Hospital Reviews Needed (Labor and Delivery)

Updated on March 19, 2007
A.R. asks from Wheaton, IL
7 answers

I just found out yesterday that I am pregnant with our second child and I want to get a headstart on making some wise decisions regarding labor and delivery. I am very "anti-intervention" and want to choose a midwife and hospital that will stand by my natural birth wishes.

I am in Elgin and looking to find something close. These seem to be the options thus far:

St. Alexius
St. Josephs
Sherman
Delnor

Feel free to include others and your experience (either as a mom, doula, midwife, etc.) and tell me things about intervention- good AND bad experiences please! I'm trying to settle on a provider relatively quickly!

Thank you all soooo much!
A.

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A.S.

answers from Chicago on

I, like you, wanted as few interventions as possible. My husband and I studied the Bradley method and were confident in our abilities.

I had a midwife at Sherman who was fantastic. Unfortunately, she has since semi retired and moved to Texas. Her name was Mary Traub. She does have a succesor, who I have seen a few times for regular Gyn visits who seems very nice, her name is Linda Meilahn. They are both with Fox Valley Women's Healthcare http://www.fvwh.com/. I had my son at Sherman, but unfortunately, I did have to have some interventions as he wanted to come at 29 weeks. Thus I was in the hospital for over a week, and then on meds and bedrest. I did end up delivering full term, but it wasn't all as I had hoped. Because I was Strep B positive, I had to have the antibiotics so I had to be hooked up to an IV, therefore I couldn't move around alot. I was induced because of the fact that I was already so far progressed and I was Strep B positive, plus I live in Crystal Lake, so there was a good chance that he would have come before they had the chance to give me the antibiotics. I knew it was a small chance of him being infected with it, but I wanted to be safe, rather than sorry.

My wishes were followed very well, other than that. I was able to nurse my son immediately. He was bathed in room and we were allowed time to bond with him before he was taken for any testing. I declined any pain meds up front, and other than them asking one time if I was sure, no one pushed it. I requested no episitomy and didn't have one done, but he came so fast that I ended up having a major tear anyway.

He ended up in the NICU because he couldn't maintain his blood sugar, which was hard because the NICU was on another floor. So every time he was hungry I had to get a nurse to come and wheel me down to him, and half the time he wouldn't eat. The LC there could have been alot better. They would come to my room and tell me things I already knew, but were never around to help me when I was actually trying to feed him.

My old midwife also reccommended to me Midwest Midwifery, who I believe practices out of St. Alexius. The head midwife there went to school with my old midwife. http://www.midwestmidwifery.com/

If you are looking to go completely natural with no hospital at all, there is a local clinic, Homefirst, that does home births. I would love to do this if I knew there would be no complications, but my next child I will probably have to have a cerclage cause it seems my body doesn't want to hold the baby in that long. http://www.homefirst.com/

Good luck to you, and Congratulations! Feel free to email me if you want any further info.

1 mom found this helpful
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C.B.

answers from Chicago on

Amanda,
Congratulations on your pregnancy! I just delivered twins in July and I did a thorough investigation of the hospitals in the area (I live in Elgin also). I chose St. Alexius as the hospital because they seemed to be the most sensitive and caring staff. St. Joe's and Sherman just seem to have an in-and-out attitude and don't care much for the moms. The nursery is also excellent at St. Alexius. Definitely do tours of each place to see where you are most comfortable. I did that before I made a decision. As far as a provider, I chose Suburban Womens Health Specialists on Royal Blvd. They have 3 excellent OB's and two midwives. They are all fabulous and knowledgable. I did not use a midwife for my delivery as I was high risk with twins, but I did see them every now and then during the pregnancy. They were very good about going along with my birth plan and I'm sure they would do the same with all of their patients. The number is ###-###-####. Best of luck!

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L.A.

answers from Chicago on

Amanda,

I cannot comment on any of these hospitals. I had my first daughter and my twin girls at CDH. I had my older daughter natural ( no epidural). It was my plan to not get an epidural and the doctor and hospital were fine with that.

With my twins, I had to be prepared if an emergency C-section had to be done, so I was open to an epidural just in case. Well by the time they were setting me up for an epidural, my blood pressure was up, and then it was to late as I was fully dilated and ready.

So, I had all my girls w/o intervention and it was fine. My girls were all small, so that made a big difference.

I think you have to make sure your doctor is on board with the no intervention. I would hope in this day and age it would be up to the mom, unless the baby is in distress.

Good luck with the new baby.

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L.G.

answers from Chicago on

Hi Amanda,

I delivered at Delnor and I think they are wonderful! Although I was the opposite of you, I wanted as much pain killers as possible. But the point is that when I checked in they made sure to find out what I wanted out of the birth, what were the most important things to me. I said the most important thing to me was to not be in pain, and they did their best to help me out (although I was still in a whole lot of pain!) If I told them I wanted a natural birth, they would have done everything in their power to help me acheive that goal instead. The nurses were all wonderful and the rooms are so comfortable. I would deliver there again for sure!

Good luck!
L.

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D.G.

answers from Chicago on

Midwest midwifery is EXCELLENT. Their main office is in Addison though, and deliver only at Alexian Brothers Hospital in Elk Grove Village. ###-###-####. They also have a great OB/GYN they can refer you to if you are high risk, like I was.

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C.G.

answers from Chicago on

I have heard great things about midwest midwifery also. My recommendation to you is to definitely get a midwife rather than an obstetrician. Also, make sure you interview the person you chose to ensure you are on the same page. I work in L & D at a big hospital downtown and every day I see patients whose doctors lie to them about their expectation for their birth. Make sure you are clear on things right away.

I would stay away from any hospital that has a well-baby nursery. Going to nursery increases baby's risk of infection, causes problems with breastfeeding, and often results in further procedures like blood sugar checks and supplemental bottles. The baby should never have to leave your side.

BTW, I am planning a homebirth with my next child. Now that I work in L & D I would not have another baby in the hospital (in the absence of complications).

I know that's not the right choice for everyone, but keep in mind that hospital policies are designed for the convenience of the hospital, not for the patients. You have to be prepared to advocate for yourself. Also, Illinois has some of the least progressive medical care and worst neonatal and maternal mortality rates in the country. I had my two kids in upstate NY and I am shocked by how different maternity care is here.

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D.

answers from Chicago on

Hi,
I may be bias here but I am a L&D nurse at Provena Mercy in Aurora. It would be a little of a drive but people have driven further to get to our hospital. I personally have had a midwife also and I think Deb Riddell, Jenny Baxter, or Collen Jones would be wonderful. They all respect the wishes of everyone whether it is with interventions or not. I worked a little at Sherman and did not have a very good experience with midwives there but that was 5-6 years ago and things defiantly could have changed. A lot of the same MD's go to Delnor as Mercy but I don't believe we share any of the same midwives. I hope this could be a little helpful. The group of midwives is called Women First. I couldn't say enough good things about all of them.

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