Any one use this midwife/hospita in Pembroke Pines

[CariCloud]

Has anyone used Maria C Zedan CNM? She delivers at some of the Memorial hospitals. She is one of the Midwives that my insurance covers. Has anyone used her and/or delivered at Memorial Hospital-West? If so how did you like her or the hospital? Were they friendly to your wishes and natural childbirth etc? Any information would be helpful.

Thanks

[jamebaby]

I was not impressed. I was seeing Suidmak and decided to see her around 20 weeks to see if I might want to switch to her. I told her we were really interested in a natural birth and asked if she had any suggestions. She said to take the hospital class, and that would cover all of our options so that we would be informed of all of the pain relief techniques. We did take the hospital class later, and I would defnitely not recommend that for someone wanting a natural birth. I got the impression that Zedan/Suidmak were happy to let you have a natural birth, as long as you do it their way and follow their rules (IV, monitoring, no food/drink, no tub, pushing in bed).

I switched to A Birth Center in Hallandale around 35 weeks. The midwife there, Ilia, seemed to take me much more seriously when I said I wanted a natural birth. She was encouraging, and when the student seemed surprised, she mentioned that she had delivered her 4th child at home. She mentioned heplock as an alternative to an IV, but when I mentioned I'd prefer to skip that too, she said, Well, if you want it really natural like that, then you should go to the birth center or stay home. So, not perfect, but... She normally only delivers at Memorial Regional, but said she would go to West since she lives very near there, as long as she wasn't already at Regional with another mom. When I went into labor, the OB (DiGiacomo) was on call instead of her, so I had to go to Regional. Regional SUCKED. I would say NOT natural birth friendly. Luckily, I showed up 10 cm dilated and +2, so it was too late for them to ruin much. The evil nurses tried to make me push while lying FLAT on my back, and when I said I needed to have the back of the bed inclined up in order to push effectively, they reluctantly did it and told me when I was crowning I'd have to lay back down flat! DiGiacomo was great and told them I could push however worked best for me. He also was the reason I showed up at 10cm - when we first called him, we told him we wanted a natural birth, and he said Well don't go to the hospital yet!! even though I was having cntxs 3 min apart! Love him for that! I just hated the hospital though, so if we have another, I plan to ask Ilia for a recommendation to a home birth midwife.

[jamebaby]

Oh, wanted to add that Ilia, the CNM, was not listed on my insurance, but I think they just billed all through the OB so everything was covered.

[CariCloud]

Thanks so much. I have been looking at A birth Center in Hallendale these last few days. Is there a reason you didn't birth at the birthing center? I mean did you prefer hospital or were you not able to birth there? Are the facilities as nice as they look on the web?

[jamebaby]

No problem, I'm happy to help because I remember how difficult it was for me when I was searching for a dr or midwife. I should have mentioned why I didn't use the birth center! Our insurance (Avmed) would not cover the birth center except as out of network, which would have been pretty expensive. Also, back when I thought everyone gave birth in hospitals I signed up for Aflac, including a hospital plan which would not pay if I was in a birth center. So, it was for financial reasons, but I've since dropped the Aflac hospital plan and verified with Avmed that a home birth is covered.

Anyway.. one warning I do have about A Birth Center is that it's not in a great neighborhood. I think there's a strip club across the street. The building is right up next to I-95. From the outside, and even in the waiting room, I was seriously doubting my decision to switch there. There was always a character or 2 in the waiting room! But, once you're inside it's nicer, and of course I felt so comfortable with Ilia that I didn't care if the waiting room wasn't so fancy. After my son was born, I went for my postpartum visit and asked if there was anywhere I could nurse my son, and Dr. D let me use one of the birth center rooms. It was comfy. DH was with me, and we both were saying how much more comfortable we would have been there than the hospital. We were plannig on switching from his work insurance to mine so that we could have the birth center covered next time, but once we really started talking about it, DH figured they'll bring all the same equipment to our home that they have at the birth center, so why not just stay home! I never thought he'd go for it, but that's the plan now...

I know they do tours if you want to check it out! Good luck, and let me know if you have any other questions. I'd love to hear what you end up deciding and if you learn anything about any other local options.

[Mandy Rojas]

Does anyone know if home birth lisenced midwives are allowed to accept medicaid in Florida?

[turtlewomyn]

They should be, I know at least one LM that takes or has taken medicaid patients.

[soultrice67]

Hi

Me & my daughter used Sharon Hamilton in hollywood, 954 921-1110 also go to florida friends of midwifes, search for midwifes in your area, there are many on the list that accept medicaid. good luck

Happy birthing  Gigi

[amandasue24]

I believe my midwife, Sheila Simms Watson, has worked with patients using Medicaid.  She is a LM and CPM - I highly recommend her.  Her website: http://www.spiritoflifemidwifery.com/