Garrison Women’s Health Center

I went with Garrison Women’s Health for my first pregnancy feeling very centered by the idea of a midwife. Though I found I got on with most practitioners there I did know there were a couple I would rather not deliver with. They rotate deliveries by whoever is on so even if you attempt to meet everyone you may end up delivering with someone whom you have never met. A minus, I feel, but my first experience (my daughter delivered by a midwife I had never met and never saw again) went well enough that I returned to GW for my second pregnancy.
My second pregnancy mirrored the first pregnancy in that I found my office visits to Garrisons to be user friendly enough and the staff and billing offices easy enough to work with. It was when my second labor began that I changed my opinion of the practice. My water broke and I had been in labor for 24 hours and admitted to the hospital without seeing anyone from Garrison Women’s. I had a hard delivery with my first daughter and was nervous and wished to relay my experience to the staff on from Garrisons. After being in the hospital with my water having broken 24 hours past and still not seeing or talking to anyone from Garrison’s I had to fight with the nurse to call my doctor. The nurse blatantly told me: «Fine. I will call her but she will not be nice to you». Dr. Pam Bertram was cold, demeaning and lacked all bedside manner. She not only disregarded my wishes as a delivering mother she snorted and demeaned my concerns by asking «what do you want a C-​section right now?». She was not going to «check me until I felt the urge to push» — my concern was that with my first delivery I never felt the urge to push because of the heavy epidural. I was coached and told when to push by my midwife. I argued with the Doctor and we set the time for her to «check me» at 6 am. (*The nurse did come in and assure me not to worry that if the baby «fell out» in my bed they were right down the hall*) At 6am she came in, after I had sat through the entire night. With a half a push my daughter was born with the umbilical cord wrapped tightly around her neck several times. Who knows how long she had been there? Luckily she had no health issues such as cerebral palsy but I have heard of others who have. I am angry that I paid about 10K to a practice so they could treat me like a bother, dismiss my own intuition and practice what I thought was a dicey delivery. I did deliver a third child happily… but not there!!! I left and went to Women’s Health Associates (all docs who respect women!) for my last child. I would tell people to keep looking.

The doctors (and nurses, and everyone!) here are knowledgable and friendly. The front desk knows me by sight and greets me cheerfully, always.
Questions get answered quickly via phone, or e-​mail (or things that aren’t HIPAA private) and if there is a problem, there is no problem getting what you need to ensure you are taken care of.
I was seeing another doctor previously and scoping out OBs for when I got pregnant, but I never want to leave!