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missamanda124
member
Delivery at Butler Hospital?
missamanda124
member
Has anyone delivered at Butler Memorial Hospital or heard anything about it? I thought my OBs went to Magee or West Penn, but at my first appointment last Thursday, I was told they only deliver at Butler. My mom has some reservations and I haven't heard anything about their delivery and care.
Thanks!
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Re: Delivery at Butler Hospital?
I did not have my children at Butler Hospital but have attended a few births there as a doula. Who is your OB? The last I knew there were only two practices doing OB there. I can honestly tell you that any of those three hospitals that you mention have fairly high intervention rates (as far as epidurals and inductions go). What kind of reservations is your mother have? I live near Butler and I know it's a longer drive to Magee or West Penn.
If you have any specific questions about Butler that I can answer please let me know. I do believe that they are competent but also highly interventional and they are not the most supportive of breastfeeding on the post partum unit and they do not allow rooming in.
If you are willing to drive to Magee for your delivery The Midwives at Magee have a new office in Cranberry and they are absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend them. I know a lot of people have reservations about midwifery care but honestly I think you get better care because they believe that pregnancy is not a medical condition and they treat it as such but because people are skeptical of midwifery care I think midwives tend to notice potential problems more quickly.
Please let me know if you have any other specific questions that I may be able to answer.
Congratulations on your pregnancy.
Amy
I thought of one other thing that I didn't mention before. Butler Hospital is under construction right now and if they are really busy you have to share a post-partum room with someone which means that your husband can't stay the night either. Not sure if that makes a difference to you or not but I thought I'd mention it.
I know someone who delivered there and had no issues. She had a rather quick labor, so it worked out since she was closer to Butler.
As far as "medical intervention", that is your business and no one should scare you out of what you want to do-epi, no epi, etc. Are you willing to switch OBs to get someone who delivers at Butler?
Ok first off I am not in any way trying to scare this person. She asked what it is like to deliver at Butler Hospital. I am telling her the truth they are very highly interventional. Their nurses will tell her the same thing. I am telling her that so that she can make an educated choice about her care. Yes she didn't say that she was looking for low intervention but if she is she isn't going to get it there. I have no problem with women choosing the interventions I just wish they would educate themselves about the true risks and benefits of them before labor starts instead of getting the cliff notes version (and not always the truth) from their ob or a nurse.
Second of all her OB does deliver at Butler according to the original post and she thought they delivered in Pittsburgh so that is why she is asking about Butler is because she is not sure that she wants to deliver there.
I am just informing her honestly about the local hospitals having high intervention rates and giving her other options in case she is looking for something low intervention.
I myself had an epidural with my second because of complications after having a totally natural drug free and complication free delivery with my first so it isn't the interventions that I have a problem with it is the overuse of them that I have a problem with.
To the original poster you are free to make your own decisions about your care but I am trying to present you with what I have found to be true of the care at Butler. I would never say they are incompetent because they are competent but highly interventional. If that is ok with you then that is your choice.
Amy
I live in Butler, and I specifically changed OBs to NOT deliver at Butler. I am sure some people had absolutely no problems, but I was not comfortable there. I had some bleeding around 20 weeks, and my dr sent me to the hospital. They hooked me up to a fetal monitor and left me in a room by myself for 3 hours! I could hear them talking about how slow it was, and then they got a few calls about people coming in, so they discharged me with no answers / care. Now, I am really hoping my experience was the exception and not the rule, but it made me very uncomfortable. I have heard of many other issues there in several different departments. And to be fair, I was also not pleased with the care I was receiving at my OB, so it wasn't just the hospital, but that was the breaking point.
Has your mom shared her concerns with you? And can you / will you share those with your doctor? Also, another concern of mine and my husband's was that Butler did not have a NICU, just in case something went wrong. We chose to deliver at AGH, and we were so happy there. AGH is phasing out their maternity, and everyone is being moved to West Penn.
Every hospital has people that will cheer it and those that will jeer it. But YOU (and your partner if applicable) need to be comfortable with wherever you choose to deliver. All the best.