Dr. Bajaj at Capital Womens Care in DC

[Anonymous]

Has anyone had Dr. Bajaj as their doctor? I have been seeing her for the past 4 months and still am not sure what I think. She is always nice and asks if I have any questions, but I am not sure what she thinks of natural births. My biggest concern is that I would like to have a natural birth; avoid epidurals, be able to walk around, take showers, not be connected to a fetal monitor all the time etc... I've asked but her answer was along the line of "It all depends on how well the labor goes" Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks
EK

[Anonymous]

Remember that you might end up with Picco or Newman during delivery. I never met Bajaj, but I, too, expressed a desire to have a natural child birth, and was met with a similar response by the other doctors. As my due date approached, I found their responses to be pretty condesending. (I switched practices and was extremely happy with the result). My only advice to you OP is to listen to your gut feeling. So, when Bajaj says it depends on how your labor goes -- ask her what she means. Ask her for the situations in which she would recommend pitocin, an epidural, and C-section. You might be able to get a sense of her "philosophy" and you can judge from there.

I appreciate that there are many on the board who had a good experience with the doctors at this practice. I did not find this to be the case. (with the exception of Hibshman who is no longer in the practice).

[Anonymous]

I too am seeing Dr. Bajaj and haven't made up my mind what I think about her. There was a post about her on the old website a month or so back, so you should go there & check out the comments. With respect to your specific concern, I asked her yesterday about when/if we might need to induce and she told me that the practice's policy is not to let you go past 41 weeks. So, if by natural childbirth, you are concerned about induction (using Pitocin), you may want to discuss this with her in more detail.

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP. Just one follow-up point: This is my second pregnancy (my previous OB, whom I loved, no longer practices). During my first pregnancy, my water broke at 34 weeks. I was on bedrest at the hospital for 48 hours before they let me go into active labor and it was essential for me to be on an IV and the fetal monitor around the clock, and, yes, I didn't get to take a shower for something like 5 days. But, I wouldn't have had it any other way, because the chance of infection was very real but we wanted to stave off my labor as long as possible to help the baby's lung development. I had previously discussed whether I should make a birth plan with my OB & he had told me "A birth is not something that can be planned in advance." My experience certainly proved that to be true. So, when Bajaj says "it depends how it goes," there is definitely a lot of truth to that, regardless of your OB's philosophy on natural childbirth.

[Anonymous]

I had an experience with Dr. Bajaj that prompted me to seek my care from another practice. I liked Dr. Bajaj's manner and found her to be very personable. However, when I was about five weeks along, I developed slightly uncomfortable cramping in my lower right abdomen on a Friday afternoon. The cramping grew steadily worse on Saturday. I should have paged her on Saturday but instead waited it out, convinced that it would resolve itself. Finally, at around midnight I decided I was in enough pain to go to the ER. The ER docs confirmed that it was an ovarian cyst and not a big deal. However, they recommended that I see my doctor on Monday or Tuesday. They paged Dr. Bajaj early Sunday morning and told me that when they spoke with her, they would tell her to call me to set up an appointment. They assured me that I would probably hear from her that afternoon or Monday a.m. I never heard from her. I left a message for her on Monday and was told by the office staff that she was out on Mondays. Fine. By Tuesday, I still had heard nothing and called again to follow up as per the ER doc's advice. I left another message and again did not hear back. On Wednesday, I called for the third time, demanded an appointment and scheduled time for Thursday. When I showed up, they had no record of my appointment. I waited for an hour and finally saw Dr. Bajaj. She seemed unaware of my situation and was not apologetic -- not rude, just not apologetic. I decided to switch to another practice because I was afraid that, if I had a serious problem in the future, a prompt response could be thwarted by (1) the ineptitude of the front office staff and (2) Dr. Bajaj's seemingly casual attitude. Perhaps she would have been more responsive if my problem had been a true medical emergency, but I think she at least owed me a phone call.

[Anonymous]

To follow up on the ineptitude of the office staff in the practice at 2141 K Street (Drs. Bajaj, Newman and Picco), they are HORRIBLE. In my situation, Dr. Newman called to tell me of a pregnancy complication and when I called back later with follow-up questions, he didn't respond to 2 separate phone messages. I later found out he never got the messages. But at the time, I was so upset that he didn't call back that I actually switched to another doctor in the practice, who ultimately let me down during my delivery.

The front office staff also had this ridiculous policy that you couldn't make more than 2 appointments at a time. At the end of my pregnancy, though, I had to come into the office twice a week for 1 non-stress test and 1 sonogram. Since I wasn't allowed to make more than 2 appointments at a time, though, it meant I was always being double booked or squeezed in for appointments, making the wait time awful. I finally spoke to the office manager who overrode the front desk person and allowed me to make more than 2 appoinments at a time. When I told Dr. Newman about my difficulties, he'd never heard of the "no more than 2 appointments" policy.

Clearly, their staff has issues. And a doctor's office is only as strong as its weakest link.

[Anonymous]

PP again -- I also should mention that Dr. Bajaj discharged me from the hospital with no post-operative instructions after my unplanned C-section. So, I had no idea what to expect with my C-section recovery, and I ultimately did WAY too much in the beginning which made my recovery that much more difficult. All they needed to provide was a 1-page sheet of do's and don'ts, and then maybe a "when to call us if there's a problem" list. My father is a physician and he always provides something like that to his patients. My discharge instructions amounted to the nurse telling me "don't do stairs" and "don't drive for 2 weeks."

[Anonymous]

I'm the 14:05 poster. For the PPs who ultimately left the Bajaj/Newman/Picco practice, where did you go? Reading these comments is making me contemplate switching.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for your responses. It's comforting to hear other stories and experiences. I am pretty sure I would like to deliver at Sibley but can't seem to find a doctor who delivers there and works with United Health Care coverage. Any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

I left the 2141 K St. practice when I was 5 months. I should have changed much earlier, really. Dr. Picco was my main doctor. I have posted my problems with the practice elsewhere, but one of the worst problems was that they never called me with results, even bad ones. I learned of a "severely abnormal pap" result no less than three weeks after being tested, and even then only after I called twice requesting the results. I moved to Reiter, Hill and Johnson at 1145 19th St. OK, so the wait time for visits hasn't improved much, but I was very impressed when I was called by Dr. Johnson on a Friday evening at 6pm (three days after my test) to inform me that my blood test was very slightly abnormal. One of the nurse practitioners also went out of her way to set up an appointment with a specialist for me. And I was called by an assistant a day after the specialist sent new results to Reiter/Hill - they had already set up a follow-up appointment for me that week. Reiter/Hill came through where it counts - I am so glad I switched.

[Anonymous]

I switched to Dr. HIbshmans new practice which is only minutes away from the old office. She doesn't deliver in Sibley but I found the alexandria hospital really nice and friendly staff. All the rooms are private!!! Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

My doctor was Dr. Picco. I switched to GW MFA b/c of Dr. Picco's rushed manner. I also hated having to spend 10+ minutes waiting to get someone on the phone sometimes. Am happy with the switch so far. Plus GW has all private rooms, not a reason to switch, but definitely a plus.

[Anonymous]

I switched to Dr. Richard Footer. The original site contains an extensive discussion of his practice. I was initially concerned that he only delivers at Holy Cross ( I think there is also a discussion of Holy Cross on the original site). I realized after my dealings with the 2141 K practice that for this (my first) pregnancy, my most important criteria were my doctor's resonsiveness/professionalism and experience. I am extremely happy with Dr. Footer.

[Anonymous]

i feel like a lot of people are leaving tehis practoce and am concerned. I was planning on coming to the practice---recommended to see Hibshman, but heard she is not there anymore. Should I find another practice all together. Some advise would be wonderful---first pregnancy and a little nervous

[Anonymous]

11:54, depends on what you are looking for in a practice (convenience, location, easy to schedule appointments). There is nothing wrong with going to a practice for those things, but remember that is not the same as going to a practice because you are comfortable with the docs and think they provide good quality care. Hopefully you will have a smooth pregnancy and not have many questions. However, if have any type of pregnancy "issue", more questions for your doctor, and/or prefer an unmedicated childbirth, I don't know if this is the practice to you.

I would not recommend the practice to anyone. I left pretty late in my pregnancy and my only regret is that I didn't switch earlier.

I found Hibshman to be quite different (in a very good way) from the doctors who remain at the practice.