ATTN: charyssma and anyone else considering Bay Area Midwifery
EndeavorsInDomesticArt
member
I had a REALLY horrific experience delivering with the midwives at Bay Area.
I will give you a brief overview, but if you want more info feel free to message me.
1. The midwife on call was 45 minutes late meeting me at the birthing center (my contractions were intense and 2 minutes apart after laboring at home for 8 hours) so I had to wait in the ER waiting room until she arrived to open the center for me.
2. She opened the birthing suite and then left and said she'd be back in a few hours.
3. She didn't offer any support or coaching WHATSOEVER.
4. Never once did she remind me what kind of birth I was hoping for.
5. I was running out of time due to my water breaking and my dilation happening EXTREMELY slowly, so when I asked what my options were, she simply said "To go to the hospital and get an EPI. Then walked away and got a wheelchair. There was no discussion whether I wanted one or not.
*In general, she seemed like I was really making her go out of her way to be at my birth with me. Not to mention, after all the fuss the receptionist made at my 30 week appointment that I needed to see all of the midwives in the practice, I had never had an appointment with this midwife.
6. She NEVER called her backup. There should be 2 midwives present at all births at the center.
7. Once we were in the hospital, she literally sat there with her fingers inside of me, practically rolling her eyes telling me I was using all of the wrong muscles to push and that I was too strong and flexible for my own good.
8. She told me that my sacrum was too pronounced to push the baby between my pubic bone and sacrum muscle. The proceeded to tell me, mid contraction, that her friend broke her sacrum during labor from pushing too hard when the baby was obviously not going to fit.
9. After our baby had a very traumatic Welcome to the world VIA vacuum extraction, she stitched me up without a word, got up, grabbed her jacket and left. Never to be seen or heard from again. I didn't see or hear from another midwife or nurse from the birthing center until over 24 hours later, and when the on call midwife for the next day came, it was just a hello and then she left.
It was so bad, I found a new DR for my follow ups and I am going to write a letter. I am so, so disappointed with my birth, but atleast we are all happy and healthy. On a positive note, the staff and doctors at Anne Arundel Medical Center were amazing and if it wasn't for their L&D nurses, I probably would have ended up with a c-section. BAM and AA Hospital completely changed my views on what happens during a hospital birth.
Re: ATTN: charyssma and anyone else considering Bay Area Midwifery
how horrible. i'm so sorry that this was your experience. please do write that letter and demand a response. no one should be treated that way. i'm also concerned about the lack of a back-up midwife at your birth. typically, those guidelines are in place for insurance purposes. this MW could be risking the professions of the rest of her colleagues by acting in such an irresponsible way, not to mention denigrating the reputation of midwives everywhere.
we should all be entitled to respect and professional care during our childbirthing experiences. it pains me to hear of stories like this. i hope that you take appropriate time and energy to heal from this experience. there are others here (me!) who had disappointing experiences with midwives, so feel free to reach out if you need it.
Thanks, Ladies. I am just glad we are both safe and happy and healthy. I love my little man!
And atleast I know what to look for next time. I just feel bad because my prenatal care was pretty good, so I recommended the birthing center and gave it good reviews.