Other Natural Childbirth Moms in Seattle Area W/ Recommendations?

Hi C.

Welcome! Let me be a resource for you and your clients/students. I am a lactation consultant in private practice and have worked in the seattle area as such for 11 years! For many of those years I was also a postpartum doula.

please visit my website and give me a call! I have tons of resources for you.

www.second9months.com ###-###-####

I carry medela products for WAY less than retail--don't let your students pay full price for a pump!

warmly,

R.

C.,

I highly recommend Birth and Family Clinic for family practice, and Sound Women's Care for OB/GYN. I was 8 months pregnant with my son when I went to Sound Women's and was impressed with the docs there. They were flexible, compassionate and willing to actually listen to me in regards to what I wanted. In the end, with my son it didn't happen, but I was given options and information at the time.

Later, after my son was born we went to B&F because one of the docs there was on call the night my son was born. In the five years since then my whole family (me, hubby, son and daughter) all go there, have seen every doc there and are satisfied. Our personal family doc is great. While I was pregnant with my daughter she listened to my concerns, gave advice and usually had the information in hand to the questions I was planning/thinking of asking. She was supportive of my trying a VBAC, but for me it wasn't going to be possible after consulting with the physician at Sound Women's that was on call when my son was born.

Both clinics have been and are supportive of all my concerns and questions, and are friendly compassionate people. They are also associated with Stevens hospital and always have a doctor on call at the hospital if you have that burning midnight question you need answered and the clinic is closed.

If you have more questions please send me a message,
Melissa

Hello C.:

I have had 3 at home births here, and I can recommend a friend of mine, Liz Chalmers, who is up to date on local resources.
Her email is ____@____.com. I don't have her phone.

She and I do Jazzercise together most mornings here in Redmond at the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center.

I am 66 (my last was born the day after my 45th birthday, so I am not on top of the current providers, but she would be.

Cheers and good luck. There is notihing as empowering as planning your own birth experience.

V. Day Redmond, ###-###-####

My 2nd and 3rd babies were born at UW Hospital with the midwives. (My 1st was a cesaerean birth several years ago in another state.) My 2nd was a natural childbirth/VBAC. The midwives at UW were very supportive of natural childbirth and VBAC. They made me feel like my previous c-section was a non-issue and were patient when my 2nd labor got off to a slow start after my water broke. They were happy to let me get a big labor tub set up in the labor/delivery room so I was able to soak in the warm tub for pretty much the whole labor. And they worked with my doula beautifully.

The key with my 2nd birth was that I made it very, very clear that natural childbirth was my intention. With my 3rd, I was less adamant about it during the pregnancy, and when the labor was really hard and fast, I uttered the word "epidural" and there it was. However, my doula and the midwife hadn't gotten there yet so it was just the regular staff who had no idea of my wishes. The midwife told me afterwards that had she been there at the time, she would have pushed back on my behalf re: the epidural and would have known that what I really needed was more support and help managing my fear about how fast it was going.

Hi C.,

Thank you soooo sooo soooo much for supporting the natural birthing process! We need more educators like you in this area!!

I recommend Puget Sound Birthin Center *very* highly. Valerie Sasson and her partner there saw me for my pregnancy and were entirely supportive of my plan for my dauaghter's birth. I wanted minimal exams and tests, a birth center delivery (as I lived in an apartment, but would rather squat in a field than deliver in a hospital!) and no medications.. They also hooked me up with a fabulous pediatrition who is unfortunately no longer in the area (brent oldham).. There were just incredible there and I felt supported, educated and empowered all the way!! .. I also used to work with a midwife by the name of Tracy Cooper with expecting the best midwifery who is FABULOUS. She's just a lovely human being and many of my doula friends have worked with her and hold her in the highest regard.. She aso sometimes teaches for SMS (seattle midwifery school - another good resource) .. Hope this helps!!

Oh, and one more thing.. having worked at the polyclinic OBGYN (on captiol hill), I can tell you that NONE of the Docs there are supportive of natural childbirth, even if they might tell you differently. They push for planned sections due only to the Dr.'s schedule, they insist upon fetal monitoring (which is more of a swedish issue - swedish is terrible) and of course we all know where in hospital fetal monitoring goes.. Seriously, if you walk into any hospital in this area, you are 90% likely to walk out with a section and MRSA. No kidding. Crazy stuff.

Some might have different experiences but I do not recommend swedish hospital for natural birthing. Group health has a great group of midwives for hospital births. I do billing for several midwives in the seattle area, they're all wonderful! Rainy city midwifery, eastside midwives, lake washington midwives, puget sound birth center, seattle home maternity services, amanda feldmann, cynthia brown, sally avenson. A few of them are nurses too.

MaryAnn O'Hara is an MD that specializes in breastfeeding medicine and also does some family practice and is great too. Marty Ross is an MD in West Seattle that tends toward the natural side too. Susan Moore is an acupuncturist in ballard that works at gracewinds, they specialize in all things pre and postnatal. Dr. Scott Mindel of Belltown Chiropractic is certified in the webster technique (turning breech babies).

I had a great experience though at providence hospital in everett. My OB at The Everett Clinic was Dr. Laurent (Larry) Nicolov. He was recommended to me by an L&D nurse friend, and I loved him! He's highly respected in his field and was really into letting me do what I wanted, especially when it turned out my baby was breech and I wanted to try all the "kooky" stuff. I ended up having a great c-section experience, he and Dr. Jordan were wonderful!

I'm also adding my approval to other's recommendations of expecting the best midwifery, tracey did just have a baby though a few weeks ago and will be out for some time. I know her husband and do their billing with a friend who has been friends with tracey forever.

Let me know if you need any phone numbers or more info, glad there's people like you that care about positive birthing experiences. Welcome to the beautiful Pacific Northwest!

I'm a L&D nurse and can tell you that if your clients want a natural childbirth - avoid Swedish First Hill. There is another Swedish though that is very different - Swedish/Ballard Family Childbirth Center in Ballard. It's a little out of the way but we have families coming from Whidbey, Arlington, Fife, Vashon and all over to deliver here. We have a group of Midwives that deliver here also.

Another Midwife in Seattle that is great is Cindy Brown. She is so kind and supportive of her patients. I think she is a great provider.

As far as VBAC's, I don't think that there is anyone at either Swedish that will do them.

At Swedish/Ballard, we really strive to work with our families. It is a great place to work and deliver in a hospital setting.

Good luck in your endeavor!

C.

Hi C. -

Good for you, becoming a Bradley instructor!! Bradley changed birthing forever for my husband and I. I have often thought of becoming an instructor - I talk about it so much to every woman who wants to hear.

I did two unmedicated hospital births with a midwife in WI before moving here. With my third I was blessed to find Expecting the Best Midwifery - Tracey Cooper and Michelle Sarju. They are both wonderful, and I miss them SO much! Tracey got pregnant and was due this past July. She planned to take a year off, so Michelle is currently working with educating pregnant, low income single moms in West Seattle. I know Tracey plans to take her practice back up in 2009, but not sure where Michelle's job will go and whether she'll be back with Tracey or not. I hope so because I'm planning #4 around them!!

I delivered at Puget Sound Birth Center in Kirkland rather than at home because it felt like a spa!!! Wonderful experience for me all around. Blessings on your training and outreach to women.
js

P.S. If you haven't seen "The Business of Being Born" by Rikki Lake and Abbey Epstein I recommend borrowing it from the library. Good stuff.

Hello C.,

I had to have a c-section so my daughters birth was not how I had planned it. But we do have a wonderful Ped. Cascade Natural Medicine in Kirkland has been wonderful. They have 4 Dr's and all of them are wonderful.They specialize in naturopathic medicine in the areas of women's health and pediatrics. and they take insurance...

Here is their info

Cascade Natural Medicine
12911 120th Ave NE
Suite E-50
Kirkland, WA 98034

Phone: ###-###-####
Fax: ###-###-####

hello and welcome,
I too have had both my children no drugs, no medication and at home by choice. The miracle of childbirth the natural way cna never be compared.
The wonderful midwives that took care of me during my pregnancies were Eastside Birth Center. It's in Bellevue, between downtown and Crossroads. Christine Thaine is the owner and one of the midwives. She is a huge resource when it comes to birthing classes...not just birthing classes but Bradley birthing classes! Along with so much wealth of information.
There website is www.eastsidebirthcenter.com. all of their contact info and about them is on the website.
good luck and again welcome!
K.

Hi C.,

I'm pregnant with my first and really like my midwives Christine Thain and Loren at Eastside Birth center. I'm very passionate about natural birthing, looking forward to a home birth in January. They have been very attentive and reply promptly to emails in between visits. The birth center is calming and relaxing to be in.

If you come across a christian doula, please let me know as I have been looking!

C.