To Kaiser or Not to Kaiser

Before giving up on a possible homebirth, you could consider renting Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein's recent documentary, The Business of Being Born, for your husband to watch with you. May not change his mind by itself, but could encourage his willingness to look at the safety data and satisfaction with outcomes for homebirths if he has not already. Coupled with an interview with a good midwife (of which there are many here!), and close proximity to a hospital in the event of a transfer, and you might just get him hooked on the idea.

Fortunately, you have already been through it once and know what you want/dont want in a hospital birth if you end up needing to go that route

Good luck with your search and decision!
M.

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I am a birth doula and a midwifery student, and I have attended a couple of births at Kaiser Redwood city and had very good expereinces with the staff taking its time explaining options and working with my clients.

However it is not exactly holistic, it is still a hospital, you do not know your practitioner, they want you to have an iV, all that kind of stuff.

There is a birth center in San Francisco called Sage Femme http://www.sagefemme.net/ and in Oakland called Sacred Birth Place http://sacredbirthplace.com/,

If you decide to consider homebirth please write to me again, I work with a home birth midwife and we work in your area. We do bring all of the equipment of a birth center with us to a birth.

T. Mclean

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if you are not ready for a homebirth, there is a birthing center in Oakland. It looks great. The head midwife is Selena Green I believe.

Good Luck!

HI, E.,
I had my three year old in RWC Kaiser and it was great. The staff were all great and I should know, because had to be induced and I spent three days waiting for labor to start, so I met practically every nurse, doctor and midwife there, as I stayed through all the different shifts. They were all pleasant and tried to give me the birth that I desired. I had heard that they were laid back in RWC and not too much into intervention. I thought it was a great place. That being said, I just had my second one at SF Kaiser and the experience seemed even better. The staff was great and the experience was also good. I would recommend either facility.
good luck!

hi E.-

I just joined kaiser in September, after getting my prenatal care in teh UK for the prior 7 months. I was a little skeptical, and ended up very happy. I had the benefit of doing a lot of research on the systems, protocalls used, meeting with nurses, prenatal classes etc, becasue with my relocation I wasn't working and had the time. Ultimately this is what I found ( all applicable to Sf Kaiser). The nurses are the ones who give you the care, and the advise they gave me was... ask for what you want out of your experience. They will do their best to oblige. also if you aren't jiving with a nurse, ask for a diffent one- they said this happens all the time and they don't take offense. I chose to hire a doula last minute because I wanted continuity and familiarity with this, my first birth. Kaiser totally supported this and my doula was able to help maintain the environment I wanted and made it very calm for me. I delivered without any drugs, refused the IV, used the telemetric monitoring and was moving around constantly. I ended up delivering on all fours and though I think the staff thought it was a little odd, they were very supportive and viewed it as a positive alternative.

ALso importatnt to note, that if you say you are attempting a natural birth, Kaiser SF ( I don't know about rEdwood) assigns you one nurse who stays with you the whole time( or all of her shift oher than breaks). Other women share one nurse among 2-4 people. I've heard that REdwood acutally has midwives who can assist with your birth so I would consider looking into that for the next one.
Don't know if this helps. good luck

I have had two children at Kaiser Redwood City and both were great. I could not of received better care. I did them both natuarally no drugs and they were very supportive. Dr. Deb Matityaho(spelling may be off) is awesome, she provides the greatest care. I love Kaiser. My first child had to be rushed to the NICU and they took great care of him. Dr. Jason Clark is a great peditrician. Good luck with where ever you choose.

Hi E.,

Both of my kids were born in Kaiser Redwood City, and both experience were pleasant.
My son was born in year 2000. Although I don't have my doctor to deliver my baby, but he was very professional and did a good job. And the nurses in the LDR were great. Later I got a room by myself and have a good rest.
My daughter was born in year 2003, a very fast delivery. I called around 4am telling them I have contraction, but they said let's wait since the interval time was not close enough. I call back at 5am, saying that the contraction was getting worst, so they told me to get there right away. We got there a little bit after 6am, the room was ready (although it was the smallest one...). Few minutes later the doctor came by and check and said I am totally ready, immediatly 4 nurses came in to get my into labor, very very efficient. However, the ward was very full, so I have to share a room with another patient, and the room was right by the nurse statioin, so it was quiet noisy. Since I feel pretty good with the fast delivery, I went home the second day.
I am quite impressed with my second time there, where the team work for a fast delivery was great! I hope my 2 cents help...

I have had 2 births at Kaiser RWC and have no complaints. The first time was with a midwife and then 2nd with a doctor. The nurses were attentive and offered lots of suggestions to help through the pain=walking, hot shower, stretchng on ball.

I also had family with me=husband, Mom and sisters, and friend. I think that helped to make my experience better.

I love my obgyn and have been very happy with her. I never saw anyone else during my pregnancy. Yes you are right she was not there when I delivered but honestly I did care who was, I knew they were able and knew I would be more focused on giving birth than who was at the end of the bed.

Whatever decision you make, I hope you have a batter delivery with 2nd time around

Hi E.,

I delivered my first, and thus far only child, at a great birthing center in San Francisco. The place is called Sage Femme Midwifery, they have a website (www.sagefemme.net) where you can check out more info. I currently live in Redwood city and we are planning on another pregnancy this year and will be using the same birthing center again. As a matter of fact the midwife there, Judy is the one who referred me to the mamasource website. Judy is the best thing that could have ever happened to us. She made the entire conception, pregnancy, labor and delivery a joyful and soothing experience. She was there for every question, at any time day or night and she still is as our now 20 month old daughter grows.
She helped us find a great pediatrician, and has referred us to many, many wonderful resources from lactation consultants to holistic chiropractors, to just about anything you can think of. I hope this helps you out with your search and good luck with everything. If you have any other questions that I can help you with on this subject please let me know.

Sincerely,
J.

I gave birth at Redwood City Kaiser in October and I loved my experience. My Dr. was Debbie Mattiyahu (I think that is the right spelling) and she is wonderful!! You are right that you can't be assured that your Dr. will be the one to attend your birth, but I thought all the staff was great. I labored in the shower, I had a birth ball, I was offered a pushing bar, I had a mirror so I could see the little one, I didn't have to share a recovery room...and they let me go home when I felt ready.

The best thing is a free mommy and me class available from 0-12months for new moms, it is once a week and hosted by a lactation nurse, it was so comforting to have somewhere to go and ask questions.

Hope this helps,
J.

I know home birth is not for everyone, and my husband was adamantly AGAINST it. However, it was what I wanted, and while I wanted his whole-hearted support, I knew I wasn't going to get it. Both my sisters were born at home, so it was something I felt very strongly about. I did my research and tried to educate my husband as much as he would let me.

In the end, our son was born at home into our loving arms. I was attended by my 3 midwives, and my mom and youngest sister were there to support and share in our joy. My husband admitted after Ryan's birth that he wouldn't have wanted it any other way (even though he didn't feel that way during my 48-hour labor and delivery).

If home birth is something YOU would consider, then find the facts and do some research. I know there are MANY midwives in the Bay Area! If it's not something you want to consider, I'm sure the midwives know of any birth centers, etc. Try http://www.bayareahomebirth.org/ for a list of midwives and to see some facts about home birth. Good luck in your search and know that things will work out :)

I don't know much about Kaiser or the alternatives around here, but I can bet there are some. Look into certified Nurse midwives or birthing centers. Certified Nurse Midwives (as opposed to midwives) are OFTEN covered by insurance, and backed by OBGYN's. Most uncomplicated births are just fine with them. My second daughter was born with one at a birthing center in Dallas- where almost 95% of laboring women had epidurals. ICK.

The other thing to keep in mind. Your second labor is typically expected to be half what your first one is. Especially for a first labor of 4.5 hours- this matters. I went through this issue

first labor was 5.5 hours. Certified Nurse Midwifes can induce labor in a very mild manner. Primrose Oil and nipple stimulation. Your body has the option to reject this induction if you are not ready- unlike Pitocin. I'm not sure if I'd recommend it or not. We had serious timing issues- we were 45 minutes from the birth center without traffic. Labor ended up being 5 hours for the second child, but I almost felt like it was harder too.

Good luck.

I gave birth at Redwood City 5 months ago. My husband had the same feeling about home birth (and I had GBS) so we went with our birth there. My OB was Dr Balahla (sp?) and I really loved her, but as you know, you don't really get your OB when you're in labor. Dr. Baumik was on when I gave birth and she and I don't click at all.

The first nurse I had, though, was awesome. She kept encouraging me to get my labor started through nipple stimulation, showers, and pumping with a double pump. My water broke, but my labor didn't start on it's own (at 41 weeks 1 day) which was why I was there. I was going to wait until the absolute last minute that I felt it was safe to induce. The Balahla didn't insist on induction--hadn't even mentioned it until that point.

24 hours later I asked them to start to pitocin because I have a 4 year old who isn't used to being away from me for more than a few hours. They didn't push it and said it was my baby and my choice. When I got into transition and wanted to walk, rock, moved, etc--they didn't fight me too hard when I wanted to sign a form to have the external monitors removed. I did get the lectures--but they didn't fight me on it. I signed the waiver and they left me alone.

I gave birth on my hands and knees into the hands of my husband (and a nurse) because the doctor wasn't hovering over me. It would have been a totally wonderful birth if I wasn't hooked up to an IV for the pitocin. But it was a pretty darn good one and I think that if you stand up for yourself, go over and over and over what you want, what you don't want and things like that with your husband--and tell him NOT to back down, you can have a good birth at Kaiser.

Post partum was good. They asked me if I wanted to leave 12 hours after the baby was born. I decided to stay there to have good night's sleep for 48 hours while my daughter could be there during the day to be with the baby and me. The nurses in PP are so great. They will bring you healthy snacks whenever you ask for them. The rooms are pretty much private: I think they have 8 rooms and average 3-4 births a day so you have complete privacy. When I wanted to shower a nurse came into my room and held her while I showered.

The $0 co-pay wasn't so bad either!

I have a friend who goes to the same hospital as you and she plans to deliver there in June. She as opted to have a midwife see her and seems so happy with her decision. Since you are open to birthing alternatives, this may work for you. Look into it, then you can have the safety of a hospital birth with the comfort of a midwife. I know how nice it was to have my midwife at the hospital and not some strange doctor who didn't know anything about me at all.

Sequoia on Whipple is also very highly rated for having a wonderful birthing center. Another friend who delivered there in November raved about it. She said the nurses were wonderful, and the rooms were very comfortable and clean.