Good Sam, B North vs UC, For Women vs UC

LnA5909 · September 2011

I would love to hear everyone's feedback/ knowledge on the L&D units at Good Sam or B North vs US. Also, if any of you have received OB care at For Women vs UC I would love to hear that. Also, if you know what level NICU's each has, that would be great.

Currently, I see Dr. W and For Women and love her. I have not been fond of the other dr's in the practice I have met. However, I have been urged by several people to at least interview UC as well for my OB care.

FWIW, I am 7w with twins, so I may end up high risk. I will graduate (hopefully) from the RE in 2 weeks and will need to begin routine OB care at that time. Thanks for any insight!!

Rose.9.6.03 · September 2011

I believe Good Sam and UC are the only level III NICUs (someone correct me if I'm wrong), so I would choose between those two because you're carrying twins.

I actually saw a peri exclusively. His office was out of Christ, but he delivered at UC. Unfortunately, he moved out of state, so he's no longer in Cincinnati. Otherwise, I would highly recommend him.

Initially, I was not thrilled with the prospect of giving birth at UC, but I liked my peri so much that I stuck with him. However, the actual experience at UC was really good. I gave birth right after UC renovated the maternity ward, so every thing was nice and new and clean. All the rooms are private, which is really nice. However, they are very small. It was very cramped rooming in with twins and DH spending the night. There also is no nursery besides the NICU - so you have to room-in if your babies are healthy. I will say that on both nights we were there, the nurses took our girls to their station for a few hours at night so that we could get sleep, which was really nice. Actually, I found all the nursing staff to be absolutely wonderful there.

I don't know what kind of delivery you want, but *definitely* make sure to ask docs what their preferences are when you are interviewing. Some docs (particularly OBs rather than peris) will just assume that you are having a c-section. If a vaginal birth is important to you, make sure to find a doc that has true experience with multiple births and is an advocate for vaginal birth. Also, make sure to check into hospital policies about epidurals and such for twins if a drug-free birth is something you might seek. I know at UC, the policy for multiple births was that you must have an epidural and give birth in the OR (at at least that was the policy 4.5 years ago). So you really want to think about what kind of birth experience you want and what doc/hospital might be the best fit.

Congrats and good luck finding a doctor.

KYmama9286 · September 2011

I don't know much of anything about UC but I know that Good Sam has a level III NICU and it is very nice-- we did a tour of it when I was on bedrest with Nicholas since the dr's were convinced he was going to be there for a while (he wasnt! thank God!). I've always only heard good things about it.

As for high-risk dr's I saw the Tri-State MFM's at Good Sam when I became high risk with DS. They didn't end up doing my delivery (long story but I was able to transfer back to my midwives for my induction) but they were great for the 10 weeks I was in the hospital on bedrest. I highly recommend that entire practice-spec. Dr.Lambers and Dr.Voss.

I also went to For Women for my gyno care starting at age 15 and saw Dr.Clark from age 15 until right after I got married at age 22. I won't go into too much detail but I was NOT happy with the care I recieved in the last few years I went there. There were specific things said to me that rubbed me the wrong way, made me feel disrespected and overall I was just unhappy with her care. I never saw any other dr's in the practice and it was only for gynocological care so they could be different for OB but I purposely left there after both myself and my husband were disrespected at an appointment. If you want more info let me know and I'd be more than happy to share I just don't want to go into a ton of details on TB :-)

IAM4UK · September 2011

If you are having di/di twins, then I would feel comfortable seeing just a regular OB and selecting a doctor that delivers at Good Sam. I've experienced the NICU with my oldest and they were the best. I started with my regular OB's during that pregnancy and then was transferred to Dr. Voss at Tri-State Maternal Fetal Medicine. He was amazing. While every twin pregnancy poses its own set of challenges, fraternal twins carry the least risk.

Since I delivered early, I was considered high risk already when I got pregnant the second time. Low behold at my first u/s with my OB, we discovered it was twins. I immediately transferred back to Tri-State for my care already being high risk and carrying twins just complicated it. Turns out I was carrying mo/di twins - or identicals. There are things to watch out for when carrying mo/di twins such as TTTS. The docs at Tri-State Maternal Fetal Specialists are the experts in multiples pregnancy. I knew I was going to get the best care and attention under them.

Needless to say, they got me to 37 weeks with no NICU time for the twins.

There is a multiples board on the Bump and the girls are great over there. I also suggest you pick up Dr. Luke's book. It was a great read.

LnA5909 · September 2011

Thanks for the input, ladies. I think I will at least interview with UC OB/GYN's and schedule a regular appt with For Women and try to make a decision from there.

IAM4UK...Could you please give me more information about Dr. Luke's book? Also, the twins are di/di, so less chances of complications. At this point in time, the only thing my RE mentioned was their potential size. H was 12 lbs at birth and I was 9. Although I know that doesn't always mean anything, it was enough that he wanted it noted in the chart.

vollmasm · September 2011

I gave birth at UC, but because I was a student at UC at the time and had student health insurance, therefore I didn't have much choice if I wanted the full benefits of my insurance. Anyway, I also was not thrilled about it, but it turned out to be a great experience. My L&D nurse was actually a former doula, which was amazing - she was fantastic, a total advocate for me when I was having a hard time speaking for myself (i.e. labor). The rooms were nice, but small. The nursing staff was phenomenal. Overall, I was very pleased and would not have any issues delivering there again.

One thing to be aware of though is that UC is a teaching hospital. My epi was administered by a resident (under the supervision of a anesthesiologist) and there were 2 residents during delivery. My OB actually delivered Maddie when she came out though. So I guess this could be a positive or a negative depending on what you want.

Whitney DD · September 2011

My doctors deliver at Christ (not what you mentioned but I love them!) I'm with Mt. Auburn Women's Center and I primarily see Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald. They are all fantastic though. Had a great experience at Christ also.

stillwaiting12 · September 2011

I delivered our son at UC in July at 24 weeks. He is still in the NICU there and I couldn't be more pleased with the care he is receiving. UC specializes in micro preemies, hopefully that will not matter for you. I was there for almost 4 weeks total between the bedrest, recovery, and readmission when my csection incision became infected. I was very pleased overall with my care. I was not happy abou vein transferred to UC originally. I think the hospital has a bad rep for some reason. However, I have a different attitude toward them now. The only real downside for me was just the sheer number of docs. I think it was great in many ways, it was just hard to establish a relationship with any of them since there were so many. There are also 2 bullies who are nurses there on the maternity floor and they are AMAZING!

mrs.dilligaf · September 2011

vollmasm:
I gave birth at UC, but because I was a student at UC at the time and had student health insurance, therefore I didn't have much choice if I wanted the full benefits of my insurance. Anyway, I also was not thrilled about it, but it turned out to be a great experience. My L&D nurse was actually a former doula, which was amazing - she was fantastic, a total advocate for me when I was having a hard time speaking for myself (i.e. labor). The rooms were nice, but small. The nursing staff was phenomenal. Overall, I was very pleased and would not have any issues delivering there again.
One thing to be aware of though is that UC is a teaching hospital. My epi was administered by a resident (under the supervision of a anesthesiologist) and there were 2 residents during delivery. My OB actually delivered Maddie when she came out though. So I guess this could be a positive or a negative depending on what you want.

I could have written this myself. Student, wasn't happy with the idea, loved it when I got there, had more students see my hooha then I'd like to think about. I love Dr. Thompson at UC Health. She was off at 6 but waited off shift to see Molly be born. I had a great experience.

HrH33RN · September 2011

stillwaiting12:
I delivered our son at UC in July at 24 weeks. He is still in the NICU there and I couldn't be more pleased with the care he is receiving. UC specializes in micro preemies, hopefully that will not matter for you. I was there for almost 4 weeks total between the bedrest, recovery, and readmission when my csection incision became infected. I was very pleased overall with my care. I was not happy abou vein transferred to UC originally. I think the hospital has a bad rep for some reason. However, I have a different attitude toward them now. The only real downside for me was just the sheer number of docs. I think it was great in many ways, it was just hard to establish a relationship with any of them since there were so many. There are also 2 bullies who are nurses there on the maternity floor and they are AMAZING!

haha Now were bullies, April?? ;-) I'm proud to say I'm an OB nurse at UC.

stillwaiting12 · September 2011

HrH33RN:
stillwaiting12:
I delivered our son at UC in July at 24 weeks. He is still in the NICU there and I couldn't be more pleased with the care he is receiving. UC specializes in micro preemies, hopefully that will not matter for you. I was there for almost 4 weeks total between the bedrest, recovery, and readmission when my csection incision became infected. I was very pleased overall with my care. I was not happy abou vein transferred to UC originally. I think the hospital has a bad rep for some reason. However, I have a different attitude toward them now. The only real downside for me was just the sheer number of docs. I think it was great in many ways, it was just hard to establish a relationship with any of them since there were so many. There are also 2 bullies who are nurses there on the maternity floor and they are AMAZING!

haha Now were bullies, April?? ;-) I'm proud to say I'm an OB nurse at UC.

Hahahaha, hilar! That was bumpies, via auto correct. Definitely NOT bullies. Ha

kikis first · September 2011

I recently delivered at Good Sam and I have to say I was really pleased with my care there. I also use For Women and Dr.W was my primary dr there. However after giving birth, I have now switched to Dr. Kessler. I love her frank honesty, yet her compassion. She was awesome through my labor and my emergency c-section, and after care. Overall I did not mind the other docs, with the exception of Dr. Clark. Her demeanor is very dismissive and she is very heavy handed.

Kaliforniagirl · September 2011

No one has mentioned BNorth yet, so I thought I would jump in. I am happy to see that you are actually going other places. I saw a doctor that exclusively delivered at BNorth and I will never go there again. I work in the medical field so I understand that things could happen anywhere. Suffice it to say I thought they had a high level care NICU and found out the hard way that they didn't. My daughter spent 13 days at Children's due to their errors. They also do not have a pediatrician on staff 24/7 which was shocking.

ack2002 · September 2011

I go to For Women as well and I agree with pp about Dr. Clark. She isn't very warm or outgoing. My primary dr. is Rinala, who I LOVE. And Dr. Kessler is also fantastic!!

kel716 · September 2011

Kaliforniagirl:
No one has mentioned BNorth yet, so I thought I would jump in. I am happy to see that you are actually going other places. I saw a doctor that exclusively delivered at BNorth and I will never go there again. I work in the medical field so I understand that things could happen anywhere. Suffice it to say I thought they had a high level care NICU and found out the hard way that they didn't. My daughter spent 13 days at Children's due to their errors. They also do not have a pediatrician on staff 24/7 which was shocking.

My practice also delivers only at B North, but we had a great experience there. That said, we didn't have any issues and are going back there for this baby. I believe that if there is a reason to deliver with a high level NICU, they will deliver at Good Sam.

LnA5909 · September 2011

Thank you so much for all of the input! It seems like people have had great experiences at both places, so now I really have some decisions to make. I will just call Monday and try to make appointments with both and see if my gut leads me one way or another. Thanks again!

KittahMama · September 2011

I just delivered in July with For Women at Good Sam with Dr. Lemasters. I saw her, Dr. Rinala and then a mix of the other doctors since I had just moved up here. I delivered my daughter last year in Louisville at Norton's Suburban.

My honest opinion- well- EH....

Good Sam's antepartum (if you go on bedrest I think they call it Special Care OB) and postpartum rooms are beyond outdated and uncomfortable. I was in antepartum for four days. I had to share with a very young, very niave girl who kept telling me how she didn't have insurance or any money. The air conditioning wasn't working and this was during the heatwave this year. I kept telling them it was TOO hot in their (and I was on magnesium sulfate which makes you hot too) and in the end they called the maintenance my last day, when I was released. The compressor was gone. The room was around 85 degrees. I had to have my husband go buy me a fan to use because they told me they didn't have any.

The postpartum room was TINY. I realize it isn't a hotel but it was so uncomfortable that my husband didn't stay with me. My parents and husband came up with my daughter and they didn't have room to sit and barely had room to stand. It was really difficult and I BEGGED to be let out as early as possible. In the end I delivered at 2:02am and was released a day and a bit later at 9am. I couldn't take it.

Also- the food was inedible. I only ate the pizza that I had to ask for from the cafeteria and I am not big on greasy foods. The peas were grey and the broccoli brown. The mashed potatoes tasted like floor dust.

Again, I do realize that it isn't a hotel and you are there for the birth. When it came to medical care I felt like I was in the best place. The labor and delivery suite was INCREDIBLE. It was huge and comfortable. My parents, a good friend and my daughter were there for a long time with plenty of space and comfort for them and me. My labor and delivery nurse was so good my friend asked to take her back to Nashville so she could use her when she has her next kid! Dr. Lemasters was fine- a bit blunt with the nurse but great overall. My postpartum has been fine with her as well. She was encouraging me the entire time I was pushing as well- and it turned out he was sunny side up and she helped me get him out in 30 minutes, no problem.

I will say that some of the doctors were really unsympathetic to my situation. I have an irritable uterus, and had contractions from 30 weeks on every 5 minutes (at one point it was every minute, which was when I dialated and had to go in for four days). They acted like it didn't matter that I was in misery after six weeks. When I was dialated to a four and having PAINFUL contractions (I delivered the next day) I was sent home and told "sorry, deal with it". I realize that there wasn't much they could do and I must say Dr. Rinala was the best at at least ACTING like she was sorry I was having so many contractions and in pain (though I didn't see Dr. Lemasters during that period) and I really liked Dr. Kessler during that time too- she was really honest and open about the fact that they couldn't make the contractions stop and she was sure I was uncomfortable from them but it basically came down to either a NICU baby or me being uncomfy and in the end it meant I wasn't happy.

This is all in comparison to my experience last year in Louisville. The hospital there was much more comfortable for post partum stay and also the food was fine. With that being said- the labor and delivery room wasn't nearly as nice. It was much more medical like...

Anyway, that was MY experience. Good luck! I will say I see TONS of pics of multiples on the walls of For Women but I have heard great things about UC too.

jerseygirl81 · September 2011

I think everyone's experiences are vastly different when it comes to these things. I had a wonderful experience at Bethesda North, and I would deliver there again without hesitation. The nurses were great, the facility was clean and orderly, and we were comfortable there.

steve&heather · September 2011

I've had a great experience at Good Sam all three times. The last two times I had one of the super awesome, new L&D suites (they're bright and beautiful). I had the older rooms on the mom & baby unit, but I didn't mind so much as I was at the end of the unit so it was quieter.

The docs at For Women are awesome. Dr. Rinala delivered both of my boys, she did my c/s and I tell everyone that she's the reason my recovery was so easy. She took her time closing me up and made sure it was done right the first time. The only doc I had any conflict with was Dr. Horn as she believed I would not be able to VBAC with this last baby b/c he'd be too big. Every other doc thought I was a good candidate, but Dr. Horn kept citing literature. In the end, I was able to VBAC--although he came so quickly that they may not have had a choice, they barely had time to get the epidural in me.

I had two miscarriages between my daughter and the elder boy. I found all the doctors at For Women to be kind, gentle, and sensitive. Dr. Wurzbacher gave me massive hugs when we found out about the first m/c.

Want a personalized experience?

Good Sam, B North vs UC, For Women vs UC

Re: Good Sam, B North vs UC, For Women vs UC

Choose Another Board

Search Boards