Illinois Masonic Feedback

[coobabysmom]

Has anyone birthed at Illinois Masonic lately? There are a few threads about IL Masonic but they are a couple of years old. I have a client who is considering the midwife group there and was told the ABC room was still open. Please do share any info you may have. Thanks.

[mountainborn]

Ill Masonic ABC

I attended three births there as a doula in the past 6 months, you can pm me for more info if you want!

[coobabysmom]

Originally Posted by mountainborn

I attended three births there as a doula in the past 6 months, you can pm me for more info if you want!

pm-ed you! Thanks mountainborn.

[chandasz]

Could you post a little review here for the rest of us?? I'm curious as to the climate there too. I'm always looking for referrals (or warnings) for my students!

[wather]

Awesome at the ABC!

I walked away with a storybook birthing experience. I delivered with the midwives in the ABC in August '06. It was amazing! I LOVED my midwives all through my pregnancy, but the one on duty when I showed was not one I had ever met. But by the time my daughter was born I wanted to package Katie (the midwife) up and take her home with me!
The only minor minor issues:
They have a hard time staffing the ABC. It seems that it's tough finding nurses who want to work there. So if they don't have volunteers when you want to use it, you lose. I had a very annoying nurse who held a monitor to me for a really long time and very often and it was irritating. But Katie told me that the nurse was new and they didn't want to turn her away from wanting to work in the ABC, so they just let her do what she felt was safe. It wasn't a big deal.
Also, I had a no stress test that very morning and my blood pressure was high. The midwife told me that if it was elevated when I came to deliver they would not let me into the ABC. Fortunately I was 9cm dilated, fully effaced and my waters had broken by the time I got to triage, so they just sent me straight up to the ABC without doing ANY admitting stuff!
I LOVE to share my fairytale delivery and I attribute a great deal of it to the amazing midwives I had at Masonic.
Good luck finding the right choice for you and your baby!!!

[coobabysmom]

So glad to hear you had a wonderful birth! I recently heard that Katie may not be there... Thanks for sharing!

[melizdean]

This is what i posted on a thread a while back, and i gave birth exactly 17 months ago...
It was not in the ABC room, but in the regular labor and delivery ward, but it was really my hospital stay experience that was frustrating and unfortunate.
Hope this helps...

I am writing to tell you about my experience at Illinois Masonic because I was very unhappy with my hospital stay there. I loved my OB/GYN practice (I saw Dr. Bicalho) and the doctor who attended my birth (Dr. Locher) was also wonderful. The entire experience stay in the hospital however, was terrible. I gave birth on a Sat, meaning I had NO assistance with breastfeeding, because there are no lactation consultants available on the weekends, and then when they do come on in Monday they are so swamped, that they can not give you much individual time. The nurses are no help with breastfeeding at all. One lactation consultant even had to double as a nurse because they were so low staffed. All in all, I wrote a letter to the charge nurse and CEO letting them know how disappointed I was, (and the fact that my breastfeeding relationship was almost ruined, but luckily we worked it out and I am still nursing nearly 16 months later!) and how I would not be having baby #2 there. Not to freak you out, but just to help you plan to ask more questions and hopefully get better care than we did. Congrats on your

[coobabysmom]

Originally Posted by melizdean

This is what i posted on a thread a while back, and i gave birth exactly 17 months ago...
It was not in the ABC room, but in the regular labor and delivery ward, but it was really my hospital stay experience that was frustrating and unfortunate.
Hope this helps...

I am writing to tell you about my experience at Illinois Masonic because I was very unhappy with my hospital stay there. I loved my OB/GYN practice (I saw Dr. Bicalho) and the doctor who attended my birth (Dr. Locher) was also wonderful. The entire experience stay in the hospital however, was terrible. I gave birth on a Sat, meaning I had NO assistance with breastfeeding, because there are no lactation consultants available on the weekends, and then when they do come on in Monday they are so swamped, that they can not give you much individual time. The nurses are no help with breastfeeding at all. One lactation consultant even had to double as a nurse because they were so low staffed. All in all, I wrote a letter to the charge nurse and CEO letting them know how disappointed I was, (and the fact that my breastfeeding relationship was almost ruined, but luckily we worked it out and I am still nursing nearly 16 months later!) and how I would not be having baby #2 there. Not to freak you out, but just to help you plan to ask more questions and hopefully get better care than we did. Congrats on your

Thanks for your feedback. I am troubled about your lack breastfeeding support but delighted to hear things are on track now. I am also pleased that your wrote the CEO and charge nurse because hospitals need to know what the consumer demand is!

[chandasz]

I think that almost every hospital in the Chicago area is very low on breastfeeding help. It's absolutely ridiculous.

I would advise that everyone have the name and number of a private lactation consultant as well as a LLL leader.

I also highly recommend getting a doula who will help you get nursing off to a good start too