Need Recommendations for a Great OBGYN in or Around Oak Park Illinois

If you are open to a midwifery group, I love the midwives at West Suburban Midwife Associates in Oak Park. They are very kind and gentle, and are very experienced. Their office is located near Lake and Oak Park Avenues. I highly recommend them if you are looking for a great birthing experience.

T.
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Dr. Tong at West Suburban Hospital

I also recommend the Westsuburban Midwives group as well! They are very nuturing.

I loved Dr. Tong out of West Suburban

I used West Suburban Midwives and LOVED them!

Also loved West Suburban Midwives. If I have another child, I will go back to them.

OK - I konw you asked about OBGYNs, but here is another recommendation for a midwife group. I go to Partner's in Women's Health on Madison, just west of Harlem. This will be my second birth with the midwives there. I love Shirley Moore and the rest of the midwife staff. Check them out at www.oakparkmidwife.com. They deliver out of West Sub hospital. Their office is also fully equipped with OBGYNs. Good luck!

If you're not high-risk, I love LOVE West Suburban Midwives Associates (Gayle Riedmann and Julie Marks are both great). They attend births at West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park. Can't say enough good things about them. BTW, they bill with their collaborating physician, so they should be covered by your insurance even if your insurance doesn't say anything about midwives.

If you are interested at all in natural birth, the midwives at West Suburban Midwives are amazing. They are on Lake street near Oak Park Ave.

I also wholeheartedly agree with the recommendation for the West Suburban Midwives! I just gave birth to my second child with their practice and had a completely different experience that my first child's birth. We also had HMO Illinois, the HMO.

Someone else also mentioned a doula. I can't agree more with that as well. I had a pretty long/difficult second labor and I wouldn't have made it without my doulas! Tanya McHale's group was unbelievable.

Here are the links:
http://www.westsubmidwives.com/
http://www.tanyamchale.com/

I have just read your post and the answers you received plus your response to them and wanted to add my point of view for it's worth. You don't need an ob/gyn unless you are having problems. The reason why everyone is recommending the midwife practice in Oak Park is because they have such a phenomenal reputation and i would have used them like a shot had i been closer. Women who choose midwifes tend to have done their reading and be 'in the know' that not only are they going to have a safe delivery but also that their emotional needs and the sheer amazingness of the experience will be taken into consideration.

I am from the UK but came over here three years ago after which i shortly became pregnant for the first time. Being in a strange country I had to start from scratch in terms of finding providers and working out your system. I am also a Clinical Psychologist who has specialized in physical health so i know the importance of getting these choices right. Did you know that the USA is one of the only countries in the western world who uses ob/gyns to deliver babies? Did you also know that ob/gyns are predominately trained to be surgeons and are not trained in the 'art; of delivering babies. In fact very few ob/gyns ever get to observe a natural labor, (i.e. one that is not induced, not hurried according to a hospital scheduled and not restricted by keeping a woman lying on a bed unable to move and unable to eat or drink)? In virtually every other developed country we use midwifes who are trained in the art of supporting a woman's body to do what it knows how to do. Despite the USA using ob/gyns (you would think the safest option) to deliver 97% of babies it has the the highest infant and mother mortality rate in the western world ( well, second to Cuba I believe).

I had my daughter with an independent midwife practice (A Womans Place) at a birthing centre in a hospital. I can honestly say it was the most incredible day of my life. I had a small team - husband, midwife and a doula (Tanya McHale - also based in Oak Park - the research shows that having a doula with you who is experienced in labor can shorten your labor and make it a more positive experience for you). I was encouraged to eat, drink, move around, get in and out of a hot bath and do it all in my own time. How any woman can birth without these basic things is beyond me - labor is a physical marathon and to not be able to eat and drink would have been tantamount to torture...and physically impossible...no wonder many ob/gyns have to resort to drugs, cutting, suctioning or c-sections. I gave birth without any intervention, needed no stitches and two weeks after the labor, it was as if i had never given birth. This is not uncommon amongst my group of friends back in the UK but seems to be unusual for women i have met here.

If you are interested in learning more about this (and I appreciate it goes against USA cultural norms, beliefs and service provision - it's a big ask to get anyone to think outside of the box they are used to) I found the following very useful in beginning to understand the choices available to pregnant women:

Ricki Lake's documentary The Business of Being Born - watch the trailer at the website (you can rent it from netflix)

http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/

Ricki Lake's book 'Your Best Birth"
http://www.mybestbirth.com/

Ina-May Gaskin's book Guide to childbirth - if a pregnant woman was to do only one thing to prepare for her labor it should be to read this book. The first half of the book is just beautiful, gentle, positive birthing stories that help you to remove the cultural bias we have been indoctrinated with that birth is all about panic, rushing to hospital, beeping monitors and PAIN!!! It also covers the mind/body aspects of labor - that just like every other mammal, we need privacy, peace and quiet and time in order for our bodies to labor efficiently, for the hormone pathways to work optimally. Strangers, bright lights, being required to fill out a million forms (?!), fear etc all switch off your birthing hormones (hence the almost ubiquitous need for pitocin in the USA).

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&....

The documentary Pregnant in America, also available on Netflix.
http://www.pregnantinamerica.com/newsite/trailer/youtube/

It is quite a journey to go on - to get your head round all of this - but for me, one so worth it. I don't think you can put a price on having the birth day of your baby being the most incredible experience. It is so wonderful for my husband and i to be able to look back at the day our daughter was born as the most magical day of our lives. It also meant that she had a gentle beginning to her life and neither of us had to cope with getting over any hangovers from medication or recovering from head wounds due to ventouse/forcep delivery, or even having six weeks without being able to hold her easily due to recovering from a c-section - you just hit the ground running so to speak!

So this is the reason why everyone is suggesting midwife practice - and you are lucky enough to be located within easy reach of one of the best in Chicago. I am 5 months in to my second pregnancy and i still don't have an ob/gyn (although a midwife practice will refer you immediately if they have a concern at any point). The very best of luck to you - i feel passionately that women should have the best birthing experience available to them. In this case knowledge really is power.

LOVED my ob/gyn Dr. Elaine Beister of West Suburban. Very natural way about her and had a sense of 'ease' considering this was my first child. I ended up delivering with Dr. Acharya and he was great! Funny too! I was worried because we had never met but he made me very comfortable. West Suburban, while not crazy about the hospital or extended care ... the child birthing department was top notch ... and the birthing rooms with all the natural options with mid-wives and underwater birthing options was very impressive. But even if you don't go that route and choose the drugs in the bed ...everyone was very supportive and we did deliver naturally. Sadly, I moved and had to change doctors. I will miss Beister/Archarya and team.

Inbol,

I have HMO Illinois. I live just north of Oak Park, in Chicago. I had both of my babies at Rush downtown and my OBGYN was Dr. Patricia Boatwright. She has an office at Rush downtown. She in not part of a big group like at Northwestern where you see a different doctor each visit. This was important to me. She is very casual and relaxed (also important to me because I tend to stress out). My experience at Rush was great. The nurses are fantastic. The building it a bit old, they are currently building a new building, but I had private rooms both times (I did not request a private room as I would have had to pay for it, but since they just gave it to me HMO Illinois covered everything). Also, Rush Oak Park takes HMO Illinois as well. I don't know any OBGYNs there. My kids pediatrician is in Oak Park and we have had tests done for them at Rush Oak Park.

I worked in HR for years and I would recommend checking out the costs between the PPO and HMO before you switch. Generally having a baby on a PPO plan is a lot more expensive, possibly thousands of dollars more expensive. For me it would have been $2000 more expensive since I would have had to cover my deductible for 2 years because my baby was due in early April. With HMO Illinois all of my visits were covered to my OBGYN with no co-pay while I was pregnant as were all of the procedures necessary. I did have to pay the co-pay for the hospital when my children were born, but that was it.

In my opinion, if you can find a doctor you trust in your HMO plan, I would recommend doing so. With HMOs it is all about having a good doctor. However, if you can't find a doctor you trust, it is worth going with a PPO so that you have more choices.

Good Luck,
D.

I am currently seeing Dr. Vasant Acharya in Oak Park. He is right near Oak Park Hospital and you can deliver at Rush, West Suburban or Oak Park. I delivered both of my kids at West Suburban Hospital which I now think they call is Ressurection. I had amazing experiences with both stays at the hospital and with Dr. Acharya. I would trust him with my life. I have become very good friends with one of the nurses there. THey are ontop of everything and give you PROMPT attention and amazing service. I have also had 3 laparoscopies with Dr. Acharya for Endometriosis. He is just amazing. I trust him with my life. I saw him before my kids and I still continue to see him. I had my kids in 2002 and 2003 via C-Section.

His partners are GREAT. Dr. Acharya is the Head of OBGYN for RUSH Hospital. I couldn't be happier.

There contact info is ###-###-#### and the nurses Direct Line is ###-###-####.

Any questions, Just ask. :) Good luck with baby planning. I wish you the best.