Need a Midwife

J.-

Midwest did NOT go out of business. You probably got the same letter I did about some Dr. taking over the practice, but that wasn't the whole story. Janet, Therese, and Liz are still together, but the practice is now called Midwest OB GYN. There is a new male OB overseeing (just like there was an OB before), he's Polish but I don't remember his name.
Some of the office staff is still there too, Eliza and Lucy at least. I don't think anything's really changed; I've been back a few times since my daughter's birth for Pap and stuff.
The practice is located on Biesterfield, down the street from the hospital, closer to Jewel, Arlington Hgts road.
The number is ###-###-####.

Best of luck with the new one!

I love the midwives, Karen & Noreen, out at Rush-Copley OB/GYN in Aurora ###-###-####. They are excellent! I don't know if they have a birthing tub. A friend had a baby there about 6 or 7 years ago, a water birth with the midwives. I had my son there 5 years ago and the birthing tub had broken. Because of the big expense, they told me they were telling the hospital all the people that wanted to use a birthing tub to try to pull them to buy another. Don't know if they have. But those midwives are excellent and the doctor backups in the group are excellent as well. I live about 45 minutes from there, but have returned to that practice since I like them SOO much!

I used West Suburban for my first child, and Karen and Noreen at Copley for my second and third. I will share my experiences with both.

West Suburban - I liked Gayle and Hillary. I was hoping for Hillary to be on call, but got Priscila instead. I didn't really like her that much, so I didn't request her to come to the hoopital right away. I progressed quickly once I got in the tub. The nurse checked me and said I was 8 centimeters. She made me get out of the tub, because 'only midwifes can deliver in the tub'. Within 5 minutes she was there and I got back in the tub and started to push.

After the baby was delivered and I was taken care of, I nursed the baby for 1 1/2 hours with no pain. Then the baby fell asleep. After 1/2 hour they made me wake the baby up for another feeding, because it had been '3 hours from the start of the last feeding'. I wasn't confident enough to say no, although I did question the necesity. Through out the night every three hours we were instructed to wake her and feed. Breastfeeding was very painful, from the first time I woke her up. She wasn't hungry and was tired so she wasn't latching properly. The nurse kept saying the latch looked fine, but one look at my breast the next morning told the midwfe that the latch was wrong. I was also told 'that baby could have slep for five hours'. I don't know how much this initial waking the baby up affected us. She was a bad sleeper, but we worked through the breastfeeding issues with a private lactation consultant.

A couple random things... the rooms at west sub are very pretty. The tub is a bit small. I liked the bigger one at Copley better. Also we had to move rooms in the middle of the night, because they had to have ours open for other natural births. Also I had a bad experience with blood draws at west sub midwifes. And the waiting time for apointments was not great - it seemed they were regularly behind. Of course this was about 6 years ago and a lot can change.

Now for my experience with Karen and Noreen at Copley-
I had planned my second birth with Doris Cherwenka in Hinsdale, but she left the practice when I was 30 ish weeks along. I scrambled and found Noreen and Karen. (I saw them the whole time for my third pregnancy.) They were great. Only one time do I remember having a long wait for an apointment. Both of their bedside manner was terrific. I had only been with the practice a few weeks when I went into labor. But totally was comfortable with them for delivery. The tub, although portable, was bigger and more comfortable. The rooms aren't as pretty, more medical, but still nice enough. I though lactation could have been better, although they seemed better than west sub.

I would highly recomend them. I also liked Hillary though, and was not aware that she was doing home births. You may want to check your insurance before deciding. My insurance wouldn't cover a penny of a home birth. Silly, but true. Well, I better go, I have a fussy one to tend to. But feel free to contact me and we can 'chat' more.

Congratulations! The West Suburban Midwives are wonderful. I am also a first time Mom and switched to them during my second trimester after several bad appointments with doctors in the area. The care is unbelievable and they will do everything in their power to help you have the natural birth experience that you want. My daughter is four months old now and we actually saw J., who attended her birth, today! One thing that was very helpful for my husband and I was taking Bradley Natural Childbirth classes from a great teacher: Leslie Massow who lives in Naperville. She is not on the list given at the midwives office, I found her eventually through the Grapevine. If you are interested I will give you her number to save you some work. She teaches the class in her home and does a phenomenal job preparing you for what is to come and making it lots of fun! ###-###-#### Hope that this is helpful and good luck- believe in your body and you can do it!!!

I used Homefirst (www.homefirst.com) in Naperville. Dr. Zumhagen is great! The nurse midwife that attended my birth with Dr. Zumhagen has just started her own practice in Warrenville. Her name is Christina. Her practice is Genesis Family Midwifery...she was AMAZING!!! We are planning on using her for our next child.

Our first child was born in a hospital in California with a midwife. Our second at home with a doctor and midwife (homefirst). If you can, opt for the home birth!!! It is much more relaxed and calming. Good luck!

I hear west Suburban midwifes are Great. There is also a wonderful Midwife out of Alexian brothers I just worked with Last night. Delnore is also a great hospital. I dont have access to my files at the moment but can get you there names and numbers if you would like tomorrow.

www.aspecialbond.org

Kris

Congratulations J.!

I birthed with WestSub midwives at WestSub hospital and was very very happy. J. was my midwife for the birth and she was great-very hands off. I was lucky enough to be be able to labor, deliver and stay in the ABC room. I labored in the tub and delivered on the bed (by my choice). The room was wonderful, huge with a queen size bed. I was easily able to move around as much as I needed to just in the room.

Hospital policy is that you have to be monitored when you first arrive. I was on the monitor for about 20 minutes in the ABC room when I arrived and that was it. The nurse was barely there, just at the end to help with the clean up.

They are very pro-breastfeeding I never saw one bottle and the take home bag (though provided by one of the formula companies) was also very pro-breastfeeding, no formula coupons, bottles, etc. Everyone there completely supported (or at least did not question) all of the decisions we made, no circumcision, no Vit. K, no eye goop, no Hep. B, etc...

Overall it was a great experience, at the hospital and WS midwives. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions. :)

I really liked West Suburban Midwives--J. and Gayle are still there. I did leave the group with Hilary K. and am now doing a home birth with her this July-ish! I really wanted a home birth is the reason I left with her, I was happy with J. and Gayle. I didn't leave them because of anything they did wrong. Please feel free to message me if you want more info.
A.

Hello,

I haven't used her myself, but I know Christina Oser personally and I believe she is trying to build her practice. I think one of the e-mails below referenced her. Let me know if you need a phone number and I'll ask her if it's o.k. to give it out.

H

Hello, I have had clients (I am a natural birth instructor and Doula) who have delivered out of Prentice and West Suburban who use midwives. Hinsdale is a great hospital with good midwives. I know West Suburban is pretty accommodating to your wishes. Homebirth is a great option!

I would check out West Suburban Women's Health in Willowbrook with Patti and Shari. They are INCREDIBLE. Patti delivered our daughter amazingly. You would have to check with them as to having to wear a monitor for pushing. By the time that I was pushing there had been issues with my daughter's heartrate for awhile and she finally went with an internal. It turned out that my daughter had the cord wrapped around her throat. Patty was just amazing when her heartrate dropped and things needed to move. Calli was born very healthy and with no problems. They support an all natural birth if that's what you want. They are just the best women/doctors ever! The number is 630-654-BABY. They are about a mile east of rt 83 and well worth the drive. They delivered in Hinsdale, and I wonder if now as well at Bolingbrook...but you would have to check. It's an outlying hospital for Hinsdale with a full ob department. Congrats!

I did not read the other posts, sorry if this is duplicate information! I just delivered my son in January at Rush-Copley in Aurora (Fox Valley Medical Group) with the midwives Noreen Prukulski and Karen Barr (Karen was on call for my labor and delivered my son). I had a wonderful unmedicated water birth. Throughout my entire pregnancy, they were both extremely attentive and respected my wishes and concerns. During the labor and delivery, my birth plan was honored without any trouble by Karen as well as the other members of the hospital staff.

Good Luck with your pregnancy!