Any Advice/opinions on Midwifery Care Assoc. Vs. Capital Women's Care?

I also had a great experience with MCA. I absolutely recommend them - feel free to contact me with any questions.

Wishing you all the best!

Hi- MC are my midwives and I cannot recommend them more highly. For my first child the midwife was with my husband and I for literally 12 out of 17 hours of active labor - she was incredible. Also, I had high blood pressure at the very end of my pregnancy and all 3 of the midwives (now there are four) took abolutely stellar care of me. They are extremely dedicated and look at each patience very individually and holistically - there is no one size fits all. I switched to them from a large OB practice at 28 weeks. Now, I am going to them for my second baby - I could not imagine it any other way. MCA works with Shady Grove, which was also an excellent experience. Good luck with your decision and please let me know if you have any questions!

I use the Capital Women's care office in Silver Spring. My preferred doctors are Sine and Tyau, but they're all fine doctors. I met them all when I got ready to deliver DD. I had my baby at Holy Cross and loved their L&D nurses so much I recommended one of them for a reward program. They were also very kind when a friend's daughter had a baby that died shortly after birth. I chose to have an epidural but you certainly don't have to. Dr. Tyau was delivering babies the same time mine was born to women who went natural. Holy Cross also has a doula program and a good lactation program.

Anyway, as for Captial Women's Care, I'd check them out. They're right off 495 at Georgia and Dennis.

I had a good experience with my GYN at CWC that is why I chose to keep stay with them for OB. However, you feel like such a number sometimes, the practice is huge. They also don't tell you that another OB from the Rockville practice whom you've never met might be the person who actually delivers you and during the course of your visits you have to see ALL the providers...not just your routine doc! You can't always see the provider that you've always seen. The last issue is billing. The processes are messy and always ask for your receipt and KEEP them. I still have a billing problem from last year. I'm a Women's Health Care professional and I do advocate for Midwives, if I had to do it again I would use one!
The great thing though is Holy Cross was a beautiful place to deliver, the L& D RN's are awesome!!! And if you need a high quality NICU (we did unexpectedly) they have it. Blessings to you for a safe and healthy delivery.

I just had a baby with MCA in August. I had a great experience. I had my daughter with the same group seven years ago when they were the Maternity Center. Both my births were completely natural with no drugs, etc.

Kris Bontrager is one of the midwives and I think she's great. She has an excellent balance between trying to do things naturally but using modern, non-invasive tools when necessary. Also, I really liked the fact that she stayed with me to deliver my son, Roque, even though her shift had ended. She was due to go off-duty at 7pm, but I was almost at 10 centimeters, so she stayed. At 7:05 she gave me the greenlight to push and he was born at 7:23, but by the time she stitched and did all the after-birth stuff it wasn't until about 8:15 or so before she was actually done with me. I had almost the exact thing happen with my daughter, but the midwife didn't stay and I had to deal with a new midwife coming on right as I was getting ready to start pushing and I found it disruptive, especially since I was feeling connected to the one with whom I had been laboring. Anyway, I really liked MCA and it's very well-organized and well-run because it's a division of the larger S&S. Shady Grove was great, that was the first time in my life that I'd ever stayed overnight in a hospital. The rooms are beautiful, both for delivery and post-partum. The midwives are given all the authority over their patients and have a lot of power and clout at Shady Grove, so the midwives call all the shots on their patients. The only thing that was a bit bothersome was the nurses trying to give my son formula because he didn't urinate until he was 9 hours old. I guess that's a battle many women fight at any hospital - they always want to give formula for whatever reason... But, most of the nurses were very good and only one was a little rude when I asked her to turn off the AC because the room was too cold for a baby only a few hours old.

I don't know anything about Capital Women's Care.

Good luck!!

Midwifery Care delivered by daughter last year and we were very pleased with our experience. I was able to deliver without any drugs, or even IV. The Shady Grove L&D nurses deferred to the midwives. My experience with them has been very positive. If I were pregnant again, I would definitely go with them. The only other advice I have is to hire a doula. Sheila Rose Patton was my doula and I can say that she is absolutely the reason I had the birth experience I wanted. While the midwives will labor with you at the hospital, Sheila also labored with me at home. Also, if the midwives have another patient who is delivering at the same time(as happened with me), they will not be able to stay with you all of the time. Having a doula was so wonderful. She totally supported me, helped me manage the pain, reminded me of my birth plan and kept me focussed, helped my husband be as involved as he wanted to be. She was great. You can reach her at ###-###-####. Best wishes for a great birth experience.

Hi A.. At 32 weeks pregnant I switched from an OB practice to MCA and have absolutely no regrets. I had a natural birth at Shady Grove. I am convinced that had I stuck with the OB they would have pushed other interventions and possibly a C section, as my labor was very long (23 hours)...the midwife (Chris Bontrager) was present throughout and was WONDERFUL!!! There was so much positive, female energy in the room and I was encouraged to keep going even when I wanted to quit...I highly highly recommend MCA based on my experience. I have stayed with them and use them now for my annaul exams etc... Also Shady Grove was great. I really liked it there and found the post-delivery rooms were very comfortable and the staff was very nice and helpful. I don't have any other experience to compare it to, except that my doula (who has attended over 70 births in all kinds of hospitals) said Shady Grove was the best she has seen...I think that says something. Good luck with your decision and the remainder of your pregnancy!

Maybe it depends on which CWC location you go to? I go to the practice at 9850 Key West Ave and I have been very pleased with them. I delivered my son with Dr. Wei, who I loved, after 25 hours of labor and about 4 hours of pushing. In the end, when she realized the baby was turned slightly wrong, she worked with me to adjust my positioning and get the baby to flip the right way so I could have the natural birth. She even said she was going to try some things before, because she didn't want me to have to have a c-section - and it worked too!
It's true that at CWC you'll see every doc in the practice before you deliver, so you don't have some stranger down there :) But, for the most part I like all the doctors there and thought I was given very good care.

A.,
I'm a childbirth educator and birth doula of 8+ yrs. I have attended births in all hospitals and birth centers in this area, as well as home births. I have also had experience with CWC and MCA. I do not attend births @ Holy Cross anymore, due to the attitude of many( I didn't say all!) nurses and most Dr.'s there. They have one of the highest C section rates in the area. I don't care if they just renovated! Sibley has gotten worse since the Takoma Park midwives disbanded and stopped going to that hospital. If you live upcounty and want a hospital birth, then MCA would be your best choice. For the most part the midwives do a very good job, and the nurses @ Shady Grove are used to seeing more natural births.
Saying that, I'd urge you to consider either the DC birth center in DC or Special Beginings in Arnold MD. Most of my clients who want natural births and will not do a home birth choose Special Beginings. Yes they do travel from Mont. County to Annapolis. And they are very happy with the care. They offer water births and have very good midwives.
Please feel free to email me directly if you have more questions of want to discuss anything in detail.
L. M.

A., when I was 20 weeks I switched from Capital Women's Care to the Maternity Center, which is now MCA. The reason was that my appointments with CWC were so frustrating. I'd wait so long to see a doctor and then the appointment with the doctor was so short.

With the Maternity Center I rarely waited so long and then my time with the midwife was as long as I wanted it to be. Before I started with the Maternity Center I did not know anything about natural birth.

My actual birth started out at home and then at the birth center (they no longer have a birth center except at Shady Grove), but my son wouldn't progress so I had to have a C-section at Shady Grove in the end. The midwives stayed with me in shifts and helped me immensely. If I were to have another child, I would definitely go the MCA route but I would also investigate hiring a doula to have help at home. Karen Castle and Paula Pelkey in Olney have a doula service and are wonderful women. You can reach them at ###-###-####.

I can't speak to Capital but I had a wonderful experience at MCA and can't say enough good things about the midwives there. I delivered at Shady Grove; Chris esp. was like an angel throughout my long hours of unmedicated labor. After 4+ hours of pushing she finally called in one of the Simmonds doctors to consult and both recommended a C-section. She stayed with me throughout the entire procedure and until I was through recovery and back in my room. I also thought Shady Grove was great (except my delivery nurse--good thing Chris was there!) and the mommy and baby nurses were excellent. I really couldn't have asked for anything more (except to not have had an obstructed labor and delivered vaginally but as anyone will tell you, even a pro-natural birth midwife, a healthy baby is the goal).