Hellobee Boards

@ElbieKay: hey neighbor (sort of). We moved from Hoboken to Montclair in August and I'm guessing we were considering the same things you are. Are you looking at the Childbirth Womens and Wellness Center in Montclair? I don't know much about the birthing center, but everyone here has told us not to go to Mountainside if at all possible, even if it's 3 min away.

I gave birth at Morristown Medical Center last month with Avalon midwives, who I love, love,love and the hospital was great too (great nurses, a free postnatal massage, private rooms, etc.). We had a tub room for L&D, unfortunately I didn't get to use it because I was fully dilated when I got to the hospital and pushed the baby out before the tub was full. Also, morristown wasn't much further from hoboken than montclair for appts and such.

Quite a few of my mom friends here used Avalon and also love them. Feel free to ask more questions.

@ElbieKay: also wanted to mention that I wasn't a huge fan of Lonnie when I met with her for an initial consultation.

@ElbieKay: ok so i asked the Montclair Moms listserve and it seems that Lonnie runs the show at mountainside and everyone had really positive experiences in the maternity ward. The hospital and ER, however, are another story. One woman private messages me saying that her pediatrician told her to never go there. Everyone spoke highly of Lonnie as well. Maybe I met her on an off day, or our personalities didn't mesh well. I just found her to be a bit rough around the edges. It seems that others have had different experiences though. I may also be biased since Lonnie was an hour late to our consult. Anyhow, if you want to send me your email address you can read through peoples responses. Hope this helps!

@ElbieKay: hi from another Hoboken gal!! I gave birth at nyu so I can't really help you. A lot of Hoboken moms gave birth at palisades and were really happy.

@ElbieKay: Just wanted to mention that I was at NYU and had an amazing experience. it is a "baby-friendly" hospital, so DD stayed with me the whole time, they encourage breastfeeding, skin-to-skin, etc. I went into L&D without any kind of birth plan because I wanted to be flexible and see what it was like and what I could handle. My nurses were amazing and showed me all kinds of ways to help labor progress without meds. They have a doula on staff that I could have hired. They offered the shower, but I just wanted to lay in bed. My doctor kept encouraging me to keep going without the epi if I felt like I could. At the end, I needed it (literally at 9 cm, they put it in) but my doc and nurse wouldn't let me self-medicate because they didn't want me to overdo it. I ended up still feeling everything but just not as intensely and I could almost "enjoy" (as much as one can enjoy it) the experience. DD was sunnyside up and instead of marching me off to a CSection, my nurse had me lay in certain positions to get her to turn. During the actual delivery, my doc did a lot of massage and I didn't tear at all. I'm not trying to talk you into anything...just wanted to share my wonderful experience there.

not sure where you netted out on this, but we're delivering at the holistic birthing center at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ. Also northern NJ. It's an option for mothers delivering at Valley who want a more natural birth route and they have a great doula program as well! good luck with L&D!