Good obstetrician recommendations for vaginal delivery at Texas Medical Center (Katy: to move, health)

[AOLiga]

Woman's Hospital does have mandatory separation. If you have a vaginal delivery, you get to keep your baby with you for an hour, then the baby is taken to a transition nursery for four hours. After that four hour period you can have your baby room-in. But that initial 4 hours in the transition nursery is mandatory (at least it was when I delivered there in 2009).

[heightsian]

[quote=heightsian;21086694]

Originally Posted by springolife

We're switching to Woman's from Memorial Herrman as our doctor has changed her practice to there now. We had several friends give birth here and they loved it -- all of them vaginal, no c-sections. We also heard differently about the experience you describe above both from the hospital and our friends. We were told we could choose to room-in as much or as little as we wanted to (I also asked if my husband could accompany the baby to the nursery and they said that was fine). We actually had a choice between the two hospitals and decided to go with Woman's because of their 1 to 1 nursing care and having a staff anestheologist on hand (we liked the atmosphere/spaciousness of MH better though)

Thought I would update my experience for anyone who was interested. I had a great experience at Woman's. My L&D nurse was great and the anesthesiologist showed up FAST when I asked for an epidural. The baby stayed with me for about an hour after birth and then they took her to the nursery for 3-4 hours for testing etc. I hardly noticed the length of time as that was the time I was getting checked out by the doctor and nurse and there was so much commotion in moving from L&D to recovery.

Once that 3-4 hours separation was over, they allowed us to have the baby in the room as much as we wanted, no problems. We chose to send the baby to the nursery that first night and they asked me to sign off on how I wanted the baby fed. The second night, we kept the baby in the room with us and the nurse on call was great, coming by when we called to help us with her.

My only complaint was that Recovery didn't seem as response as L&D was and there were two new nurses every 6 to 8 hours it seemed and it was just hard to keep track of who my new nurse was, who the baby's nurse was, etc.

[SherylnHouston]

[quote=springolife;18607268]

Originally Posted by SoccerPlayer123

Planning our first pregnancy.

Specifically, we are looking for any personal experiences (or from a good friend's) with a good obstetrician at the Texas Medical Center or in/near Pearland who does not pressure you into doing C-sections only. "

How very wise you are! I had hoped to have a VBAC at TX Women's and I had no idea that they are so pro cesarean. I loved the multiple office locations so I didn't have to drive into down town for OB apts, but I ended up with several cesareans and nearly everyone I have met had a cesarean there. To the poster who said they specialize in high risk, these women were NOT high risk. Even among high risk hospitals, some of them have maintained average or below average stats in cesareans, the same should be true of Women's. High risk does not automatically mean cesarean.

One of the more recent cesareans was her first baby and she was told (pre-labor) that her baby was much too big to deliver (mom and dad are very tall) and that she MIGHT have the POSSIBILITY of the BEGINNINGS of pre-eclampsia and the baby needed to be delivered immediately. The baby was of normal size and the mom didn't have pre-eclampsia.

They chose the hospital because it's supposed to be 'the best' just like I did. The reason for my cesareans used to be commonly delivered naturally and still is by many midwives in home deliveries just fine.

Another problem with Women's is that they are not what is considered to be mama/baby friendly. They have mandatory separation and don't like rooming in. Hospitals that allow baby to remain with mom in the first couple of hours, allow mom to bathe baby, allow mom to keep the baby during the night, and try to do as much as possible with the baby right there in the room with mom are gaining in popularity for good reason. A gentle beginning for baby and such support for mom is excellent in establishing breastfeeding, aiding maternal bonding, helping to prevent post partum depression, improving breathing and temperature regulation of the baby, and I could go on and on. It's not only POSSIBLE to keep baby with mom (even following a cesarean) it's NECESSARY. The new Tx Children's maternity center sees this as so important that they will have the lower level NICU babies in isolettes in mom's room, NOT in the NICU!

As someone said, Dr Dryden is fantastic. She's very pro-natural birth and VBAC. In the same practice is a midwives group and I highly recommend them. They deliver at St Lukes/Tx Children's. Also in the same practice, I had some bad experiences with Dr Zepeda, as his nurse practitioner handled my high risk case rather then the dr and I nearly died when I didn't get proper treatment. While I would hope that it would help to improve things in the office, I continued to have dangerous issues and I finally had to look for a new dr.

As I said, Texas Children's is opening a new maternity center that is supposed to be fantastic, possibly the best in the US. I have several friends using the midwife group there, though the new center isn't open yet they have had excellent pro-family experiences at the current maternity care center.

I've used Dr Hector Del Castillo, who has a good tract record of being pro-natural birth friendly and supportive of VBAC. He delivers at Memorial HErmann the Medical Center and that's a pretty good hospital as well. Some call him paternalistic, but I like his fatherly nature.

I've been hearing good things about the Baylor doctors. Dr Juan Franco is pro-VBAC but I don't know how he is in natural birth in general. I have clients who have been very happy with him (I'm a birth doula so I get to know a lot of the birth professionals in the area.)

Speaking of which, the number one thing you can do to help your chances of a non cesarean delivery is to find a doula! There are many good doulas in the Houston area, I'd be happy to recommend some. Some have heavy leanings towards birth education, some do massages, some offer monatrice services so you can stay home as long as possible while she monitors the mom and the baby....We have fantastic options here in the Houston area!

In Pearland, there's a popular birth center attended by midwife Bernadette Oliver, and a popular doula (she was my doula) is under midwifery training with her. Oliver used to be an L&D nurse at Memorial Hermann for many years, they were so sorry to loose her but the birthing community is happy to have gained a midwife.

Please feel free to email me doula at birthspring dot com if you have any more questions. I'm so sorry I discovered this as late as I did, I hope you got a subscription to the thread. Happy baby making!

Sarah

I really appreciate the advice! I've had 3 cesareans and am nearing 40. I'm hoping I can have a VBAC on the next pregnancy.

[springolife]

Congrats! I hope you will come back and read my reply as that was an old thread. If you choose to have a hospital birth, your best option for a VBA3C is Ben Taub. They have midwives you may be able to see during your prenatal care and they will assign you an OB as well. During labor you will have both a midwife and an OB attending. They LOVE VBAmC moms coming in (they specifically told me after two and three cesareans) and are planning an interview/broadcast on channel 2 news about this topic! Obs in general will not allow a TOL after three cesareans, but they seem to really trust birth and want to help the VBAC community, It's also helpful to get a doula (I am a doula and I know many in the area if you'd like some contact info. Mine is doula at birthspring dot com) It is also helpful to join the local ICAN group on yahoogroups ICAN Houston Galveston for up to date info and VBAC support.

[Dionne7]

Originally Posted by springolife

Congrats! I hope you will come back and read my reply as that was an old thread. If you choose to have a hospital birth, your best option for a VBA3C is Ben Taub. They have midwives you may be able to see during your prenatal care and they will assign you an OB as well. During labor you will have both a midwife and an OB attending. They LOVE VBAmC moms coming in (they specifically told me after two and three cesareans) and are planning an interview/broadcast on channel 2 news about this topic! Obs in general will not allow a TOL after three cesareans, but they seem to really trust birth and want to help the VBAC community, It's also helpful to get a doula (I am a doula and I know many in the area if you'd like some contact info. Mine is doula at birthspring dot com) It is also helpful to join the local ICAN group on yahoogroups ICAN Houston Galveston for up to date info and VBAC support.

I have read the reviews on Dr. Zepeta at The Women's Specialist in Houston. If you are more than 12 weeks into your pregnancy seeking pre-natal care, they will refuse to accept you as a patient. In the state of Texas a doctor refusing treatment is acceptable. I'm sure legally they cannot do this, but in Texas people do what they want until they are sued. You will be told someone will get back to you after your case has been reviewed if you try to make an appointment. This is what a friend of mine told me. How can you review someone's case without the previous medical records? They did not ask for her medical records which is clear indication they are just bull-------. Anyway, I would be very cautious dealing with a practice like this. The girls that answer the phone seem very unprofessional. Anyway, most of these doctors in Houston get their training from Baylor College of Medicine and they branch out on their own in their practice and become affliated with Texas Medical Center to deliver the babies there. Baylor College of Medicine Obstetrics and Gynecology will work with you to find a doctor to do a vbac, but they will request medical records from your previous delivery and current medical records if another provider has provided pre-natal care. The people who answer the phone seem very professional. The downside is it is a teaching hospital, so residents and medical students will be involved in monitoring your care as well. The doctors at Baylor are affliated with many of the hospitals in Houston to deliver babies and they also have a midwives practice if you go that route.

[colcat]

And all along I thought the ultimate goal was to have a healthy baby. What was I thinking?

[waterlilly75]

dear Sarah: thanks for your post. Can you recommend a good doula in Sugarland area?
really appreciate. am 7 months pregnant. will deliver in end of Nov. it is my 2nd. my first is normal delivery. so very much want to find a doctor and doula can give me that in the sugarland area.
thanks in advance.

[HoustonRonnie]

Shill.

[JasonAndJulie]

Have you considered a birth center?

[Sarchandra]

Tiffany Mullin is great if you want a vaginal delivery with an epidural. She delivers at Memorial Hermann in Katy. However, she does not seem to have the experience or have an interest for patients who want to deliver without an epi or other drugs. This is from experience