| Midwifery Care Associates Simmonds and Simmonds, Chartered Phone: (240) 514-0140 Fax: (240) 514-0148 Email: cnm@midwiferycareassociates.com |
| 11301 Rockville Pike, 3rd Floor North Bethesda, MD 20895 (in the White Flint Mall) ~ 77 Thomas Johnson Drive, Suite H Frederick, MD 21702 |
| "Certified Nurse Midwives offering respectful, competent, gentle health care to women throughout their lives" |
| Homepage Meet the Midwives History of MCA Forms, Links, and Handouts Consulting Physicians Birth Stories Shady Grove Hospital |
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| My son, Severin, was born at the Maternity Center on December 14th, 2005. His birth turned out to be the perfect experience that my husband and I had envisioned: I labored at home overnight, then I went to the Maternity Center in the morning, got settled into the Santa Fe room, and 2 hours later I had a beautiful baby boy. Within 10 hours of Severin's birth, we were back at home resting in our own bed. A year and a half later I was pregnant again and there was no question in my mind that we would be using the Maternity Center for this second baby. However, during my first prenatal visit with the midwives, I found out that the Maternity Center was now called Midwifery Care Associates and they were doing all their deliveries at Shady Grove Hospital. Despite my reservations about giving birth in a hospital I decided to stick with MCA, because I really liked the midwives' prenatal care and also because the midwife who had delivered my first baby was still working at MCA and I wanted her to deliver my second baby. My second pregnancy was uneventful and the midwives were as great as I'd expected. At 10:30pm, three days before my due date, I started feeling contractions. We timed them for about 2 hours and even though they were only 7 minutes apart, we decided to call MCA to tell them that I was in labor. Fortunately for us, the same midwife who delivered our son was on call that night. She told us to keep timing the contractions and to call her when they got to 5 minutes apart. For the rest of the night we alternated between timing the contractions and dozing off. At 6:30am, my son woke up and I decided that the contractions were getting pretty intense and that it was time to go to the hospital. We grabbed a bite to eat, settled Severin in with a bowl of cereal and his grandmother who had arrived from Vancouver two days before, and we drove to the hospital. We live in DC and I was worried about traffic, but we were going in the opposite direction of the commuters and made it to Shady Grove by 8 a.m. After parking the car, we entered the hospital and spent a good 10 minutes wandering the halls trying to find Labor and Delivery. For all your mothers-to-be: I highly suggest visiting the hospital before hand and figuring out how to get to L&D--it's not that obvious and it's quite a trek from the front door of the hosptial to the L&D admitting desk. Fortunately, the midwife was right there waiting for us and she whisked me off to a room to check my progress. She told me I was 7 cm dilated and she and two nurses promptly settled me into a cozy-looking labor and delivery room with a huge window that was letting in the warm morning sunlight. Not bad for a hospital room, I thought. However, 5 minutes later they told me I had to move to another room because the computer in that room was broken. The second room they put me in wasn't as nice as the first. It was right by the nurses' station and when the door to the room was open and the curtains weren't drawn I felt like anyone could look in. Plus there was a lot of foot traffic and noise outside the room. But it was still pretty nice, just not as nice as the room with the big picture windows. As I settled into the bed and started my hpyno-birthing breathing, one of the nurses told me she needed to ask me some questions. I said OK, figuring it would take 5 minutes or so. It ended up taking half an hour and she asked me a whole bunch of unnecessary questions like what my learning style was and what my highest level of education was. I found this really distracting because all I wanted to do was to be left alone so I could concentrate on my breathing and relaxation. I was later told that the nurse I got was in training, that she was doing everything by the book, and that my experience was not typical of most moms-to-be. I think part of the problem was that I was very calm, thanks to hypno-birthing, and I was able to converse with the nurse and answer her questions even though I was probably 8 or 9 cm dilated at the time, so she assumed I wasn't in pain and was fine with the questioning. The nurse eventually finished asking questions, and the midwife suggested I walk around the halls a bit to get the labor progressing. My husband and I walked for about 15 minutes and then I decided that the contractions were too intense and that I needed to lie down. We went back to the room and called for the midwife. She checked me again and I was 10 cm, so it was time to push. The midwife then broke my water and while I din't exactly "breathe" the baby out like I did with my first child, I was able to push her out fairly gently and slowly (we didn't even realize she had her cord wrapped around her neck because she experienced no distress or change in heartbeat during delivery). This part of my birth expereince was really great--the midwife let my husband help with the delivery and the only other person in the room was a nurse who sat at a computer and recorded things without saying a word. Once the door closed and it was just us, the room was cozy, and I felt at ease. Sukey was born with a loud cry at 10:30am. She was 8 lbs 4 oz. The midwife immediately put her on my chest and I was able to marvel and my new baby girl while the midwife and my husband cut the cord and attended to delivering the placenta. I was allowed to be with my baby the whole time after she was born except for a brief period when they took her to a scale about 5 feet away to weigh and measure her. They were also going to give her a bath but we asked them not to and they were fine with that. Sukey, like her big brother, was a champion feeder and latched on about a half hour after she was born. She then spent most of the rest of the day eating! We were transferred to a Mother/Baby room after a couple hours and a really yucky hospital lunch (I never knew a calzone could taste so bland...but I do have to admit they make a pretty awesome chocolate chip cookie at Shady Grove!). To do this they put me in a wheelchair and Sukey in a clear plastic bassinet and wheeled us down the hall while my husband trailed after us with the huge bag I insisted on packing and our multiple pillows, car seat, and other belongings. The Mother/Baby room was nice--a private room with my own bathroom, TV, and remote-controlled bed so at least I had privacy and entertainment. Because I was anxious to leave and not spend the night in the hospital, the midwife agreed to release me as soon as the pediatrican gave Sukey permission to leave. This actually didn't happen until 7 pm so I got another bland hospital meal, but my husband was also able to bring me some pizza from the nearby mall so it wasn't all that bad. My one complaint about the time I spent in the Mother/Baby room was that I really wasn't able to rest that much because every hour or so a nurse would come in and take my temperature and blood pressure or come and check on Sukey. There was also a point when my husband had left to get pizza and I needed help to get to the bathroom and change my pad, so I paged the nurse and no one showed up for about 45 minutes. But other than that it was a great birth experience. It wasn't qute the Maternity Center birth I had with my son, but it was much better than I expected. Although I haven't given birth at another hospital and so can't really compare, I would recommend MCA at Shady Grove to any woman thinking of giving birth. Shady Grove had to abide by hospital protocol for the most part, and except for a few minor exceptions, we were impressed by the facilities and flexibitlity the doctors and nursing staff showed in accommodating our wishes for the birthing. The midwife was also very effective at helping the staff to accommodate us and very clear on the reasons for what could and could not be done. Of course, MCA and our midwife in particular were awesome midwives. We couldn't have asked for better midwifery and prenatal care. At the end of the day, my midwife delivered my baby and I was able to go home with my daughter, so I wasn't complaining! |
| Sukey, 4/17/08 |