This review is late but the experience will never leave me and I was never provided with answers to the many fails. I am expecting my second child and at a different birth center now, in a different state and while discussing my current birth plan with my midwife, I explained to her my experience in Miami with your Hallandale location and how I would hope that no one would ever or has ever had to experience this.
I came to A Birth Center and went through months of check ups with midwife Deborah. I would say everything was fine until the day my water broke at 37 weeks. As discussed, I stayed in contact hours following until Deborah advised me to come to the birth center for my antibiotics (due to GB positive). When I arrived at the Birth Center, she told me to instead go to the hospital and she would meet me there. No problem. Keywords, she would meet me there soon. I arrived at Memorial Regional Hospital and the hospital and was immediately given pitocin. My contractions began to soar. My mother and husband were by my side but as hours went by, still no Birth Center staff, midwife nor doula showed up ( as promised). We called and called and excuses were made and I was told they'd be on their way. Deborah still hasn't made it. Midnight came and went and I was in agony and scared. Hospital nurses came in with papers for me to consent to Cesarean, as I expected they would because they wanted to speed things up. I screamed and begged for them to move those papers out of my face and they tried to convince me to just sign them. Had I signed them, I am sure they would have wheeled me upstairs for surgery. Still,where is my midwife and doulas? Where are you!!
I was alone. No advocate. My husband and mother was there but I still felt confused. Around 8am in the morning the pain was unbearable so I asked for epidural. One thing I hoped not to have. I wanted a natural vaginal birth and if My midwife were present she could have ensured or at least guided that. But they weren't. I was at hospital staff's mercy and they wanted me to do surgery for no reason other than to save time.
Thank Goodness I opted for epidural because minutes after the epidural was administered, it's as if my body was able to relax and my daughter began to slide out of my pelvis. Deborah's Husband ( the Obgyn) waltzed into the room at that very moment and caught my baby. He smelled of alcohol and seemed drunk. Thank God nonetheless. I was happy to see him but he was unprepared and snipped the umbilical cord immediately -which was another aspect against my birth plan. I'd specified over and over to Midwife Deborah that I wanted to delay the cutting and hold my baby until the cord stopped pumping. I was just devastated. And he downplayed it and laughed it off.
I asked him where was his wife and why she'd never showed up or any Birth Center staff, he said something to the effect that she was tied up.
Furthermore, when I returned days later to the BC with my newborn, I asked Deborah myself and her excuse nonchalant. I can't even recall what it was. I was also informed that the BC misdiagnosed me as having RH negative blood and the Rhogam I was given early on was an error and the bloodwork was misconstrued. But that also was downplayed and I was told Rhogam wasn't harmful so I'd be okay.
This was a mess. I was turned off by the treatment following my baby's birth. It's as if staff changed and was no longer welcoming. Life happens and this always bothered me and the current birth center I am attending Cannot believe this treatment and lack of care. I'm thankful that through all that stress, my daughter was delivered healthy and naturally. It's a lesson learned. I hope that the center has gotten better since then. read more