Seeking Midwife

I see Carol Hirschfield out of Northwestern. She is great.

I have used midwives for the prenatal and birth of both my children and would never go anywhere else. I also use midwives for my well woman visits.

Midwives have respect for the natural process, for the woman as a whole. They spend much more time and attention on you as a whole person, a whole family.

I had my first child with a midwife, Debi Lesnick and it was a wonderful experience, I ultimately ended up having a C section (long story) but not for anything that Debi didn't do. It was very supportive to have someone who was there in the hospital the whole time and I would reccomend it to anyone. Its great to have an oby/gyn, but midwives seem to have the ability to be with you most of the time you're laboring as opposed to the oby/gyn who often has to be at several births at the same time. Hope this is helpful.

I absolutely LOVE my midwife, Jennifer Gagnon, she is fantastic! I agree with most statements that they pay attention to you throughout your entire experience and respect your choices and your rights as a patient. She is located at: 4650 N. Rockwelion, Chicago, IL 60625 in case you are seeking one and do free first time consults. www.awomansplace.com is their website.

I Love Love Loved my Midwives and would recommend having one to EVERYBODY!! My midwives were part of a midwife group at Swedish Covenant hosp. There were six midwives in the group(which i was skeptical about at first-simply because i wanted to make sure i knew her and was comfortable with her at my son's birth-but as it turned out -well, it was perfect!!) At every visit i had a different midwife, that way i got to know all of them very well and they me- i was able to be seen by each of them many times before the birth of my son!
Midwives take the time with you and are with you through the whole process, through all the labor- i even got phone calls at home on several occasions, just because they were checking up on me! They got to know my family and treated us with the utmost respect! They take their time with you and genuinely respect your wishes! I do not know Rachel Blumenthal but if she is anything like these ladies, you will have a wonderful experience! I would also like to note that i had a different midwife for the birth of my 2nd and 3rd children and she was just as wonderful and dedicated and the ONLY reason I did not continue to see her was that she was no longer practicing! (and for my first child- i had a doc. and although he was kind and thoughtful, the experience was no where near as pleasent and comfortable--his nurses did everything, he was just there for the pushing and then was out again!--thank goodness for his nurses-they were awesome!) Good luck and i hope this helps!