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Capital Health Hospital in Trenton

post #1 of 7
10/21/08 at 3:32pm
Thread Starter 
Hi,
We are currently TTC and I have been doing lots of research. There have been a lot of great recommendations on this forum for Midwifery Care Associates (Pam and Louise). They would be a bit of a hike (45 minutes) but I guess it's worth it. I would be going for a VBAC, and their website states they will only do those in the hospital. I know very little about Capital Health and am curious if anyone's delivered there, what their experiences were like, especially if you were with Pam and Louise? Thanks in advance,

Miriam
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post #2 of 7
10/21/08 at 5:36pm
I traveled nearly an hour (it's doable - really!!!) to VBAC with Pam and Louise at Capital Health. The hospital was surprisingly hands-off and didn't hassle me about almost anything. My biggest complaints were that they told me I could leave in under 24 hours but then the ped didn't sign off on our form. Pam was going to come visit me to do the 24 hour testing so that was no problem. The nurses tried to get ahold of the ped but he never answered. The food isn't great : but those are my biggest gripes! They were fine with no hep-b shot, vit K shot, doing all assessments while I held my baby (they didn't even take her from me to weigh her for 2 hours!!!). They were un-phased by my long labor (Pam sat with me for 17 hours in the hospital until my dd decided it was time to meet the world). No one tried to push drugs on me. I had wireless monitoring and a hep-lock (no actual IV). They had no problems with my doula (except that she walked off the floor to get something to eat at one point and they had to call my dh to verify that she was allowed back in). I finally delivered at 7pm and my parents came with my first dd without a problem. Overall, it was a good experience and I would definitely go back there. I hear they are building a new hospital which will be nice since it's a bit old and not in a great area of Trenton (but it only takes a few minutes to get there once you reach Trenton so you aren't traveling through bad parts of the city for long). I drove there by myself a couple times and felt fine.

You can read my whole (very long!) VBAC story through the link in my siggy.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Several people on this forum know that I could talk about it all day if given the chance!!!
post #3 of 7
10/21/08 at 11:22pm
I live in the area and have heard many birth stories from people who delivered there. Most everything has been good. I was actually talking with someone today about it I wish I would have gone there
Everyone talks great about Pam and Louise also. Sorry, my answer is only general since I don't have personal experience with either, but my next birth I plan to use them.
Good Luck!
post #4 of 7
10/21/08 at 11:32pm
I also VBAC'd there with Pam and Louise, and it was absolutely wonderful and worth the long drive. I had the exact same complaints as Dana, which were that the food sucks and that it was a pain to get discharged early. But the birth itself was very laid-back. I barely even saw the nurses because either Pam or one of the student midwives was with me the entire time.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions - I don't check this forum too often since I moved out of the area but your title caught my eye.
post #5 of 7
10/23/08 at 10:49am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for everyone's responses. It makes me excited to go meet Pam and Louise, because I have a feeling we will need an appointment soon... and I guess I should check out the ICAN chapter so I can be extra-informed!
Do you feel a doula is important when you are working with Pam and Louise? I was hoping I wouldn't need one with them, I thought it would be more important if I used an OB/GYN.
post #6 of 7
10/23/08 at 11:59am
I’d still recommend having a doula. Pam or Louise will be there and support you through your labor but my doula came to my house and helped me labor at home for a little while. My labor was quite long so having my doula, my dh, Pam and the student midwife allowed each of them to rest of certain points so that I was never without someone supporting me. That was definitely missing in my first labor! Pam had been up the night before at a birth and then she was sitting with me during my endless labor. Her student midwife had been at the birth the night before with her so she decided to allow her student to sleep in for a while before calling her. That way, her student would be fresh and rested. It was a great idea b/c she came in many hours after I arrived at the hospital and she was full of energy.

If it was a choice between just using Pam and Louise (insurance usually covers them as out-of-network options so you could have some out-of-pocket expenses) vs an ob + doula, I’d still go with Pam and Louise. You might want to check out a doula-in-training though to keep expenses down. You won’t need a super-experienced doula to advocate for you as much (like you need with many obs who can be intervention happy), instead, it’s really a matter of support and having an extra person there to help you labor in the hospital. A doula working toward her certification would be perfect for that. In many cultures, where pain relief like epidurals are a rarity, several women come to help the laboring mother. As long as you are comfortable with the people surrounding you in labor, I think it can only help.

If you think you might need them soon, I’d call and set up a consult. They have office hours on Tuesday and Thursdays. There is another woman on this forum planning a vbac with them in a couple months so they definitely do a lot of vbacs. Feel free to ask them about my birth (my name is Dana). They love talking about the births they’ve attended.
post #7 of 7
10/23/08 at 2:44pm
I second everything that Dana said, except that my name is Anne.