OB at the U?

[JoeyG]

Hey there! Now that we are expecting a "heart baby" (she's been diagnosed with Tricuspid Atresia), we will be delivering at the U, rather than St. Marks Hospital as we had planned. My OB has recommended that we move to an OB at the U, so we'll be more familiar with everything up there and they'll have our file on-hand when we go into labor.

Does anyone have an OB at the U that they could recommend? (Our insurance covers both St Marks and U of U doctors.)

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Thank you,

Joey Goodson

[Chrissie]

We were referred to Dr. Janice Byrne. She was a very good OB her assistant Sam was great too. The only thing I didn't like going to the U of U for was the drive 1 hour and 1/2 and they usually have students. I told them I didn't want any students at my appointments or delivery. I think because the situation was stressful enough I didn't want to add to that stress, also I refuse to go to guy OB's (bad experiance) Good Luck Jan was a great doctor.

[JoeyG]

STUDENTS IN THE APPOINTMENTS AND DELIVERY?!!! Chrissie, thanks a ton for the heads-up on that. Did they give you a choice, or were you just expected to be OK with that?

I agree, the stress of delivering a heart-sick baby is going to be about all I can manage. I certainly don't need an audience!

Thanks so much!
Joey

[SBAimee]

We chose to work with Dr. Erin Clark. She is actually a friend of ours and at the time was just finishing her fellowship under Dr. Byrne (which she has now completed and is a full perinatologist). I may be biased, but she is the BEST. Very small hands :) Seriously, she's great. Calm, pleasant, and she is the smartest person I've ever met. I'll probably go to her for my next pregnancy even though the U is not particularly convenient and I live just a few blocks from Jordan Valley Hosp.

I don't think we ever had any students in any of our appointments or delivery, but then again, that wouldn't have really bothered me so I may just not have noticed. The few I did encounter were usually just 1 student observing (not a whole audience) - so no big deal. Once things calm down from the shock of the diagnosis, you will find that your pregnancy and OB exams become fairly routine, you just get a few extra ultrasounds. At least that's how it was for us.

[Cyndlouwho]

I had Dylan at the U hospital, but my OB went there with me, even though he doesn't normally deliver there. I don't remember having any students there when we delivered, but we did with one of my older children at a different hospital. It was just hard not being able to see him for a bit because of how quickly they took him to the NICU to get ready to transfer over to Primary's. The nurse did take us into the NICU to see him before taking me to my regular room and then Life Flight took him to the room so I could see him again before they took him over to Primary's. Plus it was nice that we could just tell the nurse we were going over to see him after he had been transferred and spend as much time there as we wanted before getting discharged myself.

University Hospital is one that really encourages breast feeding so they don't give you the diaper bags from the formula companies. They may if you ask, but they won't just offer it to you. I'm not sure about that though.

[JoeyG]

Again, thank you for the great advice and referral. I hope the fear will settle down for the rest of the pregnancy; I have an appt with my current OB next week, and I am scared to death (every appt for the past month and 1/2 has been filled with bad news).

I saw the Dr. Byrne is covered under our insurance; I'll see if Dr. Clark is covered as well. I can't say the U is exactly convenient for us (we're in Murray -- St. Marks is 2 min down the road), but at least we can get used to the commute now.

Thanks again, everyone! You all are FANTASTIC!!!!

Have a good weekend and stay warm,
Joey Goodson

[Alli and Kyle Hicken]

I will add my two cents to this post too! We (like Chrissie) were referred to Dr. Jan Byrne from the UofU hospital. I really liked her and her midwife's were wonderful too. You will probably want to use a perinatologist (OB specialist for high risk situations), but that is probably up to you. We lived in Logan when I was expecting Grant (about 2 hours from the UofU) and we were still required to deliver in SLC. It got to be A LOT of driving, but we negotiated. I met with my regular OB almost weekly from my 24th week and started Non Stress Tests (NST) in Logan at week 29. Then, every 3 weeks, I would go to Dr. Byrne for an ultrasound, NST, and checkup. I was frustrated because her appointment days in the clinic were on Mondays and Thursdays and we usually had a fetal echo in the same trip (we would stay overnight in SLC), but the fetal echos are only done on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I would have preferred to do it all at once and save us the overnight trip every three weeks (or weekly when we got close to delivery).

I was induced at 38 weeks and my labor was so long that Dr. Byrne was off shift before I actually delivered. She scheduled my induction to be at the start of a 24 hour shift for her, but I went longer than that and she ended up going home and I had one of her colleagues deliver Grant. There were a lot of people in the room, but I think that comes with the territory of having a high risk baby. In the end, I had met them all in advance and it didn't bother me in the least...I was just glad to have so many skilled people in the room, even if some of them were still in residency programs. I really didn't care that it wasn't even Dr. Byrne who delivered me...I preferred to have someone who was fresh on a shift and not tired! Dr. Byrne was still awesome...she called multiple times to check in and came to visit us all the way at Primary's a few times just to see how we were. Good luck making the decision and working out the logistics!

Alli Hicken
mom to Grant (HLHS, heterotaxy)
grantmeaheart.blogspot.com

[JoeyG]

WOW - thanks for your 2 cents, Alli! I don't recall even seeing my OB after I had Cate 2 yrs ago. Granted, she was on shift for the delivery and Cate was a nice, healthy baby, but still.

And o'nce again, I'm awed by a lot of you. I don't know how you got through all of this ...with the added pains of living far from SLC! As if life hadn't thrown enough at you!!

Thank you Alli! I think I'll have to see if Dr. Byrne might like another patient to deal with. :)

Hope you're having a great weekend,
Joey

[WaiteMom]

Hello,

I delivered my son, Joshua, at the U in December. Dr. Clark was wonderful!!! We live in Wyoming and only found out one week before his birth that he would have heart problems. He has tricupid atresia, TGA, and VSD. We only saw Dr. Clark one time before delivering, but she was very good. I hope all goes well for you and your family. It is an amazing journey!!!

Sarah

[Heart Mommy]

My Ob had rights at the U. You might check to see if your current Dr. has these rights... SO we stayed with our beloved Dr. Larkin... then on Alex's delivery day he got strep.... So Dr. Bryne stepped in... We had students in on the whole thing... But I forgot who was a student and who was a nurse... They all doted on me and made me feel extra special.. plus.... One student stayed with me and I got really sick and he ran to get the dr... I was so grateful there where so many that one could look after me and be with me the whole time. Some people that really bothers... I think if I would have thought about having the choice before I would have said no one else in the room... But now that I look back I am really glad they were there.... One other thing I remember...They take you to a different room/floor to recover for the next couple of days... This room is not on the same floor as all the other mommies who have babies it is mixed in with other sick people, it is for mommies who don't have their babies "with" them... For some reason that was hard for me.. a silly thing I guess... Okay two more things... Order everything off the menu, you are paying for it anyway... and you know those big grandmas pink cookies... They have them, you can order one with every meal... YUMMY!!!!!!:D

[Alli and Kyle Hicken]

Wow. This is all bringing back memories! We too had been told about how they take you to a floor where the mom's don't have babies with them and how that was kind of yucky. We just asked our labor and delivery nurses to make sure that I went to a normal maternity recovery floor. Sure there were a lot of crying babies and moms with babies, but I definitely preferred to be there (even if my baby was at Primary's!). I found that it worked well for us and the nurses were really sweet too. So...if you want to be treated "normally" just ask. They will accommodate you if you ask them.

Alli

[JoeyG]

LOVE the recommendation on the food!! But yeah, my Dr doesn't have the ability to deliver at the U, but we were able to get an appt with Dr. Byrne, so I'm glad about that.

Thanks so much for the heads up on the recovery floors. I never even thought about that! I think I'd prefer being among the regulars, if there's a choice. And I also appreciate the advice on having other people in the room. During Cate's delivery at St. Marks, I can't say I really remember who all was in the room ...I was too worried about my husband passing out! That really makes me feel better knowing that the "extras" were so helpful.

I keep saying it ...and I'm gonna say it again, I just don't know what I'd do without this group!

Have a great evening everyone!