After the vaginal birth of my first daughter in Brazil, I developed panic disorder. What should have been one of the happiest moments of my life became the beginning of a very difficult emotional journey. From that experience, childbirth became something that brought fear, anxiety, and deep emotional distress. During my second pregnancy, even though I had an amazing medical team and delivered by C-section, I was extremely worried. My second daughter was born with some genetic anomalies, which at that time caused me intense anxiety, fear, and despair. Thank God, today those anomalies do not affect her life in any way -- truly a miracle from God -- but in that moment, it was emotionally overwhelming. This current pregnancy came as a surprise, and it was filled with challenges, discomfort, and many difficult days. However, I was blessed to be followed so closely by the wonderful AFA team at Emerson Hospital in Concord. They always respected my emotional condition and supported me with compassion, patience, and understanding. When the day of my C-section arrived, I was met with a team that completely changed my story. I want to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Letner, the nurses, the nursing technicians, the anesthesiologist, and every member of the hospital staff. From the cleaning staff, to the people who brought my meals, to everyone who cared for Bella and for me -- I will be forever thankful. You rewrote my maternity story. Today, I can honestly say that I experienced a birth that I can remember without emotional pain. I felt safe. I felt cared for. I felt respected. I am grateful to God for each of you -- for every medication given, every blood pressure check done with such care, every kind word, every gentle action. Thank you for your love, your dedication, and your humanity. May God bless each one of you and your families abundantly. With all my gratitude, Karen Aciole de Oliveira Silva read more

Staffing makes all the difference in this baby friendly hospital. I was treated with respect and kindness at every turn of my birthing experience. Nursing staff respected my birth plan and made every effort to adhere to our wishes. Once the baby arrives and move to our suite each nurse who entered were full of excellent advise, instruction, and compassion. Baby and husband roomed in during our stay. Room service was quick to arrive and delicious. My favorite part of the stay was when nutrition came by with a cart of delicious sweets and fruit. Emerson didn't treat my labor and delivery like a medical disease or emergency. I would highly recommend using this center to any expectant mother. read more

If I could hit the reset button, I probably would have gone with a different hospital. My contractions were irregular and extremely painful, which I only know now was a sign of asynclitic presentation, where the baby's head is tilted towards the shoulder. I still wonder if I had gone with a different hospital if they would have been able to catch this sooner (rather than at the very end) and help me re-position the baby with some spinning babies techniques allowing me to have a natural birth. Instead I thought I was having a "normal" labor meanwhile the baby was ramming my pelvic bone with every contraction. I gave in after 8 hrs and felt like a wimp and asked for nitrous oxide and then morphine. When neither of those worked, I asked for an epidural, which definitely worked, but also stopped my contractions completely. After another 8 hrs of labor with lots of shivering, my blood pressure dropping, being in and out of coherence, and puking all over the floor I was informed that I needed an emergency c-section because the baby was stuck and in distress. I did have multiple vaginal examinations throughout... but I guess it takes a very experienced doctor/midwife to tell if the baby is asynclitic? To top off my rough labor experience they removed my catheter too soon and told me to drink lots of water so that I would have the urge to go. So I did and tried to go, but no luck...so they said drink more water. A few hours later, I woke up and felt like my bladder was going to explode. I called the nurse and she said she had to get some device to check my bladder. Say what? I need a device to tell me that my bladder is full. Come to find out what was really going on was that they needed to find a nurse who knew how to put a catheter in. Twenty minutes later, with me in tears, the only nurse who could put a catheter in finally came to my room to put the catheter in. And guess what, it was the same nurse who told me to drink more water! Shouldn't all of the nurses be able to put a catheter in?!? Yikes. My last gripe with this hospital is that I'm not sure if my son was circumcised properly. There's a lot of loose skin and it kind of looks like it was cut with butter knife. I guess there's a chance my son's skin type caused some healing complications... they should really warn you about these risks. Now I need to get a second opinion. I'm hoping it's fine and that it wasn't botched... The only saving grace to this whole experience was that my c-section went fine and they ultimately delivered me a happy and healthy baby boy. read more

I had the greatest experience at the birthing center. I opted for a zero intervention, no ask, hypnobirth. My OB Dr Balcom was amazing and open to my requests. The nurse was fantastic as well. The only downside were the 1000 questions asked to me while trying to focus on my hypnobirth and meditation. I did fill out an early admission form in hopes of avoiding the questions. But after the questions she was attentive and at one point I needed to hold her hand. I'm having a 3rd baby due in July and I'm looking forward to the experience. read more

I have been calling for 3 days just to request an appointment and still I couldn't get one. And I have great insurance coverage. This is a perfect sign of "go somewhere else". read more

This review is about Emerson's birthing center or should I say surgery center? They pressure mothers to induce their labors even if the reason doesn't make any sense. They do not support women that would rather have a natural delivery. They do not care about the mothers preferences. I was constantly harassed for making my own data-based and informed decision of pursuing an spontaneous labor for my perfectly healthy pregnancy. The staff has to impose guidelines to reduce liability and increase profits for the hospital even if these guidelines do not make sense. There was a handful of harassing doctors and midwifery who even acknowledge the tests have a higher chance of false positives than negatives and that they did not know better but that they had to pressure me to induce. The midwife that happened to be on call on the day of my spontaneous labor, was a horribly cold person, clearly unhappy. Her attitude and responses were extremely negative and sarcastic, which made my labor tense. If you are a mother looking for a place to have an induction or a c-section this is a wonderful hospital for you. Otherwise do not let them pressure you to do anything you don't want to. Do your own research. read more

I liked the service provided to my pregnant wife during her delivery and post delivery by the Emerson Staff except one midwife (she appears to be the oldest midwife among their midwifery staff and she has curly hair and short stature). I found her extremely racist towards my wife. She was acting like a snob. Let me tell her that there are countries in Asia (by the way Asia spans from Middle East to Japan) who have certain groups/ethnicity that are lighter in skin tone than Europeans with ginger hair and blue eyes. When she was arrogantly talking to my wife, I was about to show her place by showing her some really good looking people from Afghanistan, Pakistan who are not only lighter than her but having ginger hair. read more

(Birth was June 2014.) It's really hard to rate a hospital based on a very unique birth experience (every birth is) but overall I had a really good experience here and would recommend Emerson. I really wanted a natural birth (my review of my first son's birth is on the Midwives at Mount Auburn Yelp page). At Emerson, I saw Sherriann Perivolotis for all of my prenatal visits at the Westford office (which was so convenient, I could have walked there!). She was AMAZING! I loved her (and I loved my midwives at Mt. Auburn as well.) The convenience factor was why I switched to Emerson rather than go to Mt. Auburn again. For the actual birth, I arrived 10 cm dilated, and had a very smooth, fairly quick birth at Emerson. The after-care nurses were very hit or miss, which you will find anywhere, but it's really hard for me to compare my two births. I had a ton of pitocin and a natural birth after 20+ hours of hospital laboring for #1 at 42.5 weeks with MaMA, and not even an IV or any monitoring for kid #2 with an hour spent pushing. Obviously, based on the situation, I had a much better experience with #2, but I can't really credit the hospital for that. I liked that Emerson was much quieter and much less busy, and easier to get to for me. I didn't have a doula for my second birth (I didn't find my doula to be all that helpful for $600 for the first birth). I didn't feel like I really needed one, but it never hurts. I labored at home way longer than I planned to with #2. I had no idea I was so far along. I had to have my membranes swept because I was on a tight schedule (moving to GA ASAP, just staying in Mass. to not be out-of-network for health insurance), so I ended up being in labor for 3 full days and got little to no sleep for those three days. I wouldn't recommend doing the membrane sweep unless, like me, you feel like you have to (my first son was born at 42.5 and I still had to be induced 2.5 days after my water full-on broke!) I had #2 at 41 weeks 5 days. Both boys are very healthy. Based on what I remember, I did have to wait for quite awhile for both MAMA and Emerson to see the midwives for my prenatal care, but it's hard to remember exactly how long. My very first pregnancy ended in miscarriage around 12 weeks, and I went to Emerson for that, after which I switched to Mass General for a second opinion after getting a different answer from the 4 different doctors at the practice. I saw Dr. Jamie Bond, and I liked her and Dr. Travias a lot. The other two I didn't like as much. I definitely wouldn't recommend Mass General for a natural birth (but would highly recommend for a high risk pregnancy - my sister birthed at MGH with a high-risk pregnancy and Beth Israel for her first), but I only saw the Dr.'s there, not the midwives. Bottom line, if you're trying to decide between hospitals, I would say the some big factors are out of your control in terms of how your birth goes. If you want a natural birth, do your research so that you are informed when you make a decision, read a lot, take a natural birth class, get a doula if you need one, and don't let them pressure you into anything you don't want. If you're prepared, it probably won't matter too much which hospital you choose. I would give a slight edge to Emerson over Mt. Auburn, just because it's quieter and less busy, and the offices are in nicer locations. read more

I delivered both of my children by c section at Emerson and had a wonderful experience each time. There is plenty of personal attention, nobody seems too rushed or busy to answer questions, the nurses are terrific, and the staff of the nursery where my newborn spent a night were amazing, as were the pediatricians. I'm a patient at Concord OBGYN and cannot recommend Dr. Jordano Alter or Dr. Travias highly enough. I felt I was getting Boston-quality care in a much calmer setting. Every single person from the woman who handled our birth certificate to the anesthesiologist who presided over my emergency c-section were attentive, personable, and made the experience so much smoother than I ever expected. While I'm sure a Boston hospital could be the right choice for a higher-risk pregnancy, if you are not high risk and want a more low-key experience, Emerson is terrific. read more

I had my beautiful baby girl here in January. I went here because my ob said she preferred it to other hospitals. I loved the labor services they offered like reiki, acupuncture, and baths, and the comfortable rooms in the maternity ward. What I didn't expect was how loving, comforting and kind the nurses would be. From the second I walked in the door, they made sure I was comfortable, understood everything that was happening, and that they were there as a resource. After the delivery, I had a few complications and they were experts in my care. I wouldn't consider going anywhere else for my next baby and highly recommend it to anyone planning to start a family. read more

If I could give it a zero I would. I drive my relative because we can not afford the ambulance ride, to the emergency room. She was unable to breath fully and was in terrible pain due to an object stuck in her throat, her airway was restricted. We arrive and before we could get help (see the doctor) we were forced to fill out paperwork and give insurance carrier as she was coughing up blood and her breathing was not good. It literally took 12 minutes to do that as she sits there suffering. Then we were put into a waiting room for another 30 to 40 minutes. I could not believe what I witnessed. To top it off the poor treatment from the intake lady to the nurse was unbelievable. After that we were forced into the "triage" room to take her blood pressure and temperature. Then back to waiting room for another 30 minutes or so. Luckily they were able to remove the object but of course they ran unnecessary tests to bill as much as possible. Keep in mind she is 72 years of age. This was Obama care at it's best. I recommend not going there. read more