Seeking New OB/GYN

Patty West at Womens Healthcare Group is wonderful. She has already talked to me a little about a VBAC since I also had an emergency c-section. They are located at 435 and Quivira next to Overland Park Regional Hospital. That's where I had my daughter and a surgical doc from Womens Healthcare was able to run over to give me my c-section. I think their building is actually attached to the hospital somehow. Anyway, I really trust Patty and believe she's the type of person who would really make sure you got your wish when it comes to the method of childbirth. She's not a doctor, she's a mid-wife nurse, but I have no problems trusting her completely.

I would also say that Dr. Arroyo is the best. My father -in-law is an OB/GYN and practiced at Kansas City Womens Clinic for 35 years and very highly recommended Dr.Arroyo to me. He goes to Overland Park Regional and Saint Lukes South.

I love my OB/GYN. Dr Carriker is part of Women's Care. They are at St. Luke's South and also Shawnee Mission Med Ctr. I have been going there for over 15 yrs. My 1st dr. retired but I have loved all of them that I have ever seen there. Dr. Carriker was with me during both pregnancies and she's awesome. Dr. Pickard (sp?) is terrific too. They have midwives as well and natural birth options. What I love now that I don't go but once a yr, you don't need to leave a msg or make an appointment for advice or prescription. You just call the nurses phone and talk to someone right away. That is a relief.
Good Luck to you!
J.
PS - ###-###-#### is their office #

Hi,

My doctor is at St. Joseph Hospital. Dr. Jane Stewart
1004 Carondolet#430. ###-###-####

My name is Pam Palmer I also live in South Kansas City off 435 & Holmes.

Dr. Stewart is a great doctor.

I love Dr. Christine Carriker. She is an office by St. Lukes South and one by Shawnee Mission and delivers at both locations. Her south location is 12541 Foster Street, Sutie 240
Overland Park, KS 66213 and her phone is ###-###-####

I got to see her 4 times in 4 weeks. I found out I was pregnant on June 9th and then had a miscarriage on June 21st. Her and the staff were awesome and very understanding of everything.

I do not know about the VBAC but I am pretty sure she would not mind it. When I had the miscarriage I did not want a D&C and she was fine with that. She just gave me a deadline and said if my uteris was not empty by then we would have to have a D&C. I ended up not having one.

As for anything bad about St. Lukes South they are wonderful. I work for them and had never used any of the facilities until I had my miscarriage due to my being on my Husband's insurance which was out of network when I had my DD. I had to use the ER there and they were wonderful. I even had all men and they were so nice. They even went as far as to call down a female nurse from the OB floor just to talk to me and put in my cath so they didn't have to touch me or look down there which made me a lot more relaxed.

Dr. Brenda Lofton at Women's Clinic of Johnson County. They have an office at Menorah as well as Shawnee Mission. She is wonderful and we never felt rushed. My husband came w/ me on every visit, and her and my husband got along great! All of the Dr.s in that practice are great. Menorah was a great hospital and the nurses were wonderful!

I would HIGHLY recommend Dr. Bohon at the Clinic for Women at St Luke's South and Pam Auman, one of the nurse midwives in her office. Pam is the best, but if you end up having to have a c-section or any complications, Dr. Bohon is great as well. I saw someone that felt that SLS was not natural childbirth friendly and had problems with the nurses. Not sure how long ago your child was born, but my experience almost 17 months ago was quite the opposite and the nurses were all wonderful. We did have some issues with the Maternity Care Coordinator, but we made sure she knew who was in charge. SLS was the hospital that our Bradley teacher recommended cause it's where she had her own child and she used Dr. Bohan's office as well. On the flipside, our teacher who was also a doula did not recommend St Joesph and said they were one of the worst when it came to natural childbirth.

Bohon, Barbara D MD - Clinic for Women Incorporated
###-###-####
4400 Broadway St, #409, Kansas City, MO 64111

I think the best ob/gyn out there is Dr. Kenneth Adams - he's in Independence at Centerpoint. His number is ###-###-####

hi!
My dr is Traci Nauser and she office is at 110th and Roe. She is an OB/GYN and is awesome. It is a small clinic that she runs with her dad and they have a great nurses. She is wonderful and she is a mother herself so really does listen and knows what is like. She herself was high risk when she had her twins as well I was. I would highly recommend her.

M.

Rockhill Women's Care is located at St. Joseph Health Center. I had both of my children there and found the staff and doctors to be wonderful.

Good luck! This is an exciting time for you!

Phaedra Lombard at Women's Clinic of Johnson County is fabulous! I love her! She works in a practice with about a dozen other women doctors so if there is an emergency of any sort you will be taken care of! ###-###-#### - the office is in the new medical building out in front of Menorah.

If you truly want to have a VBAC, you will have to fight for it even if your doctor "says" they are supportive. You should definitely check out the ICAN network (google ICAN) and get a doula. Contrary to what you might think, just because you've had one csection doesn't mean you have to use an OB this time. Midwives are much less invasive, treating pregnancy like a natural occurrence, rather than a hotbed of potential difficulties. I highly recommend the midwives at Midwest Midwifery. They practice at Research. Sheila and Kim are wonderful. Besides, they practice with several OB's who oversee their care and are there to provide csections ONLY when needed.

I saw one comment mentioning Saint Luke's South. I would never go back to this hospital. The nurses are not supportive of natural childbirthing. To the extent that my nurse said "I don't know why people like you give birth in a hospital." She also broke my birth plan from the very begining. As If I had no right to labor in the hospital just because I didn't want their drugs. I have no problem with anyone who wants meds., but a nurse is supposed to be the patient's advocate and you will not find that in the large majority of nurses at Saint Luke's South.

Dr. Niewrzel (Kansas City Women's Clinic) delivered all 3 of my boys (15, 5, 3). I love their office. Samantha (the nurse practitioner) is also wonderful! I can walk in after a full year and they still know my name. It didn't matter if I was seeing the doc or Dr. Sam, they always take the time to listen to your concerns, answer your questions, etc. Dr. Niewrzel goes with what's comfortable for mom. 15 years ago when I gave birth for the first time the doc didn't make me remove my belly ring (back then most doctors insisted on removal of all jewelry). When I had my last one 3 years ago I did it completely drug free and the doctor encouraged me to do what was comfortable for me. If you want to meet with them they are in the medical building to the east of the hospital in suite 300. I also really liked that there weren't partners that I might have to meet at some point. Dr. Niewrzel schedules his vacations around the due dates of his patients.

Jessi -

I go to the group that's located in Barry Medical Park adjacent to St. Luke's North. I love them! There are about 5-6 Drs there. All women. The group is very helpful and do support VBAC and natural childbirth. I don't remember the group's name, sorry. My Dr's name is Dr. Kelly Nichols if that helps. Good luck! I also had a c-section with my first and plan on exploring options for my second.

- K.

I saw Dr. Doan at Associated Women's Care Physicians in Lee's Summit and she was very good. I also saw other doctors in her practice when she was occasionally unavailable and they were all very nice. I've had some issues from the birth of my daughter and she was very good at helping and not thinking it was all in my head. (as my mother did)

I see Dr. Arroyo from the Kansas City Women’s Clinic. He is wonderful. I’ve been seeing him since I moved here in 1999. I love him. He is really big on women getting involved in their own health care and really listens to what you have to say. He likes you to take an active role in what you feel is the right health care decision for you. He has privileges at Overland Park Regional and St. Luke’s South. ###-###-####.

Many of the other Dr.s in that practice are very good as well like Crystal Newby, Rhonda Wright, and Sandra Stites.

My OB is Dr Julie Martin from Women's Care. She practices at St Lukes South and the dr office is at their outpatient medical building right next to the hospital. The number is ###-###-####. She's VERY nice and never rushes me...will always take the time to answer questions and is very genuine. I just delivered in January...

Dr. Alexander Capelli, is wonderful. He has offices at St. Joseph and in Lee's Summit and he also goes to Menorah.

1010 Carondelet Dr # 208
Kansas City, MO 64114
###-###-####

I have had 4 kiddos, and my best experience by far was with the midwives at Women's Care. They have several offices and birth at St. Luke's and Menorah. Perhaps other places, not sure.
*HONESTY FOLLOWS* no hits please :)
I only started seeing the midwives rather than the OB staff because I didn't expect to get pregnant again. Growing up sheltered in South Johnson County I never took the time to research the practices of a midwife and "assumed" it was not for me... too earthy. I figured they'd try and talk me out of any meds and try and get me to give birth in the bath tub at home...{exageration} Since it was "just the yearly exams" and I never saw a doctor for those anyway, I agreed to see the midwife team. I wish I had done that 9 years ago!!!!

I got pregnant and continued my relationship with these 4 amazing ladies. I quizzed them up and down about what I should expect with the midwives verses the OB. OMG! It was like having lunch with a girlfriend at every visit! Here's what I learned: A midwife wants the birth to be how YOU want it. Meds? No prob. What they did differently was to EXPLAIN the difference between the meds and why/how they work. They would giggle as they felt the baby at each visit. They showed me the tushy! I never felt rushed and I felt I knew more about this pregnancy than I had any of the others. I KNEW where my baby was positioned.

They will likely encourage you to attempt a VBAC if possible and will help you do everything possible to make that happen as long as it remains medically safe for you and baby.

Good luck to you!

Hi Jesse! I saw a few mentions on here for Women's Care. I see Dr. Mitchell there (and I think he is great!). Dr. Carriker has been mentioned too and she delivered by 2nd baby, which was a VBAC. I delivered my first child at Menorah and my 2nd at St. Lukes South. I had great experiences at both hospitals. I would talk to them as I know after my VBAC, a lot of hospitals were banning them due to malpractice suits. Except I think Shawnee Mission was allowing them. I had a c-section the 1st time due to my son being breach for the last 3 months of my pregnancy, so it was planned. I was a good candidate for a VBAC and had no problems.
Good luck!

I would strongly recomend Dr. Maggie Smith at Kansas City Women's clinic. It is located at Overland Park Regional Medical center or she has an office at St. Luke's South too. She is the best and can be hard to get into but she is really good.

Good Luck
M.

I reccommend Dr. Stephen Gordon. His office is inside of St. Joe's. I switched to him during my pregancy because he was willing to let me try for a VBAC. He was reccommended to me by 2 labor and delivery nurses that work at St. Joe's (one who had 2 successful VBACs with him). Many of the nurses that work with him use him. He almost always delivers his own patients. The fact that his office is inside the hospital building allows him to be just minutes away from you while laboring which is essential with VBAC's. His number is ###-###-####

You already have a ton of responses, but I thought I would give you one more. I go to the Women's Health Associates - they have an office near Shawnee Mission Hospital and also one at College Blvd. and Nall. ###-###-####. My doctor is Dr. Wittek, and she is great - I've also seen some of the others and like them as well. They deliver at both Shawnee Mission and Menorah.

Hi Jessi,

Congratulations on trying for your second child!! I have the BEST OB/GYN in the world (and I'm not exaggerating!) Her name is Dr. Phaedra Lombard and she is with The Womens Clinic of Johnson County ###-###-####. They have offices at Menorah and Shawnee Mission (I personally like the Menorah location best, the nurses bend over backwards to assist). Dr. Lombard truly is the most professional caring doctor I have ever had. And I have actually had a lot of OB/GYN's with my two kids. I had high risk pregnancies with both kids and was continually transferred doctors. I was given her name by a labor and delivery nurse at Menorah as being one of the best in the city. I would NOT recommend St. Lukes South hospital (on the advice of our pediatrician). My first child was born by C-Section and Dr. Lombard was open to VBAC with our second, although I was unable to deliver naturally with our second son (born one month ago). I hope you give Dr. Lombard a try, she really is the best!

A.

I will email you the name of my doctor at menorah and a pediatrician that I love in the morning.

L.