[PGTlatte]

I am thinking ahead to our next baby...no I'm not pg, just have it on the brain

Anyway I am wondering if there is anyone here who somewhat recently had a hospital birth in the Chicago area that they were really happy with ? Especially in the West or NW suburbs ? I do not want a repeat of the experience we had at St. Alexius. When I think about Evan's birth, there are many things I want to change for next time.

I would like to be able to wear what I want, not have pitocin or anesthesia pushed on me, be allowed to walk around, at least be able to have clear liquids (nothing but ice chips for 18 hours totally ticked me off), see the baby right away, not have to chase away nurses with bottles of formula in the middle of the night, not have an evil nurse sneak our baby formula behind my back, and in fact, I'd like to leave a few hours after birth. Total shame that freestanding birth centers are not allowed here, because that is really what I want ! But if anyone has had a good experience at a hospital, I'd love to know which hospital (and who your doctor or midwife is). I'm ready to switch doctors so I can go to a different hospital. I am in the far NW suburbs and closer is obviously better but I'm willing to drive a bit to get a better experience next time.

Thanks !

Linda B.

 

[Heidi C]

There is a group of doctors in the Chicago area that have been providing physician attended homebirth for over twenty years. They are a wonderful group of doctors who promote healthy living and breastfeeding among other things. You can check out their website at Homefirst.com. They have an office in Rolling Meadows. I believe that once a month they hold an "information night" at the R.M. office. It is not required that you have the baby at home. They will accompany you to the hospital. This happened to me as my first two children were born at 26 weeks. My third daughter was born at home and it was the greatest experience. Good luck to you and your family in finding a doctor that will work with you!

Heidi C.

 

[Snicwix]

Uh, oh. I have just picked out a new Midwife practice that delivers at St Alexian Brothers in Elk Grove Village. I was hoping since they allow midwives that it would more naturally minded. I am a stones throw from CDH, but they do not allow midwives there and I don't want a doctor to attend my next birth, if possible.

 

[PGTlatte]

Hi Sarah, I was at St. Alexius in Hoffman Estates, not Alexian Brothers. I believe they are both run by the same religious order, but I don't know if the hospitals have anything else in common or not. I did have a CNM attend Evan's birth at St. Alexius, but she was more of a "medwife". - Linda B.

 

[Snicwix]

Ok. The names are so similar; I thought you were talking about the same hospital. I still have to interview this midwife practice, so who knows if I will use them yet. I don't have any experience with a "medwife", but it has to be an improvement over an OB and a c-section.

 

[mom2savannah_grace]

I delivered at Sherman in Elgin 2yrs ago and I had a med-free birth without any hassles or unnecessary interventions, but I also believe it was because of my midwife (she has since left the practice). However, I had no issues with the nurses after delivery and my dd only left my room twice for testing, but dh was with her both times. They were very bf friendly there and even taught dh how to change a diaper.

The practice has two drs and two midwives. I haven't met the midwife who replaced mine, but I love the other midwife and both the drs. It is Suburban Women's Health Specialists and they have offices in Elgin, Algonquin, and Hoff Est (they do deliver at St Alexius also but you know to stay away from there).

PM me for the phone number if you are interested (although I am sure you can find it in the phonebook) or if you have any other questions.

 

[PGTlatte]

Heidi, I found their webpage...I'm going to check them out ! I live just down the road from Sherman...thanks !

Linda B.

 

[Sarah_Y]

I live in the northwest suburbs and am super close to Northwest Community Hospitals. I toured both Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights and St. Alexian brothers Hospital in Elk Grove village. I like NWCH a little better, newly remodeled, bigger rooms, almost garantee a private mother-baby room, the tour itself offered so much more detail. I interviewed a midwife practice that deliver at St. Alexian brothers Hospital in Elk Grove village. The founding midwife talked to me. She spent a lot of time with me, considering it was a free initial consultation and I was not even pregnant then, and she was very professional (I actually would like her to be more personal ) but I wasn't too thrilled by the office staff and they don't have any doctor on board.

Has anybody have a midwife attended birth at either hospitals? Could you share your experience? Thanks!

 

[PGTlatte]

"Has anybody have a midwife attended birth at either hospitals? Could you share your experience? Thanks!".......actually I had a CNM attend Evan's birth at St. Alexius in Hoffman Estates. She was a very medical sort of midwife though...the one CNM in a large practice of OB-Gyns.

My complaints about St. Alexius are not so much with the birth part, but the after care in the mother-baby unit. That was the part I really hated, and that makes me not want to go back there. Basically I could not get any rest at all in two days because one person after another kept coming into our room, even when a doctor put a sign on the door telling them to leave me the heck alone. And while they say they are supportive of breastfeeding, I didn't experience that...Evan was crying the whole time we were there, and they kept saying we should "top him off"...two months later we found out the crying was from reflux, it had nothing to do with needing to eat more. Topping of could only have screwed up breastfeeding, and I'm glad I refused it.

There is a really cool LC there who leads the support group, but the LC I saw postpartum was terrible...she basically told me he didn't nurse well and that it wasn't my fault, and that I had at least tried...like I should give up ! She offered no help at all, so I ignored her. I had a private LC come to our house. He's 21 months old and still nursing so I guess we figure it out

Next time I am hoping to go to a different hosptial, and to find a doctor or midwife that will agree to an early release...I would like to go home as soon as possible...I don't feel that staying in the hospital accomplished anything and really only caused problems, so I don't see why we should stay there if everyone is healthy.

Linda B.

 

[C99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snicwix Uh, oh. I have just picked out a new Midwife practice that delivers at St Alexian Brothers in Elk Grove Village. I was hoping since they allow midwives that it would more naturally minded. I am a stones throw from CDH, but they do not allow midwives there and I don't want a doctor to attend my next birth, if possible.

My SIL gave birth twice at Alexian Bros. in EGV and was very happy with it as far as I know.

 

[mom2savannah_grace]

Quote:

Originally Posted by llp34 Heidi, I found their webpage...I'm going to check them out ! I live just down the road from Sherman...thanks ! Linda B.

I saw that you lived in West Dundee so I knew that Sherman would be close for you. I hope you can find what you are looking for. It seems as though you were really disappointed in your post-partum care and I found mine to be wonderful at Sherman. I liked all my nurses. My dr was also willing to release me the day after delivery however my dd had to stay an extra day to be observed because I was GBS + and they didn't get a full course of antibiotics in me so they wanted to make sure she was okay. I stayed because I didn't want to go home w/o her. I even co-slept with her and no one said anything (although maybe no one noticed

)

 

[Snicwix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by C99 My SIL gave birth twice at Alexian Bros. in EGV and was very happy with it as far as I know.

That is good to know. My only experience is with Edward Hospital down in Naperville. Thanks!

 

[Mollybeth]

I gave birth at CDH about 5.5 yrs ago, back when they had midwives. I believe that same group of midwives has moved onto Alexian Brothers, as they were searching for a more supportive hospital environment for their clients (CDH was not exactly supportive and they were the first midwives to test the waters there). Are you seeing Therese (et al)? That is who I was with. With my 2nd birth, I ended up moving to a midwife closer to where I live, a midwife who delivers at Provena Mercy in Aurora (it was far enough to drive to CDH...Elk Grove Village is just too far!). I love my new midwife, but I didn't like leaving Therese. So if it is Therese you are delivering with...she is great!!

Molly

 

[Snicwix]

Hi Mollybeth,
I have an appointment with Therese in a couple of weeks. I am glad to hear you had a great experience with her practice. Too bad they are not still at CDH--I am only a couple miles from there. I think it would take me just as long to get to Provena as St Alexian. I have a good friend who has delivered 2 babies at Provena and liked her experience.

 

[kaya3]

i delivered ds2 at Rush north shore in skokie. the aftercare was spectacualr. i told them no artificial nipples, and they were very respectful of that. and very supportive of my wishes for no formula. i know some one that had a bad experience there as well, thugh, so go figure. i loved them!

 

[yogamama]

Just a thought - I delivered both of my babies at West Suburban in Oak Park and there are two groups of midwives that are wonderful there. I know it is not NW, but from the far NW suburbs you could probably get there in 35-40 minutes. I live on the far NW side of the city right off the Kennedy Expressway and it was totally do-able for me.

Otherwise, I would check into homebirth of non-invasive birth is what you are looking for. I haven't heard much about birthing in the NW suburbs that is very AP friendly.

Good luck!
Kathleen

 

[Margaret1022]

Hi,

I'm sorry I don't have any recommendations for you. I'm actually scared now because my doctors only deliver at Northwest or St. Alexius. I will NEVER set foot in NW again and would drag myself across the street to get out of their delivery zone if an ambulance needed to ever take me there again.

My only experience with St. Alexius has been the ER twice, one Admission and the Mammography Department. I didn't care for the doctors assigned to me, but overall it was okay. Then again, it wasn't pregnancy related and I would be much more vigilant about my baby.

I am going to keep looking around too so I don't have a repeat of your experience there. May I PM you if I run across anything promising?

All the best,
Margaret

 

[ETW]

I also gave birth at West Suburban in Oak Park and had a wonderful experience. My midwives were West Suburban Midwife Associates and I loved them. The hospital has an "alternative birthing center" which is just a set of rooms in the regular labor and delivery suite that you can use if you plan on going without meds. They have a big tub in the room for waterbirth, a queen-sized bed so the whole family can sleep together after the birth, a fridge for you to store your own snacks, etc. No one ever mentioned drugs to me, my midwives supported my decision to decline GBS testing, I didn't have to have a hep-lock or IV, they avoided an episiotomy even though my DS was having minor decelerations during the last bit of pushing. DH went with DS to the nursery to have a bath a few hours after birth but other than that DS was never away from me. I was cleared to check out several hours after birth but we decided to stay the night so we wouldn't have to interrupt our first hours with DS with the hustle and bustle of the check-out procedure. My midwives and the hospital staff were in every way helpful, respectful, and supportive. I really can't recommend them highly enough. We live on the south side (near the U. of Chicago) so we had a bit of a drive to get there, but it was totally worthwhile for us.

 

[AMJ]

Hi,

I delivered my daughter at Sherman Hospital last summer and it was a very pleasant experience. We had taken Bradley classes and I definitely had some strong opinions that were very much respected by the hospital staff. We considered St. Joe's in Elgin since it was closer to our home and my doctor practiced at both, but the facilities were horrible (shared bathrooms in labor and delivery). My Bradley instructor, who is also a doula, highly recommended Sherman because of the bathroom issue and because she found the staff at Sherman to be much more receptive to couples more interested in a natural delivery. As for length of stay, I delivered my daughter around 4pm and was able to be released the following evening (a little over 24 hours). My only negative with Sherman hospital was the lactation consultant that I worked with. She was a bit odd.

My doctor was very supportive of my choices, but she happened to be on vacation when I delivered. The two midwifes in her group, Mary Traub and Linda Melilan (sp?) ended up tag teaming my delivery and they were both wonderful! I would highly recommend them. They were both so excited and so supportive of natural childbirth.

 

[Mamatoto2]

I also gave borth at the Alternative Birthing Center at West Sub in Oak Park. Had the waterbirth there (barely). DD was born less that 45 min. after we go to the hospital. Anyway, I have a few thoughts to share...if your priority is a hospital that has an environment in which not pushing drugs, working with midwives, water labor/birth, and supporting moms through a drug-free labor is the norm, this might be a good fit. HOWEVER, having said that. I had major complications following the birth of my daughter and my care was mediocre at best (and medically negligent at the worst). I'd give specific details regarding my care from the midwives and hospital staff throughout the 5 days I was there following the birth, but I'm not sureif it's ok to post them publically (slander?)

If you're interested, pm me.

**As an aside, I'm looking for a midwifery group in the western burbs who has priveleges at some hospital that does waterbirths. I'm close to Provena or Edward's. If anyone has info, I'd LOVE it!