I was initially very excited to have our first baby at The Farm and I had high hopes of having a good experience as my brother was born on The Farm 42 years ago. Unfortunately we ended up firing Serena due to the poor care we received.
Things started off pretty well and she was very responsive and bubbly while we were interviewing her and making a decision. Pretty much as soon as we hired her, our interactions and communication changed. I made a point to only message during business hours and I never messaged incessantly, however 95% of the time I wouldn't receive a response at all, and the rest of the time I would maybe receive a one word answer sometimes up to a week later. One time when I had a concern about blood clots after a long road trip, I received a copy and paste of a ChatGPT response.
Majority of our appointments were virtual but one time we drove the 15 hours round trip for an in person visit to do our glucose test. We were never told to fast for the test, but when we got there at 11am for our appointment, Serena asked if I had eaten anything that day (I'm pregnant and had obviously eaten something at 11am) and when I told her yes, she just gave us the test to take home and do on our own. We could've saved ourself the 15 hour drive, a hotel room and not gone to that appointment in person.
Another time she was supposed to give us info for a virtual childbirth class and we asked multiple times but she didn't send it until the class was 15 minutes in, so we missed it. She often forgot important things or wouldn't follow through with things she said she'd do
As our due date got closer, we were feeling pretty neglected and uncomfortable with having her be at our birth. We also had a 7.5 hour drive from our house to the farm and planned on arriving a few weeks before our due date and renting one of their cabins. But with each message that went unanswered we decided we needed to find a more attentive midwife for our first birth.
We sent Serena a message stating how we were feeling and that we'd be switching our care, she responded promptly with an AI sounding message with a lot of excuses claiming that The Farm was going through transitions currently. I'm not sure what that has to do with her personal responses to her clients, but we chose to not engage further.
Luckily we found a wonderful, attentive midwife and had a fantastic birth team for our baby that is now 5 weeks old. We are beyond happy with the care we received with them, and as stressful as it was to switch so late in the pregnancy, it was the right move. Hopefully Serena will improve her communication and care as she gains more experience with her business.
Oh, and she kept the first week of rent ($700) that we paid for the cabin rental and claimed that it was going toward the few appointments we had, which she never mentioned we owed anything until we asked for the refund on the cabin. read more