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D.C. Area Babies
mcatmay
member
Long-time lurker, first-time poster...
mcatmay
member
Hi ladies!
I've been lurking off and on for a couple of months because we are moving to the gaithersburg area in July (am due with our first child beginning of August). We currently live in northern MD (an hour and half north of gaithersburg) and have been trying to plan childbirth long-distance. This is what i've determined so far - am switching to Capital Women's Care in Rockville for OB, am going to deliver at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital.
Questions:
1. Anyone else deliver at Shady Grove? What was your experience? I took the maternity tour and it seemed pretty great!
2. I'd like to try to deliver naturally IF POSSIBLE (i'm realistic that this is my first and i might change my mind but i'm trying to prepare for it) - does anyone know how well the OBs support that in the Capital women's care practice?
3. Any other recommendations for a FTM that is going to be new to the area a month before her delivery? General advice or specific advice to childbirth and beyond ;-)?
TIA! So excited to move down there!!!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Long-time lurker, first-time poster...
Welcome and Congratulations! I can only share my experience on your #2 question, and it's only semi-related. I go to Capital Women's Care in Silver Spring, and delivered at Holy Cross hospital. However, my goal was to deliver naturally, and when I expressed that to the CWC practitioners, I got responses that ranged from "Awesome, good luck!" to "God bless you." to "You'll want the epidural."
When my water broke at 1.5 cm, there was meconium and my contractions were irregular, averaging about 7 mins apart, so the doctor strongly encouraged Pitocin to speed up the process. We agreed because I was 2 weeks early and meconium that early in the game wasn't typical. After about 2.5 hours on Pitocin (taking me from about 2cm - 8cm), I asked for the pain management option of Stadol, which helped a lot. I was able to tolerate the pain from there, and didn't end up with an epidural.
The nurse was respectful of me going for it naturally, and waited for me to say when I wanted/needed the pain management.
Good luck!!
I had CWC as my OBs when I delivered at Shady Grove, but I believe it was technically their Gaithersburg office. I had a pretty good delivery experience at Shady Grove. The L&D nurses were AMAZING! I wasn't crazy about one of the post-delivery nurses and one of the hospital admins followed up with us immediately about it. I know you are far away, but I recommend trying to meet with Susan Hine, the birth adviser before your due date. I don't know that it made a huge difference in my delivery experience, but I did like "knowing" someone at the hospital. She came to visit me both during labor and after the baby was born. This was all slightly less than two years ago.
That being said, I think if you want a med-free birth than you need to have some serious conversations with your OB and a birth plan that you review with them and Susan and have them both sign off on. During the tour I was told that you could have intermittent baby monitoring, move around during labor, etc. But when I got there (five days after my due date, water broke on own with no intervention) they pretty much strapped me in with a monitor and bag of pitocin and threw a fit every time I got up. Finally I started going to the bathroom every hour so I could move around and sit on my birth ball. They didn't like it, but they couldn't say much. I think the meds and monitoring are standard practice, so if you don't want these things, 1. Have your doc sign off on it before hand so you can show that to the nurses while you are getting checked in and 2. Have your mom/partner/doula/whoever is your support person be prepared to help state and defend your birth wishes. It really takes constant awareness of what the med staff is doing and even if you are aware enough at the beginning after labor really gets underway its hard to articulate your wishes clearly. It helps to have someone else in your corner.
All that being said I felt the same way as you. I labored naturally (as possible) for 24 hours, then decided on an epi. It was my decision and I have a beautiful baby girl and am fine with the birth experience I had. I don't know that the CWC docs were necessarily supportive of a med or intervention free birth. They were eager to schedule an induction and a C-section were brought up often, I pushed pretty hard against it.
Our pediatrician was Dr. Steven Hirsch, love him. Enjoy Gaithersburg, we liked living there. Check out the library and Growlers the restaurant
Thank you both! A HUGE help - Sarabean, i will most definitely have a discussion with the OBs, per your recommendation and see about the doctor signing off ahead of time. DH is on board with whatever i want to do so i know i'll have in my corner when the time comes (he can be fierce and protective when it comes to his family ;-) And congratulations on fighting for your ability to have the birth your way and having a beautiful, healthy girl at the end of it!!!!