Rhode Island Babies
Possibly need new midwife who uses the ABC at W&I
I have been seeing a midwife who I like at Women's Care. I picked them because I am very close to 2 of their offices so it offers flexibility. However, the administrative staff is awful, and seems completely incompetent (even though they keep trying to make me feel like the stupid one). So I'm considering switching midwives. I'd really like to deliver at the Alternative Birthing Center at Women and Infants. Does anyone know of a great midwife (in a competent office) that fits the bill? Anyone else have experience with Women's Care?
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Re: Possibly need new midwife who uses the ABC at W&I
I used the ABC, but eventually was transferred out because of an extremely long labor that wasn't progressing. My midwife care was through Women's Care, and I have mixed feelings about whether I will go back the next time around, particularly since I will be trying for a VBAC (which isn't allowed in the ABC). I found that there was a wide range in the quality of midwives there, and you never know who you might end up with during labor. I know that OBGYN Associates also has midwives that use the ABC so you might want to try looking there. You might try using the resources of the Rhode Island Birth Network to find a better fit.
I've also heard good things about Memorial Hospital. It is a bit of dump, but the hospital tends to more natural birth friendly, and I have heard great things about a CNM who practices there (Mary Mumford Haley) as well as attends homebirths.
For the first half of my pregnancy I was with Fiona Clement at Women's Care and I absolutely loved her. However, I also had serious problems with their staff and ultimately decided to look into other options.
First of all, something to think about is that the ABC is only one room and therefore if another woman is delivering in there you won't be able to. Out of the nine women in the new moms group I go to, four of them delivered at W&I, they all had natural births and only one of them got to deliver in the ABC. One was made to wait in triage for almost four hours, another had to to wait in triage until she was pushing and only made it into a non-ABC two contractions before her son was born. The one who did get to deliver in the ABC just happened to arrive on a day when the hospital was slow.
Personally, I've heard a lot of negative things about delivering at W&I and most of it is because the ABC is only a single delivery room and almost every woman in RI delivers at that one hospital.
Because of everything I heard, I researched hospitals that support natural birth and ended up delivering at Memorial. It was amazing. The form you get to pre-register is practically a natural birth plan check list. Delayed cord clamping is a standard procedure, they advocate for skin to skin contact, and are the only hospital in RI that offers "The Gentle C" which is a cesarean section that allows for skin to skin immediately after delivery.
I found the staff to be extremely supportive throughout my 17 hour labor and 2 hours of pushing.
I ended up going to a midwife that no longer does hospital births and who wasn't present for my delivery. However, Dr. Kimberly Zeller and Dr. Heidi Schneider were my end OB's and delivery doctors. They are both very natural birth oriented and I could not be happier.
The only thing that is a draw back is that they operate out of East Bay Family Health Center in East Providence. It's a community health center and therefore not fancy and has sort of a clinic feel to it. That being said, I got better care, longer appointments, and a more attentive staff than I ever experienced at Women's Care. They also outsource ultrasounds so I got to go to a fancy place called New Beginnings that did 3d for our 20 week.
This is all based on my experience but if I'm going to have a hospital birth again, I would definitely go the same route.