So funny to see this very old thread come up--it was mine, almost 2 years ago. For what it's worth, I ended up with the GW midwives and delivered the not-yet-conceived baby mentioned in my OP nearly 7 months ago!

The midwives do "well woman" visits and I went in for one so I could get established as a patient. I was the same as you, OP, wanting to use my annual exam to scope out new practices. I had my appointment with Whitney and loved her. I also hear good things about the OBs at GW, so you can't go wrong IMO.

Dr Metz (married name) is my OB and I just had my second appointment with her today - Love her! I did the STD/PAP test that I couldn't do last time and she was QUICK! She smiles when she sees the baby on the monitor, and she always wants to make sure my questions are answered.

She's fabulous so far - I obviously haven't delivered yet, but so far I'm happy with my choice.

I also really like the nurses at the M St location FWIW

I'm nearing the end of my third trimester and have been seeing Dr. Tham-Metz from the beginning. She is fantastic. This is my first pregnancy, and I've had a few complications, and she really has been so great. She has a 9-month old herself, so she can relate to a lot of the routine pregnancy difficulties, and she has good practical advice. I never feel rushed. In fact, I love going to my appointments, because I always leave feeling very reassured (even when something is wrong and I'm being sent for more tests). Cannot recommend her highly enough.

Dr. Michelle Tham (Metz) was incredibly helpful, knowledgeable, professional, and caring towards my wife during the course of our first pregnancy. We were new to DC and blessed to find an intelligent, passionate and energetic doctor, in Dr. Metz. If you want a great doctor, good medical staff and up to date office facilities and equipment, you should definitely think of Dr. Metz and team at GW Medical Faculty Associates. She went above and beyond for my wife and saw us through an exciting pregnancy and the delivery of our daughter. We are both so happy Dr. Michelle Tham (Metz) is my wife’s doctor, and so is our daughter, Emery.

I used this thread to find a doctor when I was six months pregnant and about to move to DC from out-of-state, so I figured it was about time that I help somebody else by putting in my two cents. When I moved here, I was looking for a doctor and not a midwife, but I wanted to go with the natural childbirth route unless there was a good medical reason why it wouldn't be possible. With only online reviews at my disposal, I ended up going with Dr. Tham-Metz. I have to say that I couldn't have made a better choice. First of all, I liked her a lot better than the doctor I'd had before. She is patient, invites questions, and generally has a welcoming and calm demeanor. She was also very receptive to my plan to go natural and suggested I labor at home for as long as possible (probably to help avoid the temptation?). Unfortunately, she was out of town when I delivered, but everything went smoothly. The nurses respected my decision to go drug-free. One nurse, who was particularly wonderful, helped me through natural pain management techniques, and I was handed my baby the second he was born. I held him for an hour, if not longer, after. That said, other than wanting to avoid medication and wanting my baby immediately, I didn't really have a plan, so my demands were simple. If I ver have another child, I will definitely go back to Dr. Tham-Metz.

I remember reading similar, wonderful things about Whitney when I was pregnant, and was bummed that she wasn't my midwife. I saw her right as she started at MFA, and she missed that my baby was breech. She was very warm and responsive, and the baby was fine in the end (c-section), but just wanted to say that Whitney is not perfect and occasionally her medical skills fall short (as is normal). I feel like there is this feeling that the midwives, especially the ones like Whitney who have a following, can do no wrong compared to the intervention-happy, out-of-touch doctors, and at least in my case that was not true.

OP back again. 22:48 - that's a great description, especially coming from a midwife. Thanks so much for chiming in with some info on Dr. Tham (not that I don't also appreciate the other info on the midwives, etc.)!

I really wanted to deliver with the midwife practice at GW, but because I knew we were expecting twins when I contacted Whitney, she encouraged me to go with the MFA practice (though I know she delivers twins routinely). She recommended Dr. Bathgate and Dr. Tham. Because Bathgate specializes in multiple and high risk, I'm seeing her for the most part, but I'll probably request Dr. Tham at some point just in case she's the one on call when I deliver. Whitney described Dr. Tham as a "doctor who is a midwife at heart" --- which sounds like a fantastic combination if you're hoping to go the natural childbirth route.

I delivered (medicated) 2 babies at GW and w ere given both immediately after they came out, before they were cleaned up. They cleaned them and they were given right back to me to BF.

I delivered my daughter last January at GW and I was able to hold her right away as well for a good while. The residents delivered me and Dr Gaba supervised. They brought her over the warmer for a quick assessment, weighed her, and brought her back to me to breastfeed. I spent about an hr or so with her and my husband alone before being moved to post partum. When I was moved to post partum, they did take her to the nursery for official admission, but she never saw the nursery again after that. I went home 26 hrs later.