Midwife charged in DC? Karen Carr, CPM...

[Anonymous]

Fact is that nobody knows. I can tell you that the bc midwives never give out cpm names and so I question the truthfulness of the moms post. If it really is the mom posting i'n the review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fact is that nobody knows. I can tell you that the bc midwives never give out cpm names and so I question the truthfulness of the moms post. If it really is the mom posting i'n the review

The mother never said explicitly in her statement that the Birth Care midwives gave her Carr's information.

[Anonymous]

Feh. I'll be taking a Bradley class by one of the three instructors in Old Town soon and I have no idea if my instructor is the birth assistant in question. I wouldn't know because I don't know if she's a birth assitant at BirthCare or not....I'm not a client there. I would like to know if it's her though before I shell out the 500 bucks for the class. Thinking about forfeiting my deposit anyway.

Why don't you ask your teacher if she is a birth assistant? Is your class at BirthCare...as some PP have stated, the birth assistant in questions seems to hold her Bradley class at BirthCare.

[Anonymous]

If you are concerned, I would call the Bradley cooperate office if you don't feel comfortable asking the teacher directly or calling BirthCare. Do you know any BirthCare moms or people you can ask? Honestly, I know who it is but after that letter to Jeff I am not going to be the one to say it on the Internet. I would discuss it with a friend though.

This is a valid concern...the birth assistant hasn't been charged with anything but at the same time we all as mothers have a right to feel 100% comfortable with our childbirth education and labor support. We want to trust the advice we are given. Many women may still be comfortable with this woman, but others might not, and I don't think we should judge that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fact is that nobody knows. I can tell you that the bc midwives never give out cpm names and so I question the truthfulness of the moms post. If it really is the mom posting i'n the review

right? I thought it was super weird that BC would refer the mom to an unlicensed provider. I mean, that opens them up to all kinds of liability doesn't it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fact is that nobody knows. I can tell you that the bc midwives never give out cpm names and so I question the truthfulness of the moms post. If it really is the mom posting i'n the review

I didn't necessarily question the truthfulness of the review - i.e. I didn't think she was purposely not being truthful. But I've had questions/concerns about the review. In fact I asked a question way back many pages asking someone to clarify the relationship between Karen Carr and BirthCare because of that review. At the time I was trying to figure out if there was more than one person there - this was before people started specifically mentioning the birth assistant and long before the Post article mentioned the presence of the doula.

The reviewer (MDawn) spoke about seeing the "midwife" at BirthCare at her postpartum visits. If Karen Carr doesn't work for BirthCare, why would she be there? Or was the reviewer just mixing the use of the terms "birth assistant" and "midwife"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Great discussion.

I totally agree with PPs who said that home birth advocates are doing women a disservice by saying how evil hospitals and OBs are for women. We used Birthcare for our first baby and all the reading that we did, our birth assistant, and especially our Bradley instructor scared us half to death with stories about how bad hospitals and OBs are for birth. This was not helpful when we ended up risking out of BC at 41+ weeks and transferring to an OB for induction, which ended in a c-section. We were terrified the entire time and had no support from BC after the transfer.
But you know what? The hospital and OB were great, the L&D nurses were fantastic. Baby was on my chest minutes after the surgery and nursed right away and never left our side except when DH went with him to the nursery a couple of times for tests. I was home two days later. Even the c-section recovery was fast. The thing that took the longest to recover from was my emotional expectations surrounding the birth. I felt betrayed by BC for a long time and am still angry at our Bradley instructor for flat out lying to us in telling us how terrible the whole thing would be. I can definitely understand the mother in this article wanting to avoid hospitals at all costs, especially if this was likely to be her only baby. They pretty much tell you you’re a bad mother if you go to an OB or have medical interventions of any kind.
It’s one thing to say that home birth gives women choices, but deliberately lying about the facts and trying to scare people into adopting your point of view, doesn’t help women make informed decisions. I’m sure some of the information we got from our Bradley class was good, but now that I know how much they lied about, it’s hard to know what to believe.

Yeah, but then you ended up with a c-section after getting an induction, which I'm sure they also warned you about and turned out to be true! I have seen everything you listed actually happen more than once, nay-more than ten times each in the many, many, many hospital births I have attended. This instructor probably should have used the phrases "You may encounter" and "You might want to be aware that this is what often happens..." instead of "You WILL" but...maybe she did and you don't remember.

Seriously? Can't you just realize that she may have had the birth she wanted and isn't upset by that? I have had a vaginal, c-section for breech (given the option of a breech deliver I chose the section all by myself) and two VBACs. No enema, no shaving, no washing with soap, no pressure to do anything I didn't want to do, no continual fetal monitoring if I felt like I had to get up, OB even encouraged me to deliver the first on hands and knees due to positioning of baby, no taking baby from me, no strapping me down during section or delivery, no mean nurses (though the lactation consultant I saw outside the hospital was the devil).
Perhaps if you were an attendant (being paid I assume) then you should have stepped in and said something. Or perhaps you should have your clients (again, paying you right?) deliver in a different location where these practices aren't done. Though I will tell you that of the many, many, many friends and family (I am one of 8 children with 30+ nieces and nephews) I have who have delivered in hospitals I haven't heard of one having done what was listed above which you seem to see all the time. Weird.

AMEN! ...to the original post and the third post here. To the poster who wrote the second post: 'yeah, but you ended up with a a c-section after an induction'- SO WHAT? (the first poster wrote that it was a good experience for her!) You are just showing, like so many others here, that you DO value your PERCEIVED IDEAL BIRTH experience OVER EVERYTHING ELSE.... AND ON TOP OF THAT YOU ARE COMPLETELY UNACCEPTING AND INTOLERANT of understanding that other women may have a wonderful birth experience that did involve interventions - you will just not acknowledge that, to you this is impossible, and thus it must be impossible for everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fact is that nobody knows. I can tell you that the bc midwives never give out cpm names and so I question the truthfulness of the moms post. If it really is the mom posting i'n the review

I didn't necessarily question the truthfulness of the review - i.e. I didn't think she was purposely not being truthful. But I've had questions/concerns about the review. In fact I asked a question way back many pages asking someone to clarify the relationship between Karen Carr and BirthCare because of that review. At the time I was trying to figure out if there was more than one person there - this was before people started specifically mentioning the birth assistant and long before the Post article mentioned the presence of the doula.

The reviewer (MDawn) spoke about seeing the "midwife" at BirthCare at her postpartum visits. If Karen Carr doesn't work for BirthCare, why would she be there? Or was the reviewer just mixing the use of the terms "birth assistant" and "midwife"?

I answered you a few pages back. Karen Carr is not a BirthCare midwife. There is no relationship there. The CirthCare midwives (there are 5 I think) are CNMs and Karen is a CPM.

[Anonymous]

The birth assistant cannot and does not give advice, neither does a cbe. They give information with direction to consult their provider when making choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fact is that nobody knows. I can tell you that the bc midwives never give out cpm names and so I question the truthfulness of the moms post. If it really is the mom posting i'n the review

I didn't necessarily question the truthfulness of the review - i.e. I didn't think she was purposely not being truthful. But I've had questions/concerns about the review. In fact I asked a question way back many pages asking someone to clarify the relationship between Karen Carr and BirthCare because of that review. At the time I was trying to figure out if there was more than one person there - this was before people started specifically mentioning the birth assistant and long before the Post article mentioned the presence of the doula.

The reviewer (MDawn) spoke about seeing the "midwife" at BirthCare at her postpartum visits. If Karen Carr doesn't work for BirthCare, why would she be there? Or was the reviewer just mixing the use of the terms "birth assistant" and "midwife"?

I answered you a few pages back. Karen Carr is not a BirthCare midwife. There is no relationship there. The CirthCare midwives (there are 5 I think) are CNMs and Karen is a CPM.

BirthCare also handles well woman appointments so maybe the reviewer was going to them after the birth for follow up care. Maybe not necessarily PP visits but not relaly well women visits, kwim? She probably didn't trust Karen to give her those visits after the events and maybe she still trusted BirthCare to check up on her afterwards? I don't know...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fact is that nobody knows. I can tell you that the bc midwives never give out cpm names and so I question the truthfulness of the moms post. If it really is the mom posting i'n the review

I didn't necessarily question the truthfulness of the review - i.e. I didn't think she was purposely not being truthful. But I've had questions/concerns about the review. In fact I asked a question way back many pages asking someone to clarify the relationship between Karen Carr and BirthCare because of that review. At the time I was trying to figure out if there was more than one person there - this was before people started specifically mentioning the birth assistant and long before the Post article mentioned the presence of the doula.

The reviewer (MDawn) spoke about seeing the "midwife" at BirthCare at her postpartum visits. If Karen Carr doesn't work for BirthCare, why would she be there? Or was the reviewer just mixing the use of the terms "birth assistant" and "midwife"?

Based on that review, I was under the impression that she went back to see the midwives at BirthCare for her PP visits. Though, I want to make it clear that I am basing this information solely on the review that was posted and do not know whether that is complete/accurate in it's facts or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fact is that nobody knows. I can tell you that the bc midwives never give out cpm names and so I question the truthfulness of the moms post. If it really is the mom posting i'n the review

I didn't necessarily question the truthfulness of the review - i.e. I didn't think she was purposely not being truthful. But I've had questions/concerns about the review. In fact I asked a question way back many pages asking someone to clarify the relationship between Karen Carr and BirthCare because of that review. At the time I was trying to figure out if there was more than one person there - this was before people started specifically mentioning the birth assistant and long before the Post article mentioned the presence of the doula.

The reviewer (MDawn) spoke about seeing the "midwife" at BirthCare at her postpartum visits. If Karen Carr doesn't work for BirthCare, why would she be there? Or was the reviewer just mixing the use of the terms "birth assistant" and "midwife"?

I answered you a few pages back. Karen Carr is not a BirthCare midwife. There is no relationship there. The CirthCare midwives (there are 5 I think) are CNMs and Karen is a CPM.

Oh, I know that now. I was just using that as an example of what I was struggling with after reading the review. Something still doesn't add up for me. Karen Carr is not a BirthCare midwife, so why would she have been there when the mother was going for her postpartum checkups? She wouldn't. But the reviewer specifically mentions conversations with the "midwife" at those appointments.

[Anonymous]

If you are concerned, I would call the Bradley cooperate office if you don't feel comfortable asking the teacher directly or calling BirthCare. Do you know any BirthCare moms or people you can ask? Honestly, I know who it is but after that letter to Jeff I am not going to be the one to say it on the Internet. I would discuss it with a friend though.

This is probably what the letter intended to do along with dampening the debate. Regardless, I'm sure that anyone seeking midwives, birth centers, assistants, or home birth will be asking these questions.

This is a tragic situation. Many things involve making a decision between what risks to take. I don't think you can condemn the parents or the midwives. I do believe that they all knew that risks exist but that they also knew that many women have successful vaginal breech births. Many of the medical recommendations that you receive are simply based on generalized statistical risk comparisons.

I think what is truly sad is that Dr Tchabo is the only ob/gyn in the area who will attend a breech vaginal birth. It sounds like the parents would have been open to giving birth with an ob/gyn in a hospital setting if an attempt at vaginal birth was possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fact is that nobody knows. I can tell you that the bc midwives never give out cpm names and so I question the truthfulness of the moms post. If it really is the mom posting i'n the review

I didn't necessarily question the truthfulness of the review - i.e. I didn't think she was purposely not being truthful. But I've had questions/concerns about the review. In fact I asked a question way back many pages asking someone to clarify the relationship between Karen Carr and BirthCare because of that review. At the time I was trying to figure out if there was more than one person there - this was before people started specifically mentioning the birth assistant and long before the Post article mentioned the presence of the doula.

The reviewer (MDawn) spoke about seeing the "midwife" at BirthCare at her postpartum visits. If Karen Carr doesn't work for BirthCare, why would she be there? Or was the reviewer just mixing the use of the terms "birth assistant" and "midwife"?

I answered you a few pages back. Karen Carr is not a BirthCare midwife. There is no relationship there. The CirthCare midwives (there are 5 I think) are CNMs and Karen is a CPM.

Oh, I know that now. I was just using that as an example of what I was struggling with after reading the review. Something still doesn't add up for me. Karen Carr is not a BirthCare midwife, so why would she have been there when the mother was going for her postpartum checkups? She wouldn't. But the reviewer specifically mentions conversations with the "midwife" at those appointments.

I would think that she didn't want to see Karen for her PP visits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fact is that nobody knows. I can tell you that the bc midwives never give out cpm names and so I question the truthfulness of the moms post. If it really is the mom posting i'n the review

I didn't necessarily question the truthfulness of the review - i.e. I didn't think she was purposely not being truthful. But I've had questions/concerns about the review. In fact I asked a question way back many pages asking someone to clarify the relationship between Karen Carr and BirthCare because of that review. At the time I was trying to figure out if there was more than one person there - this was before people started specifically mentioning the birth assistant and long before the Post article mentioned the presence of the doula.

The reviewer (MDawn) spoke about seeing the "midwife" at BirthCare at her postpartum visits. If Karen Carr doesn't work for BirthCare, why would she be there? Or was the reviewer just mixing the use of the terms "birth assistant" and "midwife"?

Based on that review, I was under the impression that she went back to see the midwives at BirthCare for her PP visits. Though, I want to make it clear that I am basing this information solely on the review that was posted and do not know whether that is complete/accurate in it's facts or not.

Definitely a possibility. The midwife she referenced could have been one of the original BirthCare midwives she was seeing prior to being risked out. And now that I go back and read the review through that lens, it seems very likely.