Need Recommendation for a Midwife at U of M or St. Joes Hospitals

I had 2 of my children at St. Joes and was very happy with the experience both times. I did not use a midwife, so I can't comment on any of them specifically. The nurses at St. Joes were excellent, both during labor and delivery and post-partum.

I have a friend who is a doula in the area. She attends deliveries at both hospitals. Her impression has been that U of M tends to be more "cold and clinical" and St. Joes is a friendlier, warmer place to be for deliveries.

The midwives associated with St. Joe's are Cheryl Bachman and Elaine Cole. I delivered both my children with them at St. Joe's. I highly recommend them, but I have also heard good things about the midwives at UM.

Cheryl and Elaine are with an IHA practice, called Miller, Menon and Midwives: http://www.ihacares.com/index.cfm?event=show.location&amp.... They practice in AA and Brighton.

Good luck with whatever you decide! I really appreciated the extra support a midwife provides, both during pregnancy as well as delivery.

I would definitely go with the U of M midwives. I used Cheryl Bachman from IHA for my first delivery. She was absent most of the time I was laboring, was not a very encouraging coach, and disappeared when it was finally decided I needed a c-section. I found her to be exactly what I wasn't looking for in a midwife.

I have delivered 2 babies and plan on delivering my 3rd with with U of M midwifes. They are wonderful! Since U of M is a teaching hospital some people have complained that they are more impersonal, but with the MW that was not my experiance. I highly reccomend them!! They are located at East Ann Arbor Medical Center and I know there is another office on the West side of Ann Arbor but I am not sure where. If you decide to use them I reccomend either Holly Powers or Heather Lemon!

There are a couple nurse midwives that work in the same practice that the OBG/YN I used when I had both of my kids. They work, if I remember correctly through St. Joes. U of M is a good hospital, but the month before I had my daughter, I fell and broke my elbow and due to my insurance, I had to be taken to U of M. They wouldn't let me have anything, not even clear liquids in case I had to have an emergency C-Section, where as when I was in St. Joe's, they allowed me to have clear liquids. The office they work through is called Associates in Gynecology and Obstetrics and the phone number is ###-###-####. I don't know the names of the midwives but the receptionist should be able to help you. Good luck!

Congratulations on your pregnancy! I didn't use a midwife so I can't comment on that, but I've delivered all three of my children at St. Joe and have had wonderful experiences there. I have some friends who have delivered at both St. Joe and UM, and they've all said that while both hospitals were fine, St. Joe definitely seemed more personal. They're both great hospitals so you really can't go wrong either way, but you just might get a little more personal care and attention at St. Joe. Good luck!

I had a midwife with all three of my boys' births. Two in Sweden, where that's standard, and my youngest, now 19, at U/M.
I considered the U/M midwifery staff just fine. They were on top of things. I will say that one of them did get a little uppity with me as my water had broken and I was in labor. She almost sent me home because I wasn't proceeding with labor, and was just taking too long. It was her thought that I should've walked around to 'encourage' labor proceedings. I couldn't. She didn't understand that it wasn't intentional 'disobedience', I was just following my body's dictates. Otherwise, wonderful staff.