Midwives - Iowa City, IA

"I met Lynne at only one appointment before she attended my birth. I was not impressed with her personality or professionalism during the appointment, but I didn't feel strongly enough to change my care. I had only a 1 in 4 chance that she would attend my birth, and didn't fully understand the necessity of trust and confidence during birth before this experience. Now, I wish that I had paid more attention to those feelings. Lynne was rude and unprofessional to my family during labor, delivery and postpartum. Honestly, I believe that she held prejudices against my family and she was either unable or unwilling to overcome those feelings to treat my family with professionalism. She made inappropriate comments to me while I was in labor. She made the assessment that I did not need to push, when I had clearly expressed a desire to push, and then left the room. Within minutes, I was pushing involuntarily and she had to return and couldn't deny that it was time for me to push. While I was pushing, she admitted that she hadn't bothered to read our birth plan. While I feel that my husband was doing his best to work with her respectfully, she was openly arguing with my husband and snapping at him while I was pushing. To be completely honest, I do feel that my husband did his best to handle the situation without agitating her further. He was trying to joke with her to lighten the mood, while she continued to act inappropriately. While we had planned to take video during the birth, she was adamant that she never be videotaped or photographed, due to her own privacy and feelings that she should not be depicted on Facebook. This was simply one part of our birth plan that she refused to cooperate with. She expressed that she felt it was inappropriate for my husband to "catch" our child as he was born, but did allow him to participate in the birth, all the while snapping at him. She also took few measures to prevent tearing. She expressed that everyone tears with their first born, and I feel this was used as an excuse. I had discussed measures to prevent tearing with her colleagues and read accounts of women that did not tear with their first child in several sources of prenatal readings. I feel that Lynne was inattentive to my needs during the labor and delivery process, as well as during the stitching of my 2nd degree tear. Once my son was born, she made it known that she felt he was not breathing properly. By the way she spoke, it sounded as if she were pressuring the nursing staff to agree with her. She had a team of doctors called in, but not the doctors we had listed in our birth plan. As a result, my son was taken away to intensive care for hours of lying on a warming bed without being held. When he was finally given additional suction 4 hours later, his breathing issues were completely resolved, but not before he was unnecessarily given IV antibiotics and a chest x ray. I am very, very thankful that my child was not seriously ill, however, I do wish that more caution had been taken in his care. I wish that there had been a willingness to try less intrusive methods to resolve his breathing issue before resorting to extremes. I believe that our breastfeeding issues and my low milk supply resulted from this separation after birth, which turned out to be completely unnecessary. During my postpartum stay at the hospital, Lynne lied to me about the completion of my paperwork, resulting in delays the next day when paperwork was not completed as needed. While my experiences with Lynne's colleagues were excellent, I can never return to a practice where Lynne is employed. I can never put my body, or my child's, in her care again. In hindsight, I can see where there were red flags along the way as I asked questions at my prenatal appointments. Each time I asked about a particular practice, such as having my husband "catch" the baby, Lynne's colleagues would answer that they would not have a problem with it as long as they were the one that attended my birth. I now realize that they were alluding to the discrepancy in beliefs and attitudes within their practice. While I truly embrace the midwifery model, I strongly encourage anyone considering the midwife service at UIHC to seek a strong connection with Lynne before reaching the end of the pregnancy. I'd recommend seeking other care for your labor and delivery to avoid the kind of experience that my family had to endure. "