Midwife

[westcoastdeb]

Hey guys. I am looking to have a baby sometime next year (the wait, oh the wait) and was looking for any reccomendations anyone had on midwives in the area. I could be tempted into one from Seattle even. I am looking (hoping) for an at home birth, and even better yet one who takes united healthcare. I know it’s early to be searching, but I am impatient and need to do something while I wait.

Deb

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[Chessa]

I used Seattle Home Maternity in Columbia City and had a great homebirth! Loved all the midwives there – they have 3 that attend homebirths (and they have a birth center in their basement). You can also rent/borrow a birthing tub from them. They billed our insurance (uniform) no problem. The drive to Columbia City for appointments is really easy from West Seattle, much easier than other midwifery practices I was considering (in Capitol Hill, etc).

Good luck in your search! :)

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[herongrrrl]

I can’t say enough wonderful things about Suzanne Thomson at New Life Midwifery. As a doula, I will say that to me she epitomizes the midwifery model of care. She was my midwife for the birth of my second child last year and she was just amazing.

Beth Coyote at Rainy City Midwifery is also highly recommended. I know a lot of folks who have been very happy with her.

Sally Avenson is a very experienced and very busy CNM but has privileges as Swedish Ballard as well as Group Health, which is a pretty rare thing anymore. I’ve attended multiple births in homes and hospitals with her and while she does take a more medical approach she is very skilled and doesn’t intervene unnecessarily.

Worth noting: in general, if you plan a home birth but need to transfer in labor, you will wind up at UW Medical Center because none of the other hospitals will take home birth transfers (Sally can transfer clients to Group Health once labor has started). I know that nobody who plans a home birth likes to consider that possibility but speaking as someone for whom that happened twice I think it’s good to consider. I’d be happy to talk to you more about my experiences there as a doula and as a client if you’re curious.

When the time comes, I can also recommend a really fabulous doula! (No, not me! The one I hired for my last birth. Her name is Rebecca Shepherd and she was the best!)

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[Harmonic]

I used the Midwives at UW Medical Center and absolutely loved them for both of my pregnancies. Also, my second one had some resiratory issues at birth and UWMC has an excellent NICU and I was comforted by the fact that she was in excellent care. My little one is a happy healthy 7-1/2 month old and if you are familiar to this blog, a byproduct of Snopacalypse 2008!

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[roguedelux]

I travelled to Greenwood for my amazing Licensed Midwife (LM) – Mel Parsons. Her partner is the infamous Cindy Brown, a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM).

We had a lovely water homebirth, along with Sharon Muza who was our doula.

If you want a hospital birth, I agree that the UWMC midwives are amazing. Not only is the UWMC the only hospital that accepts urgent homebirth transfers, but many of the RNs and Midwives are homebirth friendly, having delivery at home themselves (I work with most of them).

As far as a Primary Care provider/Pediatrician who happens to also be a LM, Molly Gray ND is in West Seattle – I don’t believe she is practicing Midwifery anymore.

Best of luck!

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[pixel pusher]

Big second for Seattle Home Maternity. They are amazing and helped my wife and I the whole way through our first birth. Heather was our mid-wife, but we also saw Marge for some of our visits. Both were excellent!! They are very knowledgeable and actually train many of the mid-wives in the region. And we discovered, after our baby was born, that Heather had delivered three other babies just on our block!!! They know what they are doing!!!

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[Meegan]

Beth Coyote at Rainy City Midwifery delivered our baby at home, and we had a great experience. As first timers, we felt really comfortable having a midwife as experienced as Beth attend our birth. All the midwives we worked with at Rainy City were great.

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[teacup]

We had a wonderful home birth here in West Seattle with the lovely midwives at the Puget Sound Birth Center in Kirkland. Yes, it’s a distance but man was it worth it. We had Heike Doyle as the attending midwife and she was amazing.

http://birthcenter.com/

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