Looking for natural birth friendly OB's in NW Arkansas area

[ReadingRenee]

Hey there! Im looking for a natural birth friendly OB in the NW Arkansas area. I know there is a birth center in Berryville but its an hour and a half away. I was wondering about Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, or Bentonville.

Thanks

[sparkysgirl]

I would check with the birth network http://birthnetworknwa.org/ email them and see what they say. I used Mari Slape at washington regional, she is a CNM and took care of me during my pregnancy (ended in a c/s for breech so I can't give you much info on that part) she is more medical than most midwifes, but might be worth interviewing, she is very sweet. I hear that st. mary's is the most mother/natural birth friendly place (besides berryville) but still a hospital so.... not sure about the obs there. Stay away from willow creek, please! Best of luck, if you have any questions about Mari, I would be glad to help and will do my best to answer them

[2goingon2]

Alas - St. Mary's is no more. I'm from Rogers and my family is still there..in fact - headed there tomorrow for the weekend. Anyway, it's all Mercy Medical in Rogers now. Don't know much about it but my dad sure gripes about it. He's 74 so he tends to gripe about a lot of things though. Good luck on your search. I would definitely try Fayetteville first...way more crunchy.

[ReadingRenee]

thanks for the responses.

I ended up making an appointment with Mari Slape. I would be very interested to hear anyones experiences with her.

Sparkysgirl can you tell me more about your experiences with her? I have 2 weeks til my appointment so Im trying to gather info.

Thanks

[sparkysgirl]

she is very sweet. takes her time during appontments. she has been practicing for a long long time. she is the one who does the u/s for the clinic, so I got one almost everytime, thats how she checked heart tones (this was before I knew that it probably wasn't a good thing) One of the things I didn't like was that I wanted to talk about the delivery and ask questions and she told me "don't worry about that now, just enjoy your pregnancy", well, i was worried about it and wanted my concernes addressed. Thats really my only complaint. I know one woman who used her and loved her during the delivery, said she let her push squatting on the floor and let her do what felt right. She actually came up and saw me after my c-section, even though she wasn't there when it happend, she just wanted to come check on me and see the baby. She is really sweet natured, kind of short old lady with an irish (i think) accent. I can give you details about the hospital too if you would like.

[ReadingRenee]

Thank you for the reply. That is good stuff to know. The being allowed to squat to push makes me feel a lot better. I actually delivered my daughter in Washington Regional 5 1/2 years ago so I know a little bit about it unless some stuff has changed which I would be interested in hearing. I had to be hooked up to an IV with a fetal monitor and had to lay on my back to push and I DON'T WANT THAT AGAIN. I used Dr. Smith and a doula who was a lifesaver but Dr. Smith didn't even end up being my delivery OB. The labor/delivery nurses were also great. I don't know if I just got lucky that day or what but they were amazing.

[sparkysgirl]

not sure what mari's stance is on iv's and monitoring, i would be willing to bet that she will budge on that stuff, maybe a heplock. I seem to remember being told that they would want to do a strip when I got there then it could be intermittent after that, I also remember being told that I could eat and drink, as long as I didn't have any vomiting/nausea. not for sure on all that stuff though, since I never got to that part. I will tell you that my c-section was terrible there! The staff was very cold, and not very compassionate and their policies for c/s stink! no holding baby, no baby in recovery, blah blah blah. My husband didn't even get to hold her in the OR. So, thats just a bit of my experience there, hopefully everything will go well for you and you won't need a c/s. I think that maybe if I had planned better, and talked with the doc about my wishes, maybe it would have gone differently. But I was that woman who thought I would never have a c/s, so I didn't bother to plan for one, just in case. Good luck mamma, hope mari works out for you!

[ReadingRenee]

wow the eating and drinking thing is cool. With my dr I was only allowed ice chips. I am feeling a lot better about having to deliver in a hospital hearing your experiences with Mari. Im sorry your C/s experience was so terrible. Those do sound like terrible policies regarding c/s. I will cross my fingers for no c/s. thanks for being so helpful.