There is one midwife there (a shorter skinny and young woman who's name I don't recall…read more The other midwives and doctor there suck. The reason: they don't know how to communicate with my vulnerable wife and they made her anxious, along with the nurses. I'm giving 1 star based on the service my wife received from everyone except that one midwife who's name I forgot.

I give them NO STARS!!! Will never reccomend anyone to come to this facility. I wont say any names…read moremost to all the staff that work there are unprofessional, got harrased by the receptionist and the nurse and after that never got a phone call from that facility all my blood work results were supposed be called in to me and i ended up recieving a letter in the mail. Was supposed to get a call about my medication to help keep my baby in and it has been 2 weeks that it came and they did not or have not called me. All this is still happening after i spoke to their manager even she is unprofessional so now i have to talk to someone higher in this practice. Never come here. They are very slow to get in contact with it takes a whole day for them to call back when you need to talk about something. Its really bad here.

Really a 3.5, but I'll round up…read more I had been under the care of an OB for the first 7 months of my pregnancy. When I moved back to Salem I had no idea that doctors are hesitant to pick up a patient that has been under the care of another physician for the majority of a pregnancy or whatever else. My primary care physician (no longer involved in OB care) referred me to Salem Hospital OB. I called and was informed that the OB's were not accepting new patients, so I could have a midwife. The inner hippy in me told me that this was a fine alternative, and so I headed in to sign a release for my previous physicians file. While there, I learned that I would not have one mid-wife assigned to me and instead would see whoever was working on whatever day I had my apppointment. As for delivery, whoever was on call would do it. As it turned out, the mid-wives were off on the day that I delivered so a Salem Hospital doctor delivered my baby anyway. Ugh. The mid-wives are very, um, "spiritual". Maybe that's not the right word, but they don't suscribe to the "rush" mentality that you will find in regular OB's. They do believe that babies come in time and that your body is perfectly capable of doing the job in most cases. I appreciate this aspect, as birthing is scary enough as is without the insertion of a doctor with an impending tee time. If you're scared of the idea of a mid-wife, know that many are real doctors and they treat you like a human instead of a medical case. Like the nurses the mid-wives vary in personality and temperment. I found it to be very uncomfortable that they treated me like it was my first time there at each visit, forgetting that I had seem them the last time. The one HUGE upside to a mid-wife is the amount of time spent talking to you about your pregnancy. Unlike regular OB's who might spend 5 min of each appointment with you, these ladies will talk to you for as long as you want and answer question after question. They won't be walking backwards toward the door while you're on your 9th question. While this may make for longer appointment times, appreciate the time and concern they have.

My experience at Salem health was okay. The staff was nice but as I was pregnant with twins I was…read moretold that there was only one dr who would accept me as a new patient. My experience with that dr was less than great. The high risk doctors and others within salem health that I worked with were awesome but he was not kind or thoughtful and I left most appointments feeling very stressed. I stuck with this dr for the duration of my pregnancy and now a year later I asked to be switched to a different doctor within the practice, as I was unwilling to continue seeing him at this point, and I was told that it is against policy. So apparently if you don't like the 1st doctor you see you have to leave and go somewhere else or put up with a doctor that isn't a good fit. This does not seem like best practice to me.

WHERE DO I begin?! Molly is amazingggggg. Molly is great at what she does and I'm so happy she…read moredelivered my baby! I LOVED my experience with all the midwifes. They offer a class once a month for expecting parents which is awesome. I had a natural birth thanks to all of the midwives. My labor and delivery was fast and I had no complications! Molly is inspiring honestly. I love that they are there for you postpartum. This is the best support you can have and they are with you every step of the way. They support any decision you make as far as your birth plan. My whole pregnancy and labor was so positive and I can't thank them enough!

From start to finish, the entire Portland Doula Love experience was exactly what I needed to feel…read moresupported! We were matched with the lovely, Patty Spravale, as our doula. I couldn't imagine our birth without her!!!

We are beyond grateful for Doula Love's matching service and for pairing us with our incredible…read moredoula, Nomarie. We were a little on the fence about hiring a doula since this was our second baby, but we really wanted that holistic, nurturing care that a hospital alone can't always provide -- and Nomarie was exactly what we'd hoped for. I'm not what you'd call a "country granola" type of mom -- I went into this birth fully planning on (and very much wanting!) all the pain relief and medical support. But there's still such an important place for a doula in that environment. Nomarie helped bring warmth, connection, and a truly holistic touch to what could have otherwise felt like a very clinical experience. From the very first meeting, she made us feel comfortable, supported, and truly heard. She took the time to understand our hopes for the birth and was such a calming, confident presence every step of the way. When labor began, Nomarie was our angel -- grounding us through every contraction, guiding my partner on how to support me, and helping us navigate all the twists and turns that came our way. Even when things got complicated after our baby was born, she never left our side. Her steady reassurance and calm energy made us feel safe and less scared during a really overwhelming moment. Looking back, I honestly can't imagine our birth experience without her. She helped us feel empowered and cared for in one of the most intense and beautiful moments of our lives. I would recommend Doula Love and Nomarie a thousand times over -- they gave us the support we didn't even know we needed.

Elizabeth was the midwife present at my delivery. She was awful. She violated my consent and…read moreautonomy. Horrible bedside manner. Felt coerced and violated. I specifically chose midwife care to try to avoid this. As someone with an SA history giving birth with Elizabeth was incredibly re-traumatizing. Pregnant again and hoping for such a different experience, definitely not with DHMC. Any mom reading this should avoid her.

Liz is amazing! At every appointment I had with her she explained everything so well to me and made…read moreme feel super confident and comfortable. I highly recommend seeing a midwife it's incredible! I'm a first time mom and seeing the Legacy midwifes was the best decision my PCP made for me. They took amazing care of me all the way from the beginning to the end. Such a positive experience I had with each and every one of the midwives. Liz has a great personality and very easy to talk to. I saw her from the beginning of my pregnancy up until I got discharged from the hospital after delivering. She informed me of so much. Thank you Liz!

PLACENTA ENCAPSULATION? There is a huge controversery around this topic. Some based on religious…read morebeliefs, practicality and western beliefs vs ancient traditions. I can only share my personal experience. I had my first 4 children in the hospital with western doctors that induced each with pitossin. The babies were born in a very sterile environment that required me to be tied to monitoring machines and IV's. Then there's the always invasive and uncomfortable cervix checks every hour as well. After each birth the baby's cord was cut quickly and their entrance into the world for the first few minutes of life were filled with poking, prodding, bright lights etc when really all each of them and I just wanted to be in each other's space (the same space we shared for 9 months). My 2 of these 4 were 9 lbs and suffererd from yellow jaundice which I now realize could have been easily avoided by allowing the placenta to stay attached a few minutes longer after birth so baby receives much needed nutrients that are still pulsating through the umbilical cord after delivery. My recoveries were painful because I still had pitossin pumping through my body several weeks after and I was absolutely dealing with post partum depression and anemia after the loss off blood and hormones that went with delivery. All normal western stuff so far, yes? With the last 2 pregnancies I chose to go with more ancient and empowering ways of bringing my babies to the planet. Part of this centered around the placenta, the temple that houses our incredible little miracle until they choose to take our breaths away with their first breath. The concept was odd to me at first because I'd be eating something that came from my body and our child grew in but I rationalized it by saying "I'm not frying it up like a steak" and "we take supplements all the time that come from all kinds of strange things". I mean, most of the planet eats hot dogs and the flesh of other creatures, right? It made it easier to try for me because it was in a pill form and I am so grateful that I did it! My recovery was much faster (bleeding stopped in half the time ), my 9 1/2 lb baby didn't have colic or jaundice, my breast milk was richer, engorgement was minimal and I didn't suffer from post partum depression or anemia. When our next child came, there was no question that I would do it again. We are now pregnant again and I will absolutely be doing it again! You cannot get the same hormones to balance you in a synthetic from or a piece of fish as you can from your own body. I believe that this is beneficial for baby too because they continue to receive a boost of the same hormones while breast feeding as they did in utero. Thank you Tia for suggesting it and also preparing these for us! Amazing!!!

My husband and I went to Tia for our birthing classes. We received four one-on-one classes that…read morewere between 2-4 hours long each. Although she was a little difficult to get a hold of at first (probably because she works as a midwife also and they have crazy schedules) we were very pleased with the classes. I had been around a lot of babies and pregnancies so I didn't feel the need to take a class, but I am so glad my husband insisted! We both learned so much. Since we were the only ones in each session, she was able to answer our exact questions and talk more about areas that we wanted to, as opposed to needing to stick to a certain curriculum. She was great at making good use of the time and making sure she covered all the important areas. My husband loved that she showed us some funny video clip each time pertaining to what we were going to talk about that evening. I can definitely say that I used some of her tips in labor and it absolutely helped! I would highly recommend her.