Point #1 - A friend of mine was doula for her sister-in-law at Mercy Gilbert this past week, and she had an awesome experience. (As a matter of fact, I think this friend of mine has a HUGE calling to be a doula.... she was just doing this as a favor to her SIL, but I'm hoping she will take it further.)
Point #2 - Mercy Gilbert hospital in Gilbert has at long last, through the persevering work of an amazing midwife team, installed a labor pool! (And there was great rejoicing!) This is an awesome step in the right direction, and a wonderful resource for valley mothers. The news has been spreading like wildfire over Facebook for the past few days.
Bringing the points together: When I shared on Facebook the photo that was going around of the new labor pool, my friend emailed me and said, "Oh, yeah! That's the picture we took from our room! She was the first one ever to use the new labor pool!"
Isn't that a fun coincidence?
And now for some fun, positive activism! Please, please, please - take a few seconds to drop Mercy Gilbert a note to thank them for making this resource available to birthing women, and for making birthing experiences for laboring mamas so much better (physically and emotionally!) here in the valley.
The best activism is positive activism! (That is, praising the positive rather than complaining about the negative.) Let's build up this hospital and show them love for the progress they are making in maternity care!
Here is the link to send an email:
Email Contact Form
And if you prefer snail mail:
Mercy Gilbert Medical Center
3555 S. Val Vista Drive
Gilbert, AZ 85297
Phone 480-728-8000
I'm going to get my note out today! So very exciting!!
This is my first time visiting your blog and I love it...
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I had my son at Mercy Gilbert with a midwife and had THE worst experience ever. I've heard the same horror stories from many women unfortunately. I am done having babies (happy and sad at the same time) but if by chance we decide to have another down the road, it will not be at Mercy Gilbert, it will be at home because I haven't found a hospital that I like.
Keep up the good work :)
Wow, I'm sorry to hear about your experience!!! The women I have heard who have had birthing experiences at Mercy Gilbert have been almost uniformly positive - I'm sorry you got the short end of the stick, and especially with a midwife!! May I ask if it was the midwife, the nurses, the hospital, or all three which made your experience yucky??
ReplyDeleteAnd don't worry - should you ever have another little one, we have a TON of wonderful-wonderful-wonderful homebirth midwives here in the east valley, and I know there's a perfect fit for you too (should that happen!). Thanks for reading!!
The hospital was wonderful. The post-partum nurses were AMAZING. The midwife did not live up to expectations at all. This was my 3rd baby. I live an hour away from the hospital. We got there and they had me walk around for about an hour. The nurse checked me and hooked me up to the monitors and I laid there for an hour. The monitors weren't picking up the contractions, she repositioned them many times and couldn't get them to work. So I was sent home. I begged them not to send me home, pleaded with them. (from my birth story "if you have more than 10 contractions an hour"....."uh, like I'm having now??"....."or if you have a constant backache or cramps"...."yeah, like right now"....."well we can give you something for pain and something to make it easier to sleep"......"no thanks, I live an hour away, it's kinda important I wake up in time" So we drove the hour home. http://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&¬e_id=434167552675)
ReplyDeleteOn the way out of the hospital I had to stop several times because I couldn't walk through contractions. Got in the truck, and drove the hour home. My husband was in a car accident 2 days prior. He was in a LOT of pain, as was I. We got home and I got in the shower, then in the tub, then on the toilet. Bloody show. Then it changed, the pain wasn't so much pain but pressure. 45 mintutes after getting home we got back in the truck and drove back to the hospital.
Checked back in. Transitioned on the elevator, my husband walking as fast as he could trying to keep up. To triage with the same nurse who couldn't get the machine to work right earlier. Started trying to place an IV. It took them 7 tries to place an un-needed IV while I was begging for a drink of water. They brought me water, and placed it too far away for me to reach. They get the IV in, the MW broke my water said I was at 10 and to start pushing. I never felt ready to push, I had nurses screaming at me to stop yelling. It was the worst experience ever. After he was born and I got into a normal room and away from the horrible nurses it was truly wonderful, but that experience ruined most positive memories from his birth.
I'm sorry for the rant :( It's just something I feel very strongly about.
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm sorry you had such a crummy experience!! That really stinks!! Wow. I don't even know what to say about that one, other than that I'm very, very sorry to hear about that. I'm glad you're sharing your story, though - thank you for writing in!!!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, have you written to the hospital to tell them about your experience, and what you specifically liked and didn't like? They really, really, really need to hear about things like this - i.e. "I loved the PP nurses and thought they were great," and "My experience with items A, B, and C was so bad that I will never be coming back to this hospital again." It really can help make a difference!!
ReplyDeleteCan you labor and give birth in the pool or just labor and then get out to actually birth the baby?
ReplyDeleteChristina - It's just a labor pool; as far as I know, they require you to get out to birth. There used to be one midwife there who had waterbirth privileges, but unfortunately the hospital ended that. They are working on getting that back.
ReplyDeleteI was a recent patient at Mercy Gilbert with the most amazing midwife, Ramona and a fantastic doula. The birth of our first child could not have been any more perfect. I had a birth plan that was respected, leaving not one part of my labor or delivery different than what I had requested. I did everything I knew possible to educate myself on the culture of laboring in a hospital and did what needed to be done to ensure we would not have any obstacles getting in the way of our goals to have a completely non medicated birth, free of any and all interventions. I too used the pool in my own room, the shower, a variety of birthing balls, walked and even used a conveniently placed step up to help move my baby down the birth canal. I was given fruit, ice, water, did not have a monitor strapped to me...I was free to do as I pleased. All of this because my midwife, laboring partners and myself were prepared in advance. I labored for 12 hours, 8 of which were at the hospital. I triaged in my room for a short minute, when I kindly said there were too many people in my room and needed to focus. I had great peace all day which is a huge feat considering I have extreme anxiety when it comes to hospitals. The only thing I would have done differently was brought my own hospital gown, simply because it would have been more flattering!
ReplyDeleteI cannot say more positive things about the nursing staff pre and post delivery and recommend it to any mother that desires a natural labor and delivery.
Gosh I know this is old but contact info for Ramona?
ReplyDeleteCandle Light Kayla - Thanks for visiting! Ramona Joseph is now with MomDoc Midwives - here is their website:
ReplyDeletehttp://momdocmidwives.com/providers/ramona-joseph-cnm-mph
You could probably also contact them through their Facebook group - I've done that before. Unfortunately I don't have any direct contact info (personal email), but hopefully that should help!!
Diana