Any recent experiences with or reviews of Physicians & Midwives in Alexandria?

[Anonymous]

Anyone have any recent experiences to share about Physicians and Midwives in Alexandria? Who did you like or dislike in their practice? Also interested in experiences delivering at Inova Alexandria. I delivered my first at VHC with Women to Women. I liked the W2W practice OTHER than Dr. Cobb, who I really, really disliked. I was also very displeased that I ended up being delivered by a doc in a different practice (after a messy, 3 day induction at 41.5 weeks). I'd like to try midwifery and I'm particularly sensitive to bedside manner in a provider. I'd also like to ensure that my provider ACTUALLY delivers my baby. Additionally, I live in Alexandria and the commute to W2W for appointments was not easy. Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

I delivered my third child with physicians and midwives at Alexandria Hospital. I generally liked them and I was happy with the hospital. At first I didn't like that the hospital didn't have a nursery but despite not sleeping at all after the birth of DC3 due to rooming in, I will say my milk came in fastest with #3. I believe the milk camein faster because I couldn't send #3 to the nursery and take her back every three hours to nurse at night (like I did with the older 2). One thing I liked about P&M in particular was that they always have a physician or midwife at the hospital 24 hours a day & they never have to call anybody in - they always just have somebody there. As far as I know, you definitely cannot guarantee that your provider will deliver your baby - it is my understanding that it will be whoever is staffed at the hospital at that time.

This was my first experience with a midwife group. I feel the combination of physicians and midwives means that these midwives may not be as crunchy as other midwives which is what I was looking for but I don't exactly know what you are envisioning.

I had kiddos #2 and 3 delivered with no intervention and no medications. They were also not delivered by my regular doctor. #1 was delivered by my regular doctor and she did end up giving me Pitocin after a very long labor. I'm over it at this point but part of me wonders if she really gave me that Pitocin because her shift was ending soon and she just wanted to get it over with before she had to go. Based on that experience I put less weight on having my regular doctor deliver my subsequent babies.

With #3 delivered by P&M I almost gave birth to her in the car. I said I wasn't going to be able to walk to the check-in and the midwives met me with a wheelchair at the door of the hospital and wheeled me up quickly. They were all very nice through this experience and they said this was what they call a drive-by delivery. I got excellent care afterwards in particular with two bouts of mastitis during the year and a half I nursed baby #3. One of the times I vomited in a trash can in the exam room right in front of the midwife and she pulled my hair back and rubbed my back!

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks so much, for your reply. I have heard talk about Inova Alexandria's baby friendly practice and that this can be hard on mom. Is it really true that they refuse to take baby for any period of time? I read mixed reviews on this. And to be clear, I don't mind the concept of not being delivered by my doctor of choice within the practice, but I want it to be a doctor or midwife IN THE PRACTICE as opposed to someone from another practice who they share with.

[Anonymous]

NP ... I think your experience with Inova Alexandria or any baby friendly hospital is going to depend heavily on your nurses and how busy the hospital is when you're there. If there are a ton of deliveries at the same time as yours, you won't get any extra attention ... but if the post-partum unit is pretty quiet, the nurses might have more time to help you out. That's true for pretty much every hospital but you'll notice it more at hospitals without a nursery.

Capital Women's Care has an office at the Inova Healthplex, and they have a doctor (at Inova Fairfax, so a different hospital and a little further if you're coming from Alexandria City, South Arlington, or far eastern Fairfax) 24/7. You see all the docs during your pregnancy so you'll be familiar with the doctors who's at the hospital when you deliver.

[Anonymous]

I delivered mine with P&M. The front desk staff was really good about rotating me through providers during my prenatal visits, so I had already met the providers who attended to me during labor, except one (and by that point, I didn't care). In the end, the doctor who delivered me was the one who confirmed my pregnancy, which was neat.

I liked Alexandria hospital. Yes, they are baby-friendly, but the nurses took my child when I asked.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, all. Can you share which providers you especially like at P&M?

[Anonymous]

I delivered with P&M in 2014. I think they would probably be fine with an uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery, but I wasn't very happy with my experience once I started to develop a few complications. Their communications with other specialists (like the MFMs) were difficult to coordinate, and they didn't always communicate well with me. I was also sent over to the OBs suddenly, without notice from the midwives (I showed up to an appointment with a midwife and the front desk told me I was going to see the OBs from then on instead) when I became higher risk toward the end. I found some of the midwives very unfriendly, and others were great.

FWIW, I also had a messy, 3+ day long day induction with my first through P&M, although I was delivered at the end (c-section) by a P&M OB and P&M midwife holding my hand.

Finally, I will say that I'm seeing a different OB practice for my current second pregnancy. At 37 weeks right now, I can say that the OBs I'm seeing spend just as much time with me per appointment as the P&M midwives did, and their communication is much more proactive than the midwives were. Again, I think that this may be because the P&M midwives might be more used to completely uncomplicated pregnancies that don't require much until delivery.

My absolute favorite midwives at P&M were Ashlee and Jenna, although it looks like both have now moved on to GW.

I also had a good overall experience at Inova. There were challenges with postpartum care, and I couldn't have handled it if my husband weren't there. But, nurses did take the baby for a few hours overnight once they recognized how exhausted I was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks so much, for your reply. I have heard talk about Inova Alexandria's baby friendly practice and that this can be hard on mom. Is it really true that they refuse to take baby for any period of time? I read mixed reviews on this. And to be clear, I don't mind the concept of not being delivered by my doctor of choice within the practice, but I want it to be a doctor or midwife IN THE PRACTICE as opposed to someone from another practice who they share with.

This will depend. I had my kids at Inova Alexandria with P&W (but I had scheduled C sections both times). The first time, it was amazing - it was almost like a concierge experience. There were only 5 babies on the maternity ward the weekend I was there. It was a very intimate, personal experience. The second time...not so much.

[Anonymous]

Do a search for Inova Alexandria. It has come up a LOT recently. It is baby friendly and from what I've heard from friends, terrible to mothers.

I delivered two babies with Arlington Women's Center at Virginia Hospital Center. I could sing their praises for days. Why aren't you considering them?

[Anonymous]

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/661253.page#11370304

[Anonymous]

I’m submitting a serious complaint on behalf of my daughter. She made an end of the day appointment through doc and arrived 5-10 minutes late due to extreme and unpredictable DC traffic. She made this last minute appointment because of prolonged heavy bleeding. This was not a benign situation. When she arrived, only a short amount late, she was told that she was too late, that if she didn’t arrive on the minute the doctor would not see her. This was not the standard of care and poor patient care. It it customary to leave a small window for late arrivals especially given the recent traffic congestion in DC since work from home was discontinued. I’m absolutely appalled by how she was treated and now, after following the office instructions of going to urgent care she has still not been helped or treated. I would question supporting a doctors office behaving in this way, it’s not only impolite, it’s high risk.