Dr. Hartung in Hudson (?)
Squirrel29
member
Hi all!
I mostly lurk here but several months ago (when we were ttc) I had asked for recommendations for a VBAC friendly doc and a couple of people recommended Dr. Hartung. I also checked on the local ICAN list serve and most of the women there recommended him as well. I'm now about 14 weeks pg and have met with him - I really like him and his stance on VBAC is more than impressive. But I'm still a little hesitant about the distance out there (about 40 minutes assuming no major traffic concerns and it's not during rush hour).
I cannot remember who recommended him but I think that whoever it was had not delivered yet - I'm wondering if anyone has actually delivered with him and what their L & D experience was like. If you are willing to share I would really appreciate it! TIA!!
Re: Dr. Hartung in Hudson (?)
I'm probably the person who recommended him. I don't anyone else here who has seen him, and unfortunately, I can't answer your questions. I know the drive was not an issue to me at all, but my labor with Piper went so fast, we didn't make it to Hudson.
In fact, I went via ambulance to St. John's. But, I have a history of fast labors that end up being failure to progress resulting in c-sections. Kennedy's labor was 7 hours from first contraction to fully dilated. Piper's was 2.5 hours (yes, 2.5 hours). I was feeling the need to push while waiting for my sister to get to my house, hence the ambulance ride to the hospital.
I actually very much regret that we didn't make the drive and take the chance. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that, though. I truly do believe he may have been able to help me have a VBAC with Piper, as the OBs at St John's limited my pushing positions, even though I could move my legs with the epi.
I drive I-94 all the time to Hudson to train and once you get past the Woodbury split, 99.999% of the time it's smooth sailing. Even if there's a backup, you can always take any of the exits onto Hudson Road (so. side frontage road) and go all the way to the St. Croix bridge, stay in the exit lane and go the back way to the hospital (the road by DQ when you get into town takes you up the hill and it's just continuing to the hospital from there).
That said, I haven't had the greatest of experiences with Hudson Hospital - and they have a reputation in general to match that for pretty much everything. The question really becomes would he be the OB that would be delivering you or would it be one of the other Docs there. I know a few by face from the gym, but not enough to go strike up a conversation with if that's any idea (then again, our gym atmosphere is "it's their OFF time too!")...
St. Joe's in SP might be the place to check too...
yes. he would be the OB. Barring some sort of emergency anyways. He delivers all his patients. I never even met any of the other OBs when I was doing my prenatals.
That said, I haven't heard much about Hudson Hospital in general, but I have yet to hear anything bad about their labor and delivery unit.