Any suggestions would be helpful whether its an open OB/midwife at St. Mary's or other hospital.  I'm in Lower Bucks.  Thanks

[jenmidwife2b]

If you are wanting less interventions and an experience with midwives, stay with the Valley Midwives.

[chr157y]

Was there something seriously wrong medical wise that they kept her from you??  I just went on my hospital tour at Montgomery, and the nurse was very adament about babies not leaving their moms, except for a bath.   There was only 1 baby, who was obviously sick,  in the nursery and both parents were there. 

[paquerette]

Even for a bath they should not be doing that. For one thing, a bath is not in a newborn's best interests. For another, there is no reason a bath could not be performed in the postpartum room. And another, I would not trust them to do it out of my sight-- they can be very brutal sometimes. And often they decide that the bath has chilled the baby too much, and instead of warming baby on mama, they warm him under the lights and observe, leading to even more separation. I would raise a fuss about the bath issue if I were you.

[Path2Felicity]

Originally Posted by chr157y 

Was there something seriously wrong medical wise that they kept her from you??  I just went on my hospital tour at Montgomery, and the nurse was very adament about babies not leaving their moms, except for a bath.   There was only 1 baby, who was obviously sick,  in the nursery and both parents were there. 

I had a baby at Montgomery Hospital in November 2010.  They didn't give me a hard time with rooming in.  However, when they took her for a bath, they were gone for hours, and it was making me antsy.  When they wanted to take her for her hearing test, I kept saying that she wasn't going to want to go and that she would cry for me, so don't take her!  They did anyway, and half an hour later, they told me that she did indeed cry the entire time for half hour.  That was distressing for me.  Also, they said to me (more than once) that they could take her so that I could sleep.... it was really annoying.

[moobiegirl]

I had similar experiences like the other posters.  DD was born at 3am and by 6 they took her for her bath. I had asked for her to stay with me, but they insisted that the pedi needed to see her in the nursery.  I didn't see her again till 11.  My family had arrived were waiting around for her to come back.  When I called to find out how long it would be, they said they were waiting for the pedi to come and do the rounds.  Then the pedi wouldn't release her that same day.  The next morning the same thing happened.  They took her about 6-7 am and didn't return until 11.  Then the pedi stopped by around 12 to chat and we were on our way home by 2pm.  

My stay with DS at St. Mary's was much better.  He stayed with me 24/7.  I only sent (I walked him down and went to get him) him to the nursery so I could get a shower (30 min max).  He was my first and I was alone in the hospital my whole stay.  The food was better and so were the admentities (tv, walking around the halls, etc).  

If I am going to be in a hospital, I would like a nice stay at least.  Last time I went a whole 39 weeks thinking I was going to have a great birth center/waterbirth experience just to end up at a hospital.  This time I want to be prepared for the hospital experience if that's going to happen. BTW it was a stupid reason that risked me out and I'm positive that some other area midwives would not have batted an eye at.  

[chr157y]

Ugh.    After hearing all of this, I'll be sending the hubby with the baby, so he is never out of either one of our sight.  DH is very impatient, and can hopefully push things along, or bring the baby back to me if it's taking too long.

[mamabutterfly]

To chr157y, just to be clear, parents *can* refuse a bath (and should in my humble opinion). Nurses will say they then have to wear gloves, to which I say, go ahead. This will greatly reduce separation.

OP, I agree that you're still better w/Valley. Have you talked to the mws about your concerns @ Montgomery? And is the condition you had last time something likely to risk you out of the birth center again, or unlikely to repeat?