St. Josephs in St. Paul

I delivered 2 of my 4 children at st josephs and wish I could have delivered them all there. It was the BEST hospital I've ever had@! Good luck to you!

Hi, I delivered there with my daughter (19mos) and will deliver my son there in May. I had a great experience with midwives and a waterbirth. The hospital feels like a well kept secret as it is so quiet and has many nurses that have been there for years and years. It is not as fancy as the other hospitals but I loved it.....

I delivered at St. Joseph's almost 2 years ago. It was absolutely fabulous. I had a midwife (she has now retired) and our plan was to have a waterbirth. Unfortunately, my water broke before labor started, so I could not have a water birth. My first child was born with the assistance of an epidermal (in Seattle). My son-now almost 2 was a natural birth at St. Joseph's. I also had a doula which I highly recommend.

Hope this is helpful.

C.

Yes! I totally have an opinion about St. Joes and 2 awesome mid-wives that deliver there!!!! I am a doula, and in the doula crowd's opinion, you can't beat St. Joes or the Mid-wives that I am recommending for a desired natural birth without many medical interventions. I had one failed induction 4 1/2 years ago that ended in a c-section (in Iowa) and I moved to the twin cities when I was 20 weeks pregnant with my 2nd. I reasearched like crazy and EVERYONE that I talked to recommeded these mid-wives. They have like a 96% success rate for VBACs!!! That is impressive! Anyway, I had a beautiful, natural, unmedicated, vaginal birth under the care of these mid-wives and my wonderful doula:>)
The practice is
Generations Women's Health Clinic
1030 E. Co. R. E.
Shoreview, MN
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Nurse Midwives Rebecca Borroso (did home-birth for 20 years before becoming a CNM and working at this practice) and M. Hayes(20+ years of experience as well) with OBGYN Laura France as back-up. This is an extremely small practice...two midwives and one OB. Because of that, you know exactly what you are going to get. They do waterbirth at St. Joes as well (Joes has a permanent tub:>)
FYI...There is one more mid-wife group that delivers at Joes (I believe it is the HealthEast group) They are good as well, but MUCH larger! (like 10 of them!) They would be my 2nd choice, however. They do waterbirth as well. Whatever you decide, have the baby at Joes! They are used to seeing natural birth...and use a doula if you can...www.childbirthcollective.org for more info. or www.dona.org Sorry for the rambling. E-mail me if you need more info. ____@____.com

I delivered both my children at St. Joseph's and would do it again. The nurses are great. I had midwives both times and would not recommend the HealthEast group of midwives. They are becomming much more medically oriented. I ended up with pitocin and neubane with the 1st child. My 2nd child I had Rebeca Barroso and she was fantastic. I also had a doula and strongly recommend one. I think St. Joe's is one of the best hospitals in the area for a natural birth. They are extremely open to and helpful for natural births. Good luck with your decisions. I have a lot of connections when it comes to natural birth. Feel free to e-mail me and I can give you some names and/or groups.

Hi,

My daughter (2 years) was born in Columbia, MD at the Howard COunty General Hospital using a midwife. I had natural childbirth. We moved to St. Paul last year and I am using a midwife again to deliver baby #2. The practice that I'm using is called Generations Women's Health located in Shoreview. It is a practice of 2 midwives and 1 OB. I got a recommendation from some moms I met at the Roseville chapter of La Leche League. This practice delivers at St. John's or St. Joseph's. Generally St. John's but if due to overflow or you want a water birth, then they use St. Joseph's. So anyway, although I don't have personal experience delivering at St. Joe's yet, I have heard good things. Good Luck.

Hi J..

I had my baby girl at St. Joe's in September, with the midwives, and LOVED the experience. (well, to be honest, it was the nurses that delivered my girl. Things went pretty quickly. Midwife got there 10 minutes after she was born.)

I visited with four of the midwifes during my pregnancy and was very pleased. I was planning for a natural birth, and a water birth if things went right, and they are extremely open to avoiding interventions unless absolutely necessary. Another friend of mine delivered there in August and they worked with her for about 30 hours of labor. She had a few interventions, but they were useful and she chose them herself after consulting with the midwife.

The enviornment at St. Joe's is very supportive and peaceful. My daughter needed to be in the Special Care nursery for 8 days after she was born, and they provided a room for me on the maternity floor after I was discharged. I got to know the nurses and the general atmosphere on the floor very well, and would definitely go back for another birth.

I'd also recommend Bradley method childbirth prep classes if you're looking for a refresher course. Carol Schweickhardt is a good instructor in St. Paul. Several of my friends have used her and recommended her to me.

And good news, too - the second child usually comes a lot easier than the first. :) My son took 30 hours of back labor (drug free) and my daughter was around 4, and we barely made it to the hospital. A little too fast, perhaps, but hopefully your next experience will be less painful than the first.

Good luck!

I have two children. Gerald was born 3 years ago at St. Johns in Maplewood and Gabriel was born at St. Josephs in June 2005. Both hospitals were fantastic. The staff at both locations were so kind and helpful. But I would say St. Joes was even a little better. However, I had an epidural and 14 hour labor with Gerald and was supposed to do a water birth with Gabriel. Unfortunately, Gabe came after a very intense and fast delivery where I went from a 3cm dilation to full delivery in 20 minutes. I didn't even get a tylenol. But despite the intensity and speed of the delivery requiring the attending physician to catch him instead of my midwife, I always felt like everything was in control and that the hospital staff were there for me. As for the question about midwife vs. doctor, I had a physician with Gerald and a midwife with Gabriel. I would completely and without hesitation recommend the midwife. Even though my midwife didn't make it to the hospital in time for the delivery of Gabe, but the physician was there for Gerald, I would still recommend the midwife. You will get more personal attention through the pregnancy, which I feel is more important than during the delivery. The midwives seem to have more time to devote to your questions and are more open to non-"medical" solutions to problems. I went to the Macalester/Groveland clinic in St.Paul and saw Elizabeth Reinhart. I loved her and would recommend her to anyone whose insurance will let them see her. If I can answer any other questions, don't hesitate to contact me. Welcome to the Cities!

Hi J.,
I just delivered there in December. We had a great experience, I would go there again without hesitation if we have another. I had planned on waterbirth & even though that didn't work out I never felt like they forced any interventions... lots of time & info so we could make our own decisions. The midwife & nursing staff were wonderful. Feel free to contact me if you want to chat about St. Joe's in more detail!

I delivered two of my babies (2003 & 2005) at St. Joe's and highly recommend it. It is the nurses who make all the difference and they were super. In general, St. Joe's is a lot less medicalized when they think about birth. The nurses are used to midwives and doulas (I had a doula at both births) and the whole place is small, quiet, clean. They also have a room for water birth, which is pretty forward-thinking for a hospital.

I contrast these experiences with a pre-term labor and delivery (2002) at United Children's--not their fault I lost my baby but the environment (small, crowded rooms) there is set up to expect complications and they are much more likely to intervene.

My experience at St. Joe's made me really happy and if a woman can be said to enjoy giving birth, I sure did! Good luck!

Hi J.,

I worked with the midwives at St. Joes for my baby, born February 2005. I was prepared for a water birth, for which they have particularly wonderful facilities. In the end, however, my water broke before I was in labor, and I ended up having a story much like yours -- 28 hours of pitocin-induced labor, the last 7 of which were hell, before I ended up having a C-section for the health of the baby. So medicine intervenes sometimes even when you have the best intentions and set yourself up as well as you can.
For my next childbirth, I am seriously considering hiring a doula, because although I liked the midwives well enough, she was working with several moms that evening and I felt I didn't have her full focus of attention. A doula would be just with me and my family. Plus, you don't know which of the ten midwives will be on call that evening. I really liked the one I went through my pregnancy with, but never saw her while I was in the hospital. That said, I would definitely go to St. Joe's again. The nursing staff is OUTSTANDING. I felt very well cared for by them through labor, delivery, recovery, and learning how to care for a newborn. The facilities are marvelous. So, a bit of a mixed message, but I hope the info is useful!

I delivered my second child at St. Joe's. I had a WONDERFUL experience at St. Joseph's in St. Paul. I used their midwives and had a waterbirth! It was AWESOME!!!! The nurses are AWESOME!!! I felt like a queen, they really pamper you!

My first child was born at Methodist in St. Louis Park. I was in Labor for 48 hours, 24 in the hospital. I ended up getting an epidural after 36 hours of labor and had to have pitocin. It was a very horrible experience at Methodist.

I would absolutely, hands down deliver my next child at St. Joe's. It was a wonderful experience and can't even compare to my first child's birth. Not to say it wasn't painful but the water birth was like getting an epidural but still being able to "feel" what was going on with my body and the baby. It was a spiritual experience.

You'll be in good hands at St. Joseph's and if you decide to go with the midwives consider the waterbirth option.

Good Luck!
A.

I went to St. Joesph's but not by choice. I'm not sure what their policy is on intervention but I think it would depend on your doctor. I did my prenatals at Woodwinds in Woodbury and I enjoyed seeing the midwives there and they were able to join me at St. Jo's. I had a scheduled c-sec. and even though a midwife couldn't see me through that they did come and visit me the next day which was very nice. I enjoyed my stay at the hospital. It was my only experience in a hospital so I have nothing to compare it to. My friend said to avoid Unity hospital. She didn't like it. St. John's in Maplewood I heard was nice and Regions is a good facility that has been around many, many years and is a level 1 trama unit too.

I have a friend who has had a midwife through Woodwinds and LOVED it. I'm not familiar with St. Joes but I can say from personal experience that St. John's is wonderful. Specifically Dr. Kathryn Goralski - OBGYN Specialists out of Maplewood.
Good Luck and Congrats. :)