Warning: This is extremely long winded but as with most birth stories; it's just too hard to make them very short. If you would like to skip all the details, feel free to scroll down to the bottom where I've listed the main points of why I like
Group Health Family Beginnings.
As some of you know, we switched insurance providers after having Everly and thus I was left to find a new doctor when I became pregnant with Verity. We had switched to Group Health and I'm not going to lie, I heard the bad rumors, I heard it referred to as Group Death. I believed we had signed up for the worst prenatal care ever.
However, they had options. Group Health Family Beginnings in Seattle has both OB's and midwives and they both deliver in their hospital. Group Health of course has it's own hospital but they also have a separate building that has it's own birthing center so to speak. That whole building is mainly baby related. The OB's and midwives are located on floor 2, the delivery floor is on floor 3, maternity testing is on floor 4. You get to be very familiar with that building and everyone there.
Back to what I was starting with; my apprehensions about Group Health. Like I said, I thought it was going to be awful. I made an appointment to see the midwives. I previously had only used OB's but since becoming more natural, I knew I wanted a midwife.
Prenatal
After my first few appointments, I knew this was going to be a great place to have Verity. Not only is Group Health Family Beginnings extremely pro-VBAC (which is always a plus if you are a VBAC mama, whether you are trying for your first or your third like I was) and they have one of the lowest cesarean rates in the state but the midwives are very pro-natural birth and not at all into interventions if they can help it. All of this was great news for me because as I mentioned I was going for a third VBAC and this time I wanted to finally get a natural birth. Not to mention, I tend to go past my due date and I hate having to feel pressured into an induction.
Through my 9 months of pregnancy, I had my appointments and tests like any other pregnant lady would. However, I of course, being the crunchy mama that I am didn't go by the book exactly. I wanted a retest for my Gestational Diabetes test because I felt like I didn't have it and I wanted a second confirmation (thankfully I did, as I didn't have Gestational Diabetes). This obviously was not normal practice for Group Health; with their Gestational Diabetes test it's a 2 hour diagnostic test so you either are or you aren't. There is no re-testing. However, I wanted to and they obliged. Another instance was all the vaccines. Any pregnant woman will tell you that generally you are offer/recommended to get the flu vaccine and TDaP vaccine. Now the flu vaccine is usually pretty easy to skip out on. It's still very optional for everyone and so doctor's know that many will refuse it. However, refusing TDaP can ruffle feathers because everyone is overly concerned with Pertussis (for the pregnant mom but more so for her soon to be born baby). If I had refused TDaP with my previous OB practice I would have never heard the end of it. However, with Group Health they didn't bat an eye. Sure they asked me why I didn't want it but that was it. No lecture, no death threats, nothing.
There was yet one more way I pushed the limits and it was with RhoGam. Most women do not even know what RhoGam is and that's because only 20% of pregnant mama's ever "need" it. RhoGam is given to mom's who have negative blood types (only if the dad is a positive blood type) so that your body will not produce antibody's for future babies with positive blood types. The current baby is at no risk, it's just for future ones because if you become sensitized they you have the potential for your body to attack a positive blood type baby because your body sees it as an intruder. Routinely they give you one shot at 28 weeks pregnant and one more after delivery if your baby is positive. Now the post-delivery one, I have no issues with. I'm not quite natural enough to skip it entirely (albeit I only have a 2% chance if I never get RhoGam). However, I do have issues with the 28 week one. It's precautionary to the extreme. Most of Europe doesn't even do it! And in the case of a car accident or some other trauma (where your blood could potentially mix and cause issues) you have 72 hours to get RhoGam and be in the clear. Because of all this, I declined the 28 week RhoGam. Guess what? They didn't mind at all! Like with the TDaP, I was asked why and I gave my reasons but that was it. With my old practice, I probably would have been kicked out (it's a horrid thought but it's totally true) Sorry that part got a little long but my point was that Group Health (at least the midwives) are very understanding and willing to work with you.
As I mentioned above, Group Health is also low intervention (once again, I can only speak for the midwives). As I got closer to my due date, the talk of going past due came up as I have a history of it. The whole time, the midwives never tried to schedule an induction. In fact, they made it a point to explain that they did not like to induce unless they had to and that there were other options such as acupuncture to try first. This is extremely important to me because I've had a lot of stress and anger because of doctor's wanting to induce me and stress will only make you carry longer; it's a survival instinct.
Labor
Now to the part, that most mamas want to know about: the actual delivery part. Anyone can deal with pregnancy but how a hospital deals with your delivery is something that will stick with you for life. It will either be a very fond memory or scar you for life. Trust me, I know. I have had 3 births that either left me scarred or at the very least angry at the doctors. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that all my children were born healthy and the doctor's did what they (I assume) thought best, but I still felt like I was not given all my options.
I started contractions at 40 weeks, 4 days (which for me is the earliest I have ever delivered). I was able to labor at home for a good amount of time. After quite awhile I called labor & delivery to see if I should come in. I knew I wasn't super close to delivering but I didn't want to be the mom who rushes in and has her baby at the door. L&D seemed relaxed and I almost thought they were going to tell me to wait but when they heard I was a VBAC they said to come in (they are always overly cautious with VBAC mamas). When you get to L&D, you instantly realize how secure it is. You cannot even enter the floor without them buzzing you in. I've never been worried about security but it's always nice to see. Since I was with Group Health, there was no paper work to sign (a huge blessing if you are in labor), I just gave them my Group Health number and we were all in. I was placed in triage to be monitored (got to make sure you are in active labor first), I got checked and all that jazz and was officially admitted because I was in active labor. When you get to the actual room, you realize as far as labor and deliver rooms go, Group Health's are pretty nice. They are newly updated and are the least clinical feeling rooms that I've seen.
Now here's where you start to realize how different Group Health is. First off, my midwife brought me a tray of food. Generally most doctors and hospitals will not let a pregnant woman eat. This is a pretty silly and outdated practice as labor is extremely draining and you need food for energy (so long as you want to eat, I didn't). Next, I was asked if I was ok with an i.v. port. I had been talking to the midwives through my pregnancy about a few things and this was one. They had always told me that I didn't have to have a full i.v. (all the tubes and water) but they do want you to have an i.v. port (aka a saline-lock) just in case they need to get something into you quickly. So I expected to "have" to have an i.v. port but they offered it like it was totally optional (which technically it is, legally they cannot force you to have anything). I went ahead with it anyway solely because I'm a VBAC. However, next time I think I'll totally skip it. When in labor you also have your contractions and baby's heartbeat monitored (Once again you don't absolutely need this) I thought about skipping it but I once again went with it as it's not that invasive and I'm a VBAC (next time I'll skip it as well because the monitors never work for me anyway). Most hospitals have monitors that confine you to the bed or you have to unplug in order to go to the bathroom or walk. Group Health has telemetry monitors so that you are hooked up to a portable device that you can carry around like a purse if you want to move about.
I also had an amazing nurse on top of having an amazing midwife. In the past, my nurses usually hooked me up and monitored me from outside my room and only came in to check on me occasionally or if I called for them. My nurse, Morgan at Group Health was wonderful. She knew I wanted a natural birth and she was pro-active about it. She offered a bath to help me through labor, she did compression on my hips (and showed Justin just how to do it) so that labor was easier. This is what I need. I am not the type of person who takes the initiative while in labor. I just kind of curl up and deal with it but what I really need is someone almost forcing me to get in a tub or walk or whatever. Morgan did this for me and I'm eternally grateful to her.
Delivery
Thankfully, once I hit active labor (which is when you hit 4cm) things go pretty quick for me. Within 3 hrs of getting to the hospital, I was in transition. I was standing and bending over the bed for support as that was my apparent preferred position. Now I never imagined I'd give birth in any position than the standard laying down position. I knew the benefits of not laying down but well... I never liked the idea of how primal the other positions are. However when push gets to shove, I apparently was alright with delivering while standing. As I mentioned before, the midwives cater to pretty much whatever you want. They did ask me to get on the bed but I think that was more because it'd be easier for them to help me. However the second I said no, the midwife was totally ok with it and just said they'd do whatever I wanted. A few pushes later I had Verity.
Baby Care and Postpartum
Group Health is very pro-kangaroo care. This means that the baby is placed on your chest immediately and doesn't leave you for at least an hour. All tests that need to be done right away are done with the baby on you. At one point the pediatric nurse/dr whoever she was, wanted to take Verity for oxygen because she wasn't "pinking up" as quickly as she liked but my midwife knowing all that she did knew that Verity wasn't in any real danger and advocated for Verity to stay with me a bit longer. Verity did eventually get taken away for a second but I don't think she really needed it. In any case, she was back with me in a minute and there she stayed for more than 2 hours.
The entire postpartum care was great. I got all the help I needed. My wonderful nurse Morgan realized that I'd be exhausted and since I delivered at night she made a note to the morning nurse to not bug me till later in the morning so I could sleep in. They always asked me if something was ok before doing a standard procedure for Verity. I was able to refuse her bath, eye drops, and Hep B with no problem. I thought I couldn't get away with the eye drop refusal as I've heard Washington is a stickler state but they asked if I wanted them and so I declined. Like I've said before, Group Health is apparently very easy going.
They asked us when we wanted to leave. Odd because usually in the hospital it's 24 hours no matter what. So we decided to leave at 20 hours and they made sure that all the testing happened earlier than normal so we could leave on time.
In the past, I've always been happy to be done with my OB's. I usually think, "thank goodness I don't have to deal with them anymore". However, with my midwives I was sad. I had my 6 week postpartum appointment and when I left I looked at the building thinking, I almost wish I was still pregnant so I could still see these wonderful ladies. That's how much I like Group Health.
Now we've had 4 kids. I've always said I want 4-6 kids but now that we are at 4, I can see being done at 4. I also know that when Verity is a bit older, I'll get baby fever again and I might go for a number 5. If there is a number 5, I definitely want to use Group Health again. Hopefully we'll have the same insurance but even if we don't I'd be tempted to pay extra just to go with them again.
The Short Version of Why I Love Group Health Family Beginnings
Midwife option instead of only OB's.
Very pro-VBAC
One of the lowest cesarean rates in the state.
Very anti-intervention (at least the midwives)
Very anti-induction (at least the midwives)
Had no problem with me refusing things like TDaP, RhoGam
Had no problem with me asking to be retested for Gestational Diabetes
No problem with me declining procedures in the hospital
Pro-natural nurses who were pro-active in helping me go natural
Worked with whichever position I wanted to deliver in
Pro-kangaroo care
No problems with declining standard baby procedures
Worked with when I wanted to leave the hospital.
