This is my first pregnancy and I am hoping for a natural birth NOT in a hospital. I have been receiving care from a midwife who only delivers at Blue Island hospital. I have done limited research online and keep coming across recommendations for midwives at Swedish Covenant and Western Suburban, but can't seem to find anything closer to my location. Any information you can provide is greatly appreciated!
Thank you all for your responses!!! Ended up contacting Swedish Covenant, and had my care transferred over to them at the end of June. So glad that I did!!!!
I also recommend Homefirst. They have an office in Orland Park. I had both of my boys at home with Homefirst Doctors. Go with Dr. Schattauer or Zumhagen. If you are really really really all natural, go with Dr. Rosi; many people love him, but I do not! You can continue on with them and have them be your child's pediatrician also which I really like.
Hi Cassandra. Congratulations on your pregnancy! In Illinois, there are no free standing birthing centers as direct entry (aka professional) mdwives do not have a legal standing. Having said that many families are still choosing to safely birth at home. There are a handful of certified nurse midwives that attend homebirths so if you're interested I can give you their info. They work with most insurance plans and can help you navigate through the paperwork.
If you're not comfortable with a homebirth then your next best option is having a mdwife (or midwife practice) within a hospital that is known to be as naturally minded as possible. I am a doula and I've worked with alot of midwife and OB practices at different hospitals and I have to totally agree that West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park and Swedish Covenant Hospital are far best the most naturally minded hospitals. I know they are not located in near southeast Chicago but realistically given that this is your first pregnancy you would have more than plenty of time to get to the hospital at the time of birth and would be worth it.
I once had a client who would drive in all the way from Kenosha Wisconsin to see the midwives at West Suburban and had a beautiful and peaceful waterbirth.
If you strongly prefer someone in your area let me know and I can suggest a few places but I urge you to visit and talk to either West Suburban or Swedish. Or if you're open to homebirthing I can give you a few nurse midwife referrals too.
I wish you lots of good health and joy during this wonderful time!
A.
Hi Cassandra, Congratulations on your pregnancy!! I wish I had done that...You can try Home First. They have a website to get you started. You can get a (free?) consultation if what they do works for you.
As far as I know Illinois still doesn't have any birthing centers, but West Suburban Hospital has an alternative birthing center. I delivered at West Sub with West Suburban Midwives for my first daughter. They're a great practice. West Sub has I believe the lowest C-section rate in the Chicagoland area, and they are very friendly towards natural non-medicated birth. Hillary Kieser was the midwife who delivered my daughter, and now she's left that practice and started her own (Gentle Birth Care) to return to doing homebirths (she used to do them years ago). She generally won't take first-time moms, but you could always call and ask. She's awesome! She's based in Oak Park... I don't know how far she'll travel for a home birth.
I see Hillary in Oak Park for my yearly exams. She used to deliver out of West Sub and now owns www.gentlebirthcare.com and only attends home births. Oak Park might be far for your regular exams, but I know she travels throughout the Chicagoland area to deliver.
